you just carry these around?” she asked, indicating the files.
“Yes.”
Asked and answered. Dr. Baker is nothing if not straightforward.
“The police were unable to find a motive for Danielle’s death. She wasn’t pregnant, she wasn’t seeing anyone, she was well liked and had a healthy family life. She was going to graduate soon—”
Ava nodded. “Yeah, our grad was coming up in another few weeks.”
“—and was going to the U of M in the fall. No drama that anyone could find.”
“Clearly you don’t remember high school girls,” Ava pointed out. “Let’s amend that to ‘no unusual drama.’”
“As you like. So I got to thinking … what if Danielle wasn’t the target?”
“Well … maybe … but why assume I was? I wasn’t pregnant or seeing anyone, and I might not have been homecoming queen, but I wasn’t the school Igor, either.”
“That’s what I’d like to figure out. First we hypothesize—”
“Is that what we’re doing?”
“—and then we prove or disprove.”
“Well, what do the cops think?”
Tom sighed. “The police for the most part disagree with my theory. Which is understandable.”
“Because…?” Who could doubt this guy? This meticulous, efficient guy who pulled all-nighters and drove around with autopsy folders in his trunk and kissed like it was about to be outlawed? Someone like that wasn’t prone to wild leaps of imagination.
“Because it’s a cold case—though it’s been dusted off due to last night’s vandalism. I need more than a theory to rekindle their interest in solving Danielle’s murder.”
“Okay. But can I ask you something? Why this case? You knew all about Danielle before we met. You didn’t just learn all this last night. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad you’re going over and above, but you’ve gotta have bunches of unsolveds in your files.”
He nodded. “Every medical examiner does. But I was only a teenager when Danielle was killed.”
“Join the club. You’re—what? Four years younger than me? Five?” So he would have been thirteen or so. Ouch.
He nodded. “Before Danielle was murdered, I thought I had understood the concept of death, if only from an intellectual standpoint. But that was the first time I truly understood that some people simply get away with murder, and often for no good reason at all. And”—he paused, then met her gaze and finished with—“it stayed with me. It always will, I think. Even if we solve it.”
We?
She glanced down at his folder, saw an autopsy photo, looked away. But that wasn’t enough, so she physically pushed the photos to the side and leaned forward. “Okay, so … what’s the plan?”
Tom ran his hand over his bare scalp and frowned. She assumed he was either deep in thought or worried about sunburn. Or both. “In progress. There is little I can do on my own, and you’ll be leaving the Cities by the end of the day. Would you consider making yourself available to me—”
Down, girl. Put your libido in park already.
“—via telephone and social media and the like?”
I can’t remember the last time someone said “telephone” instead of “phone” or “cell.” Adorable!
“Sure. I’d be glad to. But c’mon, Dr. Baker…”
“Tom, please. Unless you wish for me to use Captain.”
She waved it away. “We’re past that, Tom. I don’t even know why I used your title.” Please tell me I don’t have a latent Little House on the Prairie kink.
“Not Tommy, though,” he added with odd intensity. “Never Tommy.”
“Got it. I am making a mental note to never call you Tommy. Okay? So don’t worry. We’re in a Tommy-free zone.”
“Oh, Tommy?”
They both looked up at the same instant to see a smiling elderly man holding hands with a girl who looked about five. Tom’s eyes widened and he was on his feet before she had time to blink.
“What—what are you doing here?”
Before Ava could ask if there was a problem, she was hit by something with enough force to knock her right off the picnic table bench. Because that’s what kind of weekend this was. No matter where she was or what she was doing, something was always trashing her equilibrium.
Now what fresh hell is this?
Sixteen
“Ack! What the—agh, not there, that tickles!” Elbows flailing, Ava managed to heave the weight off her chest and struggle upright. She blinked up at the old man, the giggling girl, and an aggrieved Tom. She blinked down at the dog, who had rolled over for a belly scratch.
“I should have deduced you’d be here!”
“Why, Tom?” the elderly chap asked, extending a wiry arm. Ava was surprised at how easily he got her back on