Fatal Secrets - Desiree Holt Page 0,1
had marked Justine’s death a cold case before a month had passed, but it wasn’t personal to them. She kept getting the message there were no clues and nothing in her personal life that would cause this. Wrong place, wrong time, the police kept telling her. Everyone had just gone on with their lives, living with the sadness.
But not Zoe. Justine had been her best friend, and Zoe still felt her loss like a sharp pain. Besides, Zoe’d had a feeling all this time that there was something people were missing. The few times she’d tried to dig into it, nothing had popped. But now, with a contract to write the book and unlimited time, she was going to examine everything about Justine’s life at that time. She finally had her chance to find some answers. All she had to do was find the right string to pull.
But all the digging through old newspapers, computer files, and anything else she could get her hands on, which wasn’t much, hadn’t produced a lot, not after ten years. Trying to chase down clues that were almost nonexistent was a frustrating, disappointing project. Looking through old records and newspapers, trying to see if there was anyone at all to talk to. After ten years, it wasn’t easy. Just in case, she’d downloaded articles about major crimes that were in the process of being prosecuted at the time but, lord knew, finding a connection might be next to impossible.
People kept telling her to leave it alone. It was over. That sometimes, sadly, there weren’t answers, but she refused to believe that. Not anymore. She didn’t care if she ruffled the wrong feathers or burst someone’s bubble. It was long past time to get answers. To make someone pay. Besides, if there was nothing there, why had she received warnings in her email and on her cell? These were signs she’d certainly pulled someone’s chain, and she wasn’t going to be warned.
She’d waited too long to do this and she wasn’t giving up. This case was very personal for her, and she wasn’t letting it go. Even after all this time, there still had to be answers out there somewhere, and she was going to find them. She’d made it a personal crusade, since no one else seemed to be pursuing it after all this time.
The county prosecutor, Warren Craig, had done her a favor by agreeing to meet with her again. Coffee with him had been her last meeting after three days of digging and research and trying to get people to talk to her.
Craig was a good-looking man. His thick head of wavy brown hair was showing streaks of gray, but she thought that might be as much from his job as from age. Dark-brown eyes now had a world-weary look, and the sculptured face a few new lines. He had a reputation as a hard-as-nails prosecutor, working with law enforcement to keep major crime out of the county.
She knew he had both an undergraduate and law degree from the University of Montana. His father, senior partner in a law firm that represented Montana’s wealthiest people, had wanted Warren to go to Harvard and then join the law firm, but Warren had made it plain that he was after public service. He’d worked his way up until he was elected to the position of chief prosecutor, a tough job Zoe was well aware of. She had the sense Justine’s death weighed as heavily on him as it did on her.
“Believe me,” he told her. “I don’t think there is anyone besides you who wants answers more than I do. Justine was a very valuable member of my staff and a great person. She worked her ass off, digging out things in paperwork that someone else might have missed. A good many of the cases I won were because of her. Everyone loved her.”
“Not everyone.” She shook her head. “Otherwise she wouldn’t be dead.”
“True that.”
“Someone’s keeping secrets, Warren, and they’ve been keeping them for ten years. It’s time to dig them out.”
“People will do anything to protect themselves,” he agreed, a shadow passing faintly across his eyes. “Okay, I will pull out everything we’ve got on the case and go over it again. I promise I’ll look at every detail. If I find even the smallest thread to tug, I’ll give it a good yank.”
But he knew how frustrated she was, despite the fact he told her he thought they were at a dead