I have no idea what I’m looking for here. Especially after all this time.”
“So no photos.”
“No.” She shook her head. “By the time someone called me to tell me about it, her body had been moved and the scene cleaned up. I don’t know if they would have let me take pictures then anyway. I begged Warren to let me look at the crime scene photos he got from the police, but he said no. The pictures were part of the file. Especially, he said, because I was a member of the press.”
Sean frowned. “Is there some sort of law against it?”
“Sort of. Warren explained that they don’t want the case to be thrown out in court as being prejudicial and some scumbag getting off on a technicality. Claiming he can’t get a fair trial.”
“Bummer.”
“No kidding.” She began snapping away with her phone.
Sean wandered around, his hand resting lightly on the gun at his hip. Not that anyone would show up, but who knew whether the jackass who sent her the warnings was keeping an eye on her.
When Zoe glanced over at him, she frowned. “Are you expecting trouble here? We seem to be the only ones in this place.”
“Yeah, well, I’m always expecting trouble. You never know who’s gonna show up, and I’d rather not be surprised. Come on, get your pictures done. I hate to tell you, but we didn’t accomplish much.”
“I know.” She huffed a breath. “I don’t know what I expected to find after ten years. Let’s go.”
She climbed into his truck and fastened her seat belt. Sean could tell she was doing her best to hold it together, but the scene where her friend’s body was found depressed her. Only natural, he thought. Okay. They’d head to her apartment, pick up her car, and then he’d take her someplace for dinner. She’d have to choose since he had no fucking idea where to go, but any place she liked was fine with him.
He still had her address in the GPS from earlier, so he brought it up and tapped the screen. Normally, silence didn’t bother him. He’d long ago stopped being any kind of conversationalist, but he thought the growing silence might make Zoe uncomfortable. Before he could ask her if she wanted music or anything, he glanced in his rearview mirror, something he had a habit of doing on a regular basis.
Damn!
A dark SUV one car length behind them triggered his brain. Had he seen it before? Was it one of the vehicles that had driven past the place where they’d stopped? Or was he being paranoid, something that had plagued him ever since the explosion in Afghanistan. Since that disaster, everything looked suspicious to him.
There wasn’t a lot of space to maneuver, what with traffic in all the lanes. Then a space next to him opened up so he moved quickly into it. He checked in the sideview mirror and noticed the SUV had slowed down a little. When the vehicle behind him moved over in front of it, it slid back to where it had been before, a full car length back but holding steady
“What is it? Something wrong?” Zoe twisted in her seat, trying to get a look at the traffic. “Someone following us?”
“Sit back. I’m not sure, so don’t let anyone see you looking around.” He could do it a lot better than she could without giving himself away. “You happen to know anyone with a green SUV?”
“Uh, not that I can think of. Why?”
Sean stole another quick glance. The vehicle was holding its place.
“There’s one that’s been sort of on our tail since we left that crappy place back there. I thought I saw it go by where we were there, but it was hard to tell with so many cars driving by. But it’s sort of been dogging us since we pulled away. No one you know?”
She shook her head. “But that doesn’t mean anything. If it’s the person trying to scare me off, or someone working with them, they could borrow or rent a car to do it.”
“True. Okay, I’m going to see if I can nudge my way over in front of him. Pull your rearview mirror down and get your camera ready. I noticed Montana cars have license plates both front and back. As soon as I move over and you have a view of the front license plate, take a picture.”
It took some maneuvering, but he gave Zoe credit. She was ready without being