Witcher Upper - Amy Boyles Page 0,27

thought.

I glanced at my truck and then at Rufus. He had a point.

“Besides,” he added, “you haven’t slept.”

I hiked a brow. “How can you tell?”

“It’s obvious.” He unlocked the truck and opened the door, gesturing for me to get in and slide over across the bench seat. “Now, will you do me this favor and let me play chauffeur today? It’s the least I can do to repay your kindness.”

I stared into his eyes, the darkness of them so fitting, yet they held sympathy and gentleness that I never thought to witness in him.

Don’t ask me why I did it, why I said yes, but I did. “Sure. Take me to the police station.”

Chapter 11

“Looks open-and-shut if you ask me,” Tuney Sluggs said.

Rufus and I stood in his office. Tuney had managed to wake up this morning with his wits about him since he wore his uniform, complete with cowboy boots.

“Chief,” I said, “there is no way that Sadie would have fallen into the foundation without getting out of it. Would you?”

He rubbed his chin, his hand scraping over his whiskers. “Well, I suppose,” he said, “if I was drunk, I might not. We’ll see what happens when toxicology comes back.”

Anger whittled through my veins. “I discovered this morning that Sadie was withdrawing money from the bank at an alarming rate and making large credit card purchases that I haven’t been able to account for yet.”

He grunted. “Sounds like a woman who likes to spend money.” He winked at Rufus as if it was an inside joke. “She wouldn’t be the first I’ve ever heard of who did that.”

My jaw opened, and I was about to spew a line of profanities at him when Rufus stepped in.

“Would it be possible to get the deceased’s personal effects? What was discovered on her last night? That is, if you’re finished with them.”

Tuney grunted again and waved at the doorway. “Sure. Tell the desk sergeant on your way out that I said it was okay.”

There was so much more that I wanted to say, but Rufus tugged me from the office.

“But I wasn’t finished with him yet,” I snarled.

“You were,” he said in my ear, his breath tickling my flesh. “If you’d spent one more minute with him, your head would have exploded.”

I scoffed. “That wouldn’t have happened.”

He stopped and shot me a pointed look. “You did not see the expression on your face.”

I folded my arms and scowled. “What expression was that?”

“Like you wanted to throttle him,” he murmured. Without another word, Rufus took my elbow and walked me toward the desk sergeant.

A flashback of a time when I let Rufus lead me to another place seared my brain, and suddenly I was suffocating, unable to get any air into my lungs. Heaving, I yanked my arm away.

He stopped, whirled around. Concern filled his eyes. “Are you okay?”

My hands shook, and my mouth suddenly felt parched. I stared into his eyes. They appeared so much like they had that night and yet so different, the emotions not toying with me, not attempting to deceive me.

I got myself under control. “Yes,” I whispered. “I’m fine. Let’s just go.”

It took a couple of minutes for the sergeant to get Sadie’s things, but when he returned to the desk, he handed me a gallon-sized plastic bag filled with cement-caked clothes and Sadie’s small purse that she used after business hours, when she didn’t have to haul swatches and samples.

I immediately opened the bag and unsnapped the purse, looking for her cell phone. But the only things I found were keys, a tube of lipstick, a mirror and a tampon.

Not exactly what I was looking for.

My gaze cut to the sergeant. “Where’s her phone? Is Sluggs keeping it for evidence?”

The sergeant glanced down at a sheet of paper that listed all the contents that the police had collected. “There’s no phone on here. None was found.”

My brows stitched together. “That’s impossible. Sadie always had her phone on her.”

But then I remembered that I hadn’t seen Sadie’s car parked at the barn. “And did you find her car?”

He nodded. “It was discovered down the road a ways.”

Must’ve been parked where we couldn’t see it last night. “Was the phone in there?”

The sergeant shook his head. “If we’d’a found it, it would be in that bag. Sorry, but that’s all I’ve got.”

I thanked him and left, Rufus leading the way.

“Did you get her keys?” he asked as soon as we were out the door.

“Yes. They’re here.”

“Good,” he murmured.