When they got to SIG, Jase Tyler greeted her warmly, as did Carrie Ward. Simon took her to a small room with a television screen and DVD player and played the security tape. It showed exactly what he’d said it would. A man wearing a bulky jacket, the hood covering his head, his back to the camera, his arms cradling what she knew to be Six’s body and then depositing it into her backseat after he’d easily popped the driver’s side lock.
“I can’t tell whether he’s wearing gloves,” she said.
“He must be. We had them dust for prints while I drove you home, remember? They’ve come up empty so far.”
Just like the threatening letter. “Right. Well, I’m afraid I won’t be much help. I don’t see anything in the video that you haven’t.”
“It was a long shot, but one I needed to explore anyway.”
“Of course,” she said.
As they left and walked back to his desk, Simon said, “I haven’t heard back from Charleston P.D. yet. And while I’ve done some preliminary searches, I haven’t found any evidence that Davenport has traveled to California in the past few days. I’ll obviously keep checking on that.”
“Thank you.”
“I wish I could do more. In fact...I was thinking. Do you want me to make arrangements. For Six, I mean?”
He’d taken her by surprise again. “You’d do that?”
“Of course. Have you thought about how you wanted to...?”
“I’m going to have her cremated. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the ashes yet, though.”
“How about I have someone from the coroner’s office take care of it? I promise I’ll entrust her to someone reliable and you can pick up her ashes when you’re ready.”
She hesitated. Then said a quiet, “Thank you.”
He patted her arm in an absentminded gesture that, despite everything, made her smile. “Would you excuse me for a second? I want to call DeMarco.”
“Sure.”
A couple of minutes later, he was back, but he had a frown on his face.
“Something wrong?”
“What?” He shook his head and his expression cleared. “No. It’s just...I asked DeMarco to help out at your house and we agreed that we’d get that drink he’d talked about after we were done here today. I wanted to firm up where we were going to meet, but he apparently forgot. He said he’s got a date.”
“And you’re angry that he’s blowing you off for a woman?”
“No. If I needed him, I know he’d drop everything for me.”
“But?”
“But I want to make sure he knows the same thing. If he needs to talk to me, I want to be here for him.”
“He knows you’re here for him. You planned to have a drink with him. He’s the one who changed the plan.”
“I know but—” He shrugged, unable to give voice to what was making him uncomfortable.
“You’re worried about him?” she asked.
His gaze jumped to hers. “A little. He seemed fine this morning. And just now on the phone, too. Yet I can’t shake the feeling something’s bothering him. He’s worked some tough cases in the past few months. We all have. And then there’s what happened to Lana...”
“Was he close to her?”
“They were friends. Everyone at SIG liked Lana.”
“Well, safeguards are put in place for a reason. You don’t have to always handle things alone. You know that. You’ve talked to Dr. Shepard. Maybe DeMarco needs to talk to someone, too?”
Maybe, Simon thought, then blinked. What the hell was he thinking? He’d fought seeing Shepard and he had no doubt DeMarco would do the same thing. No, if DeMarco needed to talk to someone, he didn’t need to see a shrink. Simon was here for him. The entire SIG team was here for him. He knew that.
He shrugged and smiled, hoping to dispel the serious nature of the conversation. “Actually, he probably just needs to talk to a friend. Either that, or get laid. Er—I mean—”
“It’s okay,” she said with a laugh. “So maybe seeing this woman tonight is the best thing for him, after all.”
“Yeah. I’ll connect with him when we get back. And thanks for not holding that comment against me.”
“I’m sure you’ll make others that will give me that opportunity. You’re a nice man, Detective Granger.”
“Not nice enough to have warranted an invitation to stay at your place last night, though?”
“Plenty nice enough. Just smart enough not to.”
“It wasn’t a matter of being smart. You asked me to leave. I left. But if it was up to me, I wouldn’t have.”