Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,66

and took Flora’s hand in hers. “And I have some really bad news, the same person who killed Paula’s friend has also killed…” She paused blinking back the tears and swallowing the lump in her throat. “Also killed Mia.”

“No!” Flora pulled her hand away and covered her mouth with both hands.

Brianna leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Flora. It was her turn to give this woman the bear hug. After her tears and trembling stopped, Brianna sat back and handed her a tissue from the box on her desk. “I’m so sorry I had to be the one to tell you.”

“No, no. I’d want to know,” Flora said wiping away the tears. “Do they know who did it? How she died?”

“We don’t know the who. And as for the how.” Brianna shook her head. “I can’t tell you anything about it now.”

“So, your detective thinks the person who killed Paula’s friend killed Mia?”

“It’s looking that way.”

“When did this happen? I haven’t seen anything on the news.”

“It won’t be. At least we hope to keep it out of the news as much as possible.” Brianna paused to inhale and exhale slowly before continuing. “We think they were both victims of a serial killer.”

“Oh, God.”

Brianna nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. It was just too surreal to think of, except she knew it to be the truth.

“Was she…was she raped?” Flora managed to get out.

“No,” Brianna hurried to reassure her. “We don’t think that’s this guy’s purpose. At least the profiler hasn’t said so. And as to when, well that’s a bit of a question we’re hoping you can help us determine.”

It was one of the reasons she’d come into work today. Besides making sure all the staff’s paychecks were set to be deposited next Thursday—the most important thing in accounting, you don’t mess with people’s money—she and Aaron wanted to get any information they could out of Flora about that last meeting with Mia. Because of the shelter’s extensive security protocols Aaron couldn’t come inside to talk with Flora, and Brianna didn’t want to pull her away from the shelter since they were already short-handed with Paula out, so not only telling her about Mia’s death, but questioning her about their friend fell to Brianna.

“I’ll do anything I can,” Flora said, clenching her hands in her lap, “but I haven’t seen Mia since I ran into her last October.”

“That’s what I want to ask about. Exactly where did you see her?” Brianna pulled out a pad of paper and a pen for notes.

“It was at a Browns’ tailgate party outside the stadium. Phil and I had gotten tickets for the game and were meeting some friends early on to eat and do a little Browns cheering before the game.”

“Which day was it?”

Flora stared off into space for a moment as if trying to recall. “It was the weekend before my sister’s birthday on the twenty-fifth. I wish I could be more specific.”

“That’s okay. You’ve already narrowed it down to just a few days. And I can get the exact date from the internet” Brianna said with a half-smile. She didn’t want to stress the older woman too much and she meant what she said. Flora was already helping. “How did she seem to you?”

“Happy to see me. We hugged, of course,” Flora’s face softened at the memory, then her eyes teared up and she dabbed at them with the tissue again. “She was thin, but then she’d always been a thin little thing. But this was different. A good gust of wind could’ve blown her away like a tumbleweed. And she looked frail. Her skin pale as fine china.”

Brianna nodded sadly. “She was back on the smack.”

“I was afraid of that. She’d been doing so well when she left.” The tender-hearted Flora shook her head and stared off into space, once more fighting back her tears.

“What did you talk about?” Brianna asked after a long moment, directing her back to the subject.

“She said she was doing well, going to classes. I didn’t really believe her. Not the way she was looking and how she was playing for passing change, but I did hope she would follow those plans.” Flora paused. “She said she was going to be in a magazine.”

Brianna paused her pen on the paper and drew her brows down in confusion. “A magazine? What did she mean by that?”

“I asked her what she was talking about. She said she’d been meeting with a journalist who wanted