Blindsighted (Grant County #1) - Karin Slaughter Page 0,51

The two windows on either side were untouched, but the glass in the center would cost a small fortune to replace. “Where is he?” Jeffrey asked.

Matt nodded toward the front door. He had the same smug look Jeffrey had seen on Ryan Gordon a few minutes ago.

Matt said, “In the house.”

Jeffrey started toward the door, then stopped himself. He reached into his wallet and pulled out a twenty. “Go buy some plywood,” he said. “Bring it back here as soon as possible.”

Matt’s jaw set, but Jeffrey leveled him with a hard stare. “You got something you want to say to me, Matt?”

Frank interjected, “We’ll see if we can get some glass on order while we’re there.”

“Yeah,” Matt grumbled, walking toward the car.

Frank started to follow, but Jeffrey stopped him. He asked, “You got any idea who might have done this?”

Frank stared down at his feet for a few seconds. “Matt was with me all morning, if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“It was.”

Frank looked back up. “I’ll tell you what, Chief, I find out who did, I’ll take care of it.”

He did not wait around for Jeffrey’s opinion on this. He turned, walking back toward Matt’s car. Jeffrey waited for them to drive off before walking up the drive to Will Harris’s house.

Jeffrey gave the screen door a gentle knock before letting himself in. Will Harris was sitting in his chair, a glass of iced tea beside him. He stood when Jeffrey entered the room.

“I didn’t mean to bring you out here,” Will said. “I was just reporting it. My neighbor got me kind of scared.”

“Which one?” Jeffrey asked.

“Mrs. Barr across the way.” He pointed out the window. “She’s an older woman, scares real easy. She said she didn’t see anything. Your people already asked her.” He walked back to his chair and picked up a piece of white paper, which he offered to Jeffrey. “I got kind of scared, too, when I saw this.”

Jeffrey took the paper, tasting bile in the back of his throat as he read the threatening words typed onto the white sheet of paper. The note said: “Watch your back, nigger.”

Jeffrey folded the paper, tucking it into his pocket. He put his hands on his hips, looking around the room. “Nice place you got here.”

“Thank you,” Will returned.

Jeffrey turned toward the front windows. He did not have a good feeling about this. Will Harris’s life was in danger simply because Jeffrey had talked to him the other day. He asked, “You mind if I sleep on your couch tonight?”

Will seemed surprised. “You think that’s necessary?”

Jeffrey shrugged. “Better safe than sorry, don’t you think?”

12

Lena sat at the kitchen table in her house, staring at the salt and pepper shakers. She tried to get her head around what had happened today. She was certain that Ryan Gordon’s only crime was being an asshole. If Julia Matthews was smart, she had headed back home or was lying low for a while, probably trying to get away from her boyfriend. This left the reason Jeffrey and Lena had gone to the college wide open. There were still no suspects for her sister’s murder.

With each minute that passed, with each hour that went by with no solid lead toward finding the man who had killed her sister, Lena felt herself getting more and more angry. Sibyl had always warned Lena that anger was a dangerous thing, that she should allow other emotions to come through. Right now, Lena could not imagine herself ever being happy again, or even sad. She was numbed by the loss, and anger was the only thing that made her feel like she was still alive. She was embracing her anger, letting it grow inside of her like a cancer, so that she would not break down into a powerless child. She needed her anger to get her through this. After Sibyl’s killer was caught, after Julia Matthews was found, Lena would let herself grieve.

“Sibby.” Lena sighed, putting her hands over her eyes. Even during the interview with Gordon, images of Sibyl had started to seep into Lena’s mind. The harder she fought them off, the stronger they were.

They came in flashes, these memories. One minute, she was sitting across from Gordon, listening to his pathetic posturing, the next she was twelve years old, at the beach, leading Sibyl down to the ocean so they could play in the water. Early on after the accident that had blinded Sibyl, Lena had become her sister’s eyes; through Lena,