of promise. Such a shame what happened.”
Glynis said, “I can’t wait to see Rob again. Do you know he kissed me once? We were seventeen, I remember, and even though I didn’t want to, I had to tell him to cut it out, we were first cousins, and kissing was against the law, or something. I know better now. Imagine, Rob’s not in jail or dead. That’s wonderful.”
“You can tell Rob that yourself, Glynis,” Venus said. “I’ve just decided to invite him and his girlfriend to dinner tomorrow night. I expect all of you to be here and to welcome him home.”
There was steel in her voice again. Savich had no doubt every single Rasmussen would be front and present. As for welcoming Rob home—who knew?
12
* * *
LOST HILLS SHERIFF’S STATION
CALABASAS, CALIFORNIA
TUESDAY MORNING
Sheriff Dreyfus Murray had been notified by Special Agent Richard—Duke—Morgan, Criminal Division Unit chief, that one of Morgan’s people was coming from Washington to assist in the Serial case. Assist them, now that was a joke. A Fed was coming to take over the case, more like. He hadn’t been told a name. He spotted her the second she walked through the door. He could tell from twenty feet away that she was a looker, tall and fit, striding like she owned the world, and looking like she could outrun him when he’d been twenty. She was wearing dark blue pants, a tucked-in white shirt, a red blazer to cover her Glock, and black banged-up boots with a high shine.
Then Dreyfus Murray did a double take.
“Cammie, is that you, girl?”
A smile bloomed. “Dreyfus! How lovely to see you.”
He hugged her, then set her back, shaking his head. “Of course I knew you’d gone into the FBI, but—look at you, here you are, the bigfoot Fed sticking your nose in my business. What’s it been, three years since I last saw you?”
Cam smiled. “Nah, I’m no bigfoot, my feet are princess-size. Well, maybe a nine isn’t all that small, but still, even my toes have no intention of wriggling under your tent. Yeah, about three years, it was Mom’s birthday and you brought her balloons and cupcakes. Speaking of Mom, after I told her I was coming, she laughed, said I should surprise you, and that’s why I didn’t call.”
“Lisabeth’s a real joker, always having fun, always getting such a kick out of life, even though she didn’t marry me.” He sighed. “Everything turned out for the best. I finally had to admit your dad is an okay guy. He’s never strayed, unusual for an actor, right? Even my wife likes your mom, but not enough to invite her to dinner more than once a year.”
“No, Dad and Mom are a rarity in LaLa Land—happily married for longer than I’ve been alive. Must have something to do with them staying outside Hollywood’s rarified A-list. How’s Suzanne? And the boys?” Cam asked.
Murray shook his head. “Can you believe none of them wanted to be cops? Engineers, the four of them, two of them partners in a company they started up, Murray Engineering, and they’re populating Southern California. We’re up to ten grandkids now.” He turned to his dispatcher. “Hey, Al, a couple of coffees for me and the lady Fed. Still drinking it like a girl—half milk?”
She laughed. “No coffee for me just now, thank you.”
Murray ushered her into his office, sat her down. “Now, you tell your mom to keep out of this. I know she and your dad knew Constance Morrissey, lived what—eight houses down from them in the Colony? They’re to steer clear, all right? I don’t want them dragged into this, taking any chances, and you know your mom, she wouldn’t hesitate.”
“I’m not even staying with them, Dreyfus. They’ll have their ideas about Constance Morrissey, I’m sure, but they won’t be knocking on doors and questioning people.” She paused. “Well, more than they already have. I’ll tell them again to stay away from all this.”
“Well, that’s something. Are you sure they’ll listen?”
“Not really.”
“Don’t know why I asked in the first place. Okay, Cammie, if you’re ready to meet my detective who’s lead on this case, let me take you to Daniel Montoya. He was here for a week when Constance Morrissey was murdered. May 3rd. He’s the one who figured out we had a Serial on our hands.” He sounded like a proud papa, so Cam didn’t bother to tell him she’d already found out everything there was to know about Montoya and she’d read his