don’t want her getting involved with him and hurting Marley’s feelings. Marley is more important to us. To me. Ronnie goes back to her desk, and Sheriff Gray motions for me to come in his office.
“Shut the door,” he says. I take a chair in the corner. He leans back in his chair and it doesn’t screech. The WD-40 I left on his desk has done the trick. He looks at me for a long time. I keep his gaze and sit still. I’m good at waiting. I’m good because I’m ready for him to try and talk me off the case. Not going to happen. Not even if he gives it to another detective.
He reads my expression, sits forward and lets out a deep sigh.
“You’re not going to give this one up, are you?”
I shake my head. Words are piling up and almost spewing out of my mouth. I know to keep it shut. He gets the idea.
“Tell me what you have. I heard you talking about it out there, but I need to know the rest. All of it.”
With those last words he raises an eyebrow. He knows I’m going to lie. So I don’t disappoint him.
“First of all, you already know that I knew Monique way back when. I knew her better than I told you, but not so well that I can’t keep my personal feelings out of the investigation.”
That’s the first lie, but I temper it with a small truth.
“You know we had Detective Osborne from Kitsap stay with her daughter until she got away to stay with her son in the Midwest. Indiana. She’ll be okay there and was planning to visit him anyway.”
That’s a lie. The son is in Maine.
I hate lying to Sheriff Gray, but it’s for his own good.
And mine.
“Monique left her car in Tacoma and drove a rental here. We have the car in the impound lot and Mindy’s going over it. Mindy found Monique’s phone under her mattress and she’s going through that for us, too.”
“Her burner phone,” Sheriff Gray says.
I nod. “That’s out of character but I can’t explain it yet.”
“And why would you have Detective Osborne stand by with her daughter? Did you think she was in danger from this lunatic?”
“Better safe than sorry.”
“And this has nothing to do with the, you know, that I gave you?”
“I don’t see how it could.”
My final lie.
Sheriff Gray looks at his watch. “Tell Ronnie to call it a night. You both go home and get some rest. You got Gabrielle safe, so this will keep until morning.”
“I’ll run her off, but I still have some work to do,” I say. I don’t know what I can do tonight. The autopsy is tomorrow and all I can do is sit and think.
“Go home,” he says.
Not a request.
Maybe he’s right. I can think at home with a drink.
Twenty-Three
I dial Dan’s number as I drive.
“Megan. I was just thinking about you. I must be psychic, huh?”
“Or a psycho. I mean, you are dating me.”
“We’re dating?”
“No. Yes. You know what I mean. We’re going out now and again and—”
“I’m just pulling your leg. Don’t sweat it.”
I can hear something in his voice. I’ve said something wrong and I don’t know what. I’m not good at this dating stuff. I called because I’m thinking about how close to home Monique’s murder is.
That and my stalker’s last email.
You are a busy girl. But then, you always were sticking your nose in places it didn’t belong. I see you’re on the hunt again. And this time you’re interfering with Clallam and Kitsap County cases. Good for you. I’m sure you’ll find your man. Just hope he doesn’t find you first. You’re not as clever as you think.
The last two lines now make that email seem pertinent to Monique’s death and the crank calls she and Gabrielle were receiving. I never met Gabrielle before today, but I knew of the threat Michael Rader made to her mother. The last two lines of that email make me wonder if my stalker and Monique’s death are connected.
I’m in Port Townsend. See you soon. Wallace.
P.S. Who’s the lumberjack?
It had been signed “Wallace.” Wallace apparently doesn’t know Dan’s name, if that’s who he’s referring to. I thought the stalker was just after me. Trying to scare me. I even considered Dan could be the stalker. It seemed awfully coincidental that I’d just had a date with Dan before I read the email. Dan knew about the murder cases involving Clallam and Kitsap