stands to shake my hand. I don’t want to tell him to go to hell. He didn’t say anything that I don’t already know.
“I’m ready for Detective Marsh, if you want to send her my way,” Felson says.
I meet Ronnie at the door. She looks composed and confident. She should be. It was a righteous shooting. I hope she sticks to simple answers and doesn’t get into what the killer was saying to me before she fired the shot.
Ronnie goes in and shuts the door.
Sixty-Three
I know there will be a press conference this morning. I’m hoping Sheriff Gray will take care of that. I don’t talk to reporters. Sheriff Gray suggested holding off on showing any photos to the press until I send them to other law enforcement agencies. That’s what I was going to do, but it makes him feel in charge to make the decisions.
I settle for giving the profile shot of the unknown killer to law enforcement for the time being, since one side of her face had been blown off.
Good shooting, Ronnie.
I also have her prints and DNA sent to the FBI and Interpol. She was a stone cold killer and I find it hard to believe she hasn’t done this before. I also gave them Marley’s information about the drug she was using. How the Raders hooked up with her I’ll probably never know, but she was definitely in love with Alex.
It’s no use wondering what she might have told me if she hadn’t lost her mind—literally. To do that, I might have had to take her into custody. That wasn’t going to happen. She was dead the moment she stuck the needle in my leg.
We finish off our coffees and the McDonald’s apple pies. Ronnie takes frequent breaks to make coffee or refill some mugs. She doesn’t complain about doing it, and her coffee is extra-strong, the way most of us like it.
She still opts for bottled water.
Finally, we’re done with what paperwork we can do. I’m so spent from yesterday’s drugging and this morning’s activities that I want to sleep on my desk. Sheriff Gray comes in carrying a double-layer chocolate cake with one birthday candle on top. Nan finds paper plates, napkins, plastic plates and a cooler of bottled water. All I want is black coffee. Lots of it. Just to get me through another half hour.
Nan lights the candle and Tony gathers everyone around for his announcement. He is holding a document and reads it out loud. It’s the oath that Ronnie will take to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the state of Washington. I have it memorized. I take these things seriously.
She raises her hand, repeats the oath and signs the paper, then Tony digs in his shirt pocket. He takes out a six-pointed silver deputy sheriff’s star with a picture of George Washington on the seal. Instead of pinning it to her shirt, he hands it to me.
“Megan, I thought you’d like to do the honors.”
I agree. She saved my life. I take the badge and pin it to Ronnie’s shirt over her heart. Before I realize what I’m doing, I hug her and say in her ear, “Congratulations, Red.”
Ronnie squeezes me until I can’t breathe and I can feel her vibrating with excitement. She should be excited. She’s made deputy a heck of a lot faster than most reserve deputies. Plus I think she’s on the fast track for detective. Worse things could happen.
Sheriff Gray invites everyone for a drink after work but I beg off. I’m going to check on Dan at the hospital. He is being kept at the hospital for observation because of breathing difficulty. I call the hospital and hear that he’s going to be hospitalized for another night. He’s a lightweight. I ask Sheriff Gray if I can take off. He reminds me I have an appointment with the shrink tomorrow. He’s made the appointments for me and for Ronnie. It’s okay. I want to get back to work as soon as possible.
I go to the hospital and enter through the ER. The security guard gives me directions to the floor. I get to the door of Dan’s room and hear laughing and a female voice. I peek around the door, thinking I’ll see a nurse, but it’s Jess Moonbeam. His perky little high schooler from work. She’s bent over the bed, hugging him. Her face is against his. I’m not jealous but I feel my face go red. I turn