Chapter 28 #2
The group stood and filed out of the room, a new sense of urgency in their movements.
August rounded the table. “I assume you’ll accept my apology for yesterday.” This he said directly to Sarah despite Kale standing right next to her.
Sarah didn’t know what Lex was up to, but one thing was certain: He never apologized and meant it. “For what? Telling the truth? Not a big deal.” She stared straight at him, let him see the delight in her eyes. “Just remember, it works both ways.”
Lex adjusted his tie. “I suppose I was feeling a little territorial. You were here first, and it has been a while since we’ve worked together.” He glanced briefly at Conner before meeting her gaze once more. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been great.” She reached for her coat and pulled it on, then slung her bag on her shoulder.
“Excellent.” He smiled that million-dollar smile that had first tugged at her heartstrings. “It’ll be nice working with you again.”
Next to her, Conner shifted. If the glower on his face was any indication, he still wanted to beat the hell out of Lex.
“Lots of things are nice, Lex,” she returned. “But working with you in any capacity isn’t one of them.”
Sarah left him standing there. She didn’t look back to see if Conner was behind her.
She could feel him. Her body tingled as she recalled hot, slippery sex in the shower that morning.
But the feelings that overwhelmed all else were those confusing ones from the way he’d made love to her last night.
So sweetly, so tenderly. No one had ever made her feel that protected, that secure.
She shook off the feelings and memories. She had to focus.
Though she was glad Lex had cleared the way for her to stay involved in the investigation, she understood he had a motive. Whatever his agenda, she wasn’t going to allow him to manipulate her reactions again.
Outside, she and Conner took the usual route to an out-of-the-way parking spot. The press was still camped out front in force.
“Hey.”
She hadn’t realized she’d been moving so fast until Conner had to hurry to catch up to her.
“Yeah.”
“So this thing with you and August,” he asked, choosing his words carefully, “what kind of thing was it?”
She rounded the hood without answering, got into the passenger seat of his Jeep. That seemed to be a habit of late. He ended up driving her most everywhere.
Conner slid behind the wheel. “What kind of thing?” he repeated.
“A relationship.” She pulled her seat belt into place. “You know, living together.”
“Were you . . .” He pulled out onto the street. “Engaged or something?”
“No. Just long-term sex partners.”
He braked at a stop sign. “Where are we going?”
The chief certainly hadn’t given her any part of the assignments he’d doled out. “West Street.”
Conner’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“Matilda Calder’s house. I have some questions for her.” She wanted to speak to the innkeeper and the reverend. But right now she needed to see Matilda.
Conner drove another few blocks.
“Do you still have feelings for him?”
He didn’t have to specify which him. She knew exactly who he meant, and the idea was a joke. “Not at all.”
“There sure as hell seemed to be some tension between the two of you.” He shrugged. “I know you were mad as hell yesterday, but he seemed to be trying to make nice today.”
Sarah stared out the window. “What you witnessed yesterday is called hatred, Conner. This morning was tolerance. We both want to work this case, so we tolerate each other. Unless he gives me reason, I won’t kill him or anything.”
Conner chuckled. “I’m reasonably certain you wouldn’t kill anyone. Even if they gave you reason.”
He just didn’t understand. She turned to face him. Wanted to make sure he really got it. “I’m my mother’s daughter; her DNA is somewhere in the neighborhood of fifty percent of my genetic makeup.”
He laughed outright then. “You think because she was a killer, you’ll end up a killer.”
“That’s scientifically possible.”
“Well.” He braked for the turn onto West. “That’s where we see things differently, Sarah. You believe in science. I believe in people.” He looked at her. “I believe in you.”
She stared at his profile. Too handsome. Too sweet.
Everything about him made her flaws all the more glaring.
“I hope I don’t disappoint you.”
He pulled to the curb in front of a rundown shack of a house. “I’m not worried.” He flashed her a smile then got out.
What the hell was it about this guy that made her not want to fail him?
Forget about it, she ordered.
For now, anyway.
The house should have been condemned ages ago. The entire structure leaned to one side. Three, no four, dead cars had been left unburied in the yard. A dog lay on the porch. Sarah didn’t see how he kept from freezing to death.
His tail flopped as they climbed the rickety steps.
“Good fella,” Conner said gently before banging on the door.
The house backed up to the woods. Considering the wooded areas between here and the location of the cemetery, it would be easy for Matilda to slip back and forth without being spotted.
“It’s quiet in there,” Conner said. “Maybe no one’s home.”
“Knock again.”
He banged a little harder this time.
Sarah listened, heard some bumping around. “Someone’s up.”
Conner beat his fist on the door a third time.
The door flew open. “What the hell is it?”
A woman with stringy black hair and dressed in nothing but a T-shirt glared from Conner to Sarah. But the eyes were the same as Matilda’s. This unfortunate being was her mother.
“Is Matilda home?” Sarah summed up the woman in one word. Druggie. Too skinny. Splotchy complexion. Bad teeth. She couldn’t have been more than thirty-five. A serious user.
“Who knows?” The woman flung the door open wider. “See for yourself. I’m going back to bed.” She eyed Conner once before putting word into action.
Conner entered before Sarah. Another of those protective male gestures.
The living room had few furnishings. A ragged couch and a couple of tables. The mainstay of the decorating was garbage. Empty pizza boxes. Beer cans. Newspapers. Dirty clothes.
“Nice place,” Sarah murmured. Poor kid. Living in a dump like this with a mother like that. As crazy as Sarah’s mother had been, she’d kept a clean house and she’d taken care of Sarah most of the time.
The kitchen was even worse. Dirty dishes filled the sink, covered the countertops and table. A couple of black flies that miraculously survived the cold crawled around on the window above the sink.
Conner led the way down the hall. As she’d promised, the mother was sprawled in bed, most of her ass showing. Some dirtbag lay partially under her. A filthy bathroom was the next door they encountered.
The final door was closed. Sarah knocked but there was no answer. The room beyond the door was quiet. She grasped the knob and turned. The latch released and the door opened.
Unlike the rest of the house, Matilda’s room was neat. A white pentagram had been painted with what appeared to be spray paint on the wood floor. Other symbols of her religion hung on the walls. The one bookshelf was mostly empty. Sarah remembered Matilda saying that she’d hidden her stuff.
Her great-great-grandmother’s spell books.
The bed was made. The covers old and tattered.
The closet had a couple of T-shirts hanging inside and not much else.
The window that faced the woods was open a crack.
Sarah walked over and peered through the dingy panes. “So this is your way in and out.” The girl could avoid running into her mother and her friends and seek the safety of the places she felt safe.
The woods.
And the cemetery.
Sarah turned to face Conner. “Let’s go to Bay View Cemetery.”
He shook his head. “No kid should have to live like this.”
And, the saddest part was that none of the God-fearing, compassionate folks in his village seemed to notice or care.
That was Sarah’s cynical side talking. But it was true.
Somehow she would find a way to help Matilda. It was the least Sarah could do for a kindred spirit.
The drive to the cemetery took only three or four minutes.
Sarah opened her door as soon as he’d shut off the engine. She scanned the cemetery. No sign of Matilda.
Sarah had taken only one step from the Jeep when she stopped dead. She stared at Mattie Calder’s headstone.
Sitting there watching Sarah or maybe waiting for her to arrive were three black crows.