Blindsighted (Grant County #1) - Karin Slaughter Page 0,33

would a brother. If Grant was a close-knit community, the detectives were even closer. As a matter of fact, Lena knew that every one of her fellow detectives were members at the local lodge. Except for the simple matter of her not having a penis, she imagined she would have been invited to join a long time ago, if not out of respect, then obligation.

She wondered what these two old men would think knowing they were working a case to find out who had raped a lesbian. Once, a long time ago, Lena had actually heard Matt start a sentence with the words “Back when the Klan was doing some good…” Would they be as vigilant if they knew about Sibyl, or would their anger dissipate? Lena did not want to find out the hard way.

Jeffrey was reading a report when she knocked on his open office door.

“Sara get you straightened out?” he asked.

She did not like the way he phrased his question, but Lena said yes anyway as she closed the door.

Jeffrey was obviously surprised to see her close the door. He set aside the report and waited for her to sit down before asking, “What’s up?”

Lena felt the best thing to do was blurt it out. “My sister was a lesbian.”

Her words hung in the air over their heads like cartoons. Lena fought the urge to give a nervous laugh. She had never spoken them out loud before. Sibyl’s sexuality was something Lena was not comfortable talking about, even with her sister. When Sibyl moved in with Nan Thomas a short year after moving to Grant, Lena had not pushed for details. She honestly had not wanted to know them.

“Well,” Jeffrey said, his voice indicating surprise, “thank you for telling me that.”

“Do you think it impacts the investigation?” Lena asked, wondering if this was all for nothing.

“I don’t know,” he answered, and she felt he was telling the truth. “Has anyone been sending her threatening mail? Making disparaging remarks?”

Lena wondered about this, too. Nan had said nothing new had happened in the last few weeks, but she also knew Lena was not open to discussing anything that might bring up the fact that Nan was fucking her sister. “I guess you should talk to Nan.”

“Nan Thomas?”

“Yeah,” Lena said. “They lived together. The address is on Cooper. Maybe we could go after the briefing?”

“Later today,” he said. “Around four?”

Lena nodded her agreement. She couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Are you going to tell the guys?”

He seemed surprised by her question. After giving her a long look, he said, “I don’t think it’s necessary at this stage. We’ll talk to Nan tonight and go from there.”

Lena felt an inordinate amount of relief.

Jeffrey glanced at his watch. “We’d better get to the briefing.”

9

Jeffrey stood at the front of the briefing room, waiting for Lena to come out of the bathroom. After their discussion, she had asked for a few minutes. He hoped she took the time to get herself together. Despite her temper, Lena Adams was a smart woman and a good cop. He hated to see her going through this alone. Jeffrey also knew that she would not have it any other way.

Sara sat in the front row, her legs crossed. She was wearing an olive-colored linen dress that fell to just above her ankles. Two slits came up either side of her legs, stopping just below her knees. Her red hair was pulled up into a ponytail behind her neck, like she had worn it to church on Sunday. Jeffrey remembered the expression on her face when she had noticed him sitting in the pew behind her and wondered if there would ever be a time in his life again when Sara was actually pleased to see him. He had stared at his hands the entire service, biding his time until he could slip out without causing too much commotion.

Sara Linton was what Jeffrey’s father liked to call a tall drink of water. Jeffrey had been attracted to Sara because of her strong will, her fierce independence. He liked her aloofness and the way she talked down to his football buddies. He liked the way her mind worked and the fact that he could talk about every aspect of his job and know she would understand. He liked that she couldn’t cook and that she could sleep through a hurricane. He liked that she was a horrible house cleaner and that her feet were so big she could wear