this morning?” I ask.
“I thought it was locked still. I used a key to get in but I don’t know if it was unlocked or not. I thought I locked it behind me. That’s why I was so scared when you yelled at me. The front and back were supposed to be locked.”
“Call him,” I say. He’s not answering my calls. He was really ticked off when he left me at the restaurant. But he may answer for Jess. She hesitates only a split second, then pulls a phone from the back pocket of her skin-tight blue jeans. She calls and listens. After a dozen rings her expression becomes quizzical. She hangs up before I can stop her.
“It didn’t even go to his voice mail. That’s really strange,” she says.
Fifty-Five
We’re back in the Taurus. It’s not like Dan. None of this. I haven’t told Ronnie about the little fight we had the other night. It’s none of her business but it is quickly becoming necessary.
“I notice you had Jess call Dan,” Ronnie says. “You don’t think he’ll answer if he knows it’s you? Did you have a fight?”
“We went out for drinks the other night and I had one too many.”
I don’t know why I’m lying.
“He got mad because you had too much to drink?”
“It’s not important, Ronnie. We just need to find him.”
“Megan, if I’m going to help you, I need to know what’s going on. I don’t understand why we’re looking for Dan. Was he a friend of Mrs. Delmont’s too? You haven’t told me much about why we’ve talked to these other people. And I think you’re keeping things from the sheriff.”
Ronnie’s been a big help. More of a partner, really. But I don’t know how much I can tell her. She’s intuitive. That’s the problem with not telling her enough.
“I’m going to tell you something that only I and the sheriff know. That means if you tell anyone I’ll have to kill you.”
She can tell by the look on my face I’m not kidding.
“You know you can trust me.” She already knows some things that I haven’t told anyone else. She saw me basically assassinate the guy last month who had shot me and was going to rape her. I shot his balls off while he was still alive. He was a rapist and a murderer. He got what he gave.
“Okay, I trust you,” I lie. “I knew Monique Delmont. I had more of a friendship with her than I let on. I’ve been in her house before.”
Ronnie gives me a hurt look. I lied to her.
“I haven’t talked to her for several years and I didn’t know she had any idea I worked here.” That much is the truth.
“The picture of you coming from the Sheriff’s Office,” Ronnie says. “It makes sense now.”
“I don’t think Monique snapped that picture,” I say. “I think the killer wants me to know he knows where I was.” This doesn’t explain why I would think Gabrielle is in danger, so I say, “I never met her daughter but I figure the killer is crazy and killing people even remotely connected with her. And me.”
“Why would the killer be after you, Megan?”
Yeah. Damn it. I improvise and hope she doesn’t see through the lie.
“Maybe the killer’s not specifically after me. Maybe it’s all about Monique. Dan showed me the picture that Sheriff Gray found at the scene. That’s what we argued about. He said it was left at his store and he wanted to know what was going on. He knows we’re working on this murder and wanted to know if the picture was connected. He wanted to know why the killer would send him one. I couldn’t tell him.”
“I wish I had told him something. Anything. He could have gone somewhere and stayed out of the way, like Gabrielle, until this is over.”
But I couldn’t chance him finding out about my past. Now he’s basically missing and maybe I’ll lose him.
“You did what you thought was best, Megan. I know you and you wouldn’t put anyone in danger. I don’t know why you want to keep this so secret, but whatever. I’m in.”
I could hug her. But I don’t really like people touching me. And that goes both ways.
“We need to take another little ride,” I say.
“Dan lives over in Snow Creek, doesn’t he?”
I put the car in gear and carefully pull into traffic. “Can you keep trying his phone?”
She does.
I check with Dispatch. The patrol keeping an eye