was finally dry. Beside her, Gretchen slept deeply, her breath long and even, and her eyelids twitching periodically. Josie didn’t know how she could sleep so soundly. Every time Josie closed her eyes, she saw Vera’s lifeless body in the river.
The Chief’s voice startled them both fully awake. From somewhere on the other side of the curtain, he said, “Where are my detectives?”
A second later, the curtain scraped back and the Chief, Noah, and Mettner rushed in. Noah came straight to Josie’s side, touching her face, her hair, her arms, and finally taking one of her hands. He leaned in close, studying her eyes. “You okay?”
She wasn’t. She was as far from okay as she could remember being in a very long time. She nodded anyway.
“You scared the hell out of me,” he said softly. “I thought you were gone.”
She gave his hand a light squeeze. “I’m sorry.”
“I just—I—” He broke off and Josie thought she saw tears in his eyes. He let go of her hand, straightened and turned away from her for a moment. He was trying to maintain his composure, she realized.
“I really am sorry, Noah,” she croaked.
Turning back, he swooped in to kiss her. “Don’t be. I’m just glad you’re here.”
Chief said, “Quinn and Palmer, you two are to stay out of the water until further notice. Jesus. What a day. You get shot at and swept away. What do you think this is? Some kind of action movie?”
Mettner, who stood between their gurneys, frowned at the Chief. “It’s not their fault, you know.”
The Chief pointed a finger at Mett. “Don’t tell me what I know, son. I almost lost my two best detectives today.”
Mettner chuckled. “Gee, thanks.”
“Shut up, Mett.”
Noah perched on the side of Josie’s bed and from the side of his mouth, mumbled, “I guess this is what it’s like when he’s genuinely upset.”
Gretchen pulled her blankets up to just under her chin and said, “Did you get the shooter?”
Mettner shook his head. “No. Sorry. By the time we got there, no one else was around. We did find shell casings next to the bowling alley. Nine millimeter. But we didn’t see anyone driving away when we arrived.”
Noah said, “We pulled security footage from the Stop-N-Go and the bank across the street to see if we could see any vehicles coming up from that direction, but neither camera views reached the street.”
“Of course,” Josie said.
The Chief said, “Hummel collected the shells. We’ll see if he can pull prints.”
“Speaking of prints,” Mettner said. “We did confirm that the woman you met with was Vera Urban. Dr. Feist is working on the autopsy now.”
Noah asked, “Did she tell you anything before…”
“Someone started shooting at us?” Gretchen filled in. “No. We recognized her right away and she got skittish. The next thing we knew, she was bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the stomach and then the river took us. Good thinking, using our pants as flotation devices, boss.”
Josie nodded, afraid to speak as emotion welled inside her again. She thought she’d gotten it all out or, at the very least, that she would be too spent to muster more but there it was, causing a lump in her throat and a tremble in her lower lip she hoped no one noticed.
“That’s why you two are pant-less?” Chitwood said.
“How did you know we were pant-less?” Gretchen asked.
Noah said, “When we called to make sure you were both here safely, the nurse told us to bring pants.”
Josie found her voice. “Yet I don’t see any pants.”
Noah, Mettner, and the Chief looked at one another. The Chief said, “Where the hell would I get pants from?”
Noah laughed, breaking the tension in the room. “I’ll take care of it.”
Gretchen said, “Before you go, I think we need to talk about the fact that Vera Urban has been alive for the last sixteen years.”
“Not only that,” Josie added, “but she knew that her daughter had been murdered, and she knew how it happened. I think she knew who did it. I think that’s why she wanted to meet. To tell us.”
“But why come forward now?” Mettner asked.
Noah said, “Because now the rest of the world knows that Beverly was murdered. Now the police are looking for the murderer.”
Mettner said, “What the hell has she been doing for sixteen years?”
Gretchen said, “Hiding, obviously. She hasn’t had a utility in her name, she hasn’t filed a tax return; there hasn’t even been a cell phone in her name. Who doesn’t have a