Chapter 7 #2
I used solar panels to beef up my power, so I didn’t have to lean on the lithium batteries most boats ran on. While the food cooked, I stared at the bottle of bourbon in the upper cabinet.
You don’t need it.
I shut my eyes against the voice who had been strangely silent for hours now.
My hand shook a little. I’d definitely been leaning on that fucking bottle for way too long.
Instead of pulling it down, I grabbed my bottle of aspirin, took three, then cracked a bottle of water and downed it in one long pull.
I splashed water on my face in the sink and raked my fingers through my hair.
Looking at dead bodies wasn’t on my schedule today, that was for fucking sure. There was little doubt that Stone was onto something. I wasn’t sure if it was willful ignorance on his captain’s part or ego.
It deserved a call into the feds at the very least.
I had to wonder if it was politics. Salem was a tourist driven town. A serial killer would be a touchy subject. It was early summer, but the fall months were already being planned in a place like this. It was probably 80 percent of their entire revenue for local businesses.
The heart of Salem was filled with day trippers and weekend warriors who stopped through on their trips to Boston. Once October hit, there was no end to the buses that dropped people in town by the hundreds.
Milligan used to bitch about October, but I knew he loved the over-the-top flavor of the parades and cosplayers on Derby and Essex Streets. I was pretty sure he used to hook up with a witch before he met Alyssa.
I wasn’t sure if she was a real one, as in the religion of it, or just someone making a buck on the tourists.
The timer on the air fryer beeped, dragging me out of the past. I checked on the pizza and pulled that out as well. I dumped the poppers on top of the pizza on the stone and used a mitt to take them back out to where Stone was. He’d tucked the files away, leaving the photos tacked to the table.
He was standing, his hands in his pockets as he stared.
“Hope you aren’t vegetarian.”
He looked over his shoulder. “Definitely not.”
“Good.” I set the stone down on the side counter.
We dug in, plowing through the meal as we discussed a few other details of the possible victims.
“Do you have this in digital too?”
Stone shrugged. “Not pulled together like this. I’ve been mostly digging into cold cases to find matches on my own time. We all get assigned two cold cases to work between our main roles. It’s not exactly a priority for most cops during the busy months.”
“But you’re a good little detective?”
He tossed an overly crispy jalapeno popper into the trash before he brushed off his hands. “I was a damn good detective. Some days I wish I never found this fucking case, but I can’t let it go.”
“Why?”
Stone frowned. “What do you mean why?”
I wanted another beer, but I went for a Coke. I grabbed two and handed one over to Stone. “I mean maybe you’re just a Boy Scout.”
He cracked the can and gave me a steady look.
“Whatever.” I sat down and grabbed one of the files.
Dick alert.
I ignored the voice.
What did I care if he was a Boy Scout or an obsessed cop? I was just killing time.
“My sister was killed by a drunk driver.”
I paused, then closed the file.
“It was a hit and run. We didn’t have any answers about the asshole that killed her.
But the cop on the case—Jack Green. I’ll never forget his name.
He worked that case even when it was cold as the ocean in February.
It took six years, but he tracked down the guy.
Took another drunk driving incident, this time the guy he hit lived. But Jack connected it to Katie’s case.”
I glanced over at him. Stone was staring out over the water, his hand gripped the railing as the boat undulated with a choppy wave. Suddenly he turned around and leaned back on the rail, crossing his arms. “I’ve closed six cold cases since I made detective.”
“Along with your other cases.”
He shrugged. “It’s the job. Miranda’s got her eyes on being a lieutenant. She’s way better at the politics of the force than I am, but she warned me I was getting obsessed.”
I slapped the top of the four inch thick stack of folders. “You’re onto something. Snap a pic of the grid we made. Maybe it’ll change her mind.”
I could see the indecision on his face, but the next move was his.
He pushed off and crossed to the table. He lifted his phone high over the table then another choppy wave hit and the file folder slid across the grid.
“How the hell do you live like this?”
I stood, instantly widening my stance to stabilize myself. “Should see a storm in the Caribbean. I actually almost slid off my deck.” I tucked the pictures back in, but paused on one. She looked way too much like Priscilla. In fact, the dress was eerily similar to hers.
I held the photo and stood over the grid.
All the women were wearing dresses. Not all that interesting until seeing them all together. I added Patty Sheldrake to the grid. “This looks like Priscilla’s dress.”
Stone frowned and picked up the photo. “Don’t most women have a dress or two in their closets?”
“Yeah, but every single one of these do. Well, except for two of the earlier ones but they were wearing skirts. Short ones, but still. I don’t know if that matters, but it’s another link.”
“Yeah, I missed that.” He used the double sided tape to tack Patty down then took a photo of the thirty-two women we’d finalized tonight. His fingers flew over the screen.
“Sending it to Diaz?”
“Yeah. Go big or get bumped down to traffic cop.”
I snorted.
His phone buzzed a moment later. Stone checked and his face went blank.
“What is it?”
“Priscilla had a setback. She went back into surgery. Had a nightmare and opened her wound.”
I paced out to the open air part of my deck, dragging in a gulping breath. I looked down at my hand and I could see the blood there again. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t know.”
“If she survives, I’ll take her. If she’ll go with me.”
“Are you sure?”
I wasn’t fucking sure of anything.
I closed my eyes at the bobbing boats in the distance. Even Milligan was fucking silent right then.
“She doesn’t deserve the nightmares.”
I lived them every goddamn night. If I could help keep her safe then maybe she wouldn’t get as fucked up as I was.
“You find this guy, Stone.”
“I will.”
I nodded and opened my eyes until I found the horizon line and my breath evened out.
“Then I’ll keep her safe until you do.”