Chapter 20
“If you drink two gallons of water a day, you won’t have time for other people’s drama because you’ll be too busy peeing all the time. Stay hydrated.”
—It’s science
Hector
Once again, I spent most of my day at work thinking about Iris. Whatever spell she had put on me was working, because even innocuous things had me thinking of her.
Books on the shelf in my office? Instantly my brain went to what dirty things were in her neighbor’s books that Iris wanted to do.
The new coffee pods at work? Memories flooded my mind of her drinking coffee with me in her kitchen this morning in nothing but my flannel shirt.
Not all my thoughts were of sex, though. Her words last night about how I gave her a sense of safety caused my chest to tighten. Damn, if it hadn’t made me feel good that she trusted me like that.
“Look at you…” Diden’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I looked up to see her in the doorway. “Two days in a row with a smile on your face. You also didn’t automatically growl when you walked into the break room this morning. What’s gotten into you?”
I knew she was teasing me, but I had definitely felt, I don’t know, lighter the last several days, and I knew it was all because of Iris.
“You want me to growl?” I asked.
“No, I definitely like this version of you,” she said, smiling as she walked farther into the office and sat in the chair across from me on the other side of my desk. “Dare I assume this is because of Iris?”
Jesus, I thought the LVPD was full of gossips…The Park Service wasn’t much better.
“What do you need?” I asked, hoping to redirect.
“You’re gonna think I’m crazy, but roll with me for a second,” she started to say, and I immediately hated where this conversation was going. “I decided to listen to Mr. Stanton last night. It’s actually quite good. It’s called Murder, Steve Wrote, and he details a lot of good cold cases.”
“Murder, Steve Wrote?” I questioned.
“It’s a great name, right?” Diden asked excitedly, although that definitely would not have been the word I’d have used to describe the name.
Cheesy, cringey, overdone—those felt more appropriate.
“Jesus, why do you listen to that kook?” Jennings’s voice sounded from my doorway. “The guy’s a wannabe cop who probably flunked out of the police academy and lives in his mom’s basement.”
“Are some of them like that? Yes,” Diden admitted. “I’m not sure about this one. He helped solve the cold case from that religious cult in Texas.”
“Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once in a while,” Jennings said with a smile on his face, clearly taunting Diden and her love of true crime podcasts. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you find out some of these podcasters are actually the criminals themselves.”
On that note, I chose to intervene. “Speaking of which, there’s another dive team set to arrive at Lake Echo in about an hour. Diden, I want you to come with me to help with the crowds or anyone trying to interfere.”
“You find another body?” Diden asked, both shock and nervousness written all over her face.
“No bodies,” I told her but chose not to give her more info just yet. “You’re in charge of the building while we’re out, Jennings.”
He nodded in response, and the three of us made our way out of my office, Diden following behind me.
I decided to take her with me because I thought it would be good for the podcaster’s ego to see someone who actually listened to his podcast. Maybe soften him up.
Diden didn’t yet know I had invited Mr. Stanton, though technically I hadn’t invited him personally.
Diden had mentioned Steve listened to the police scanners, so I had a buddy of mine back at LVPD make a couple of offhand comments on there about the new dive team we were having come out today at eleven to recover extra evidence we had found.
“Alright, boss, so what’s the plan?” she asked as we drove out of the parking lot.
“ISB wants to do one more dive to see if they can find anything else.”
As we pulled into a parking space, I knew she saw the same thing I had—Steve Stanton.
“The uh, podcaster, Steve, is here,” she mentioned to me.
“I see that,” I responded. “As much as he annoys me, he’s not standing in a restricted area—yet—so I can’t ask him to move. He’s free to do what he wants, though if he gets too close, I’ll make him leave.”
“I’ll talk to him,” she offered, and that worked perfectly. “I’ll make sure he stays where he’s supposed to and doesn’t interfere.”
The tone in her voice was soft, as though she were talking about a friend or someone she admired.
It was perfect timing, as the boat pulled up to the cove in front of us just as I was getting out of the vehicle.
“You go talk to Stanton, and I’ll call in to talk to whoever is on command for the boat,” I told her and proceeded to call O’Connor from my phone.
After a short discussion, I made sure the walkie talkie on my belt had the volume turned up extra loud so that both Diden and Stanton could hear it as I walked over to where they were standing.
“I informed him about the dive, and he asked if he could stay and watch,” Diden muttered, her voice low so I could hear it, likely just in case I told her no, but the look on Stanton’s face showed he heard her too.
“That’s fine, but you stay by us, and do not move to the water, as it’s now considered a restricted area while they dive,” I responded, making sure I was loud enough for both to hear.
“Yes, sir,” Stanton replied, nodding emphatically.
I had discussed with O’Connor that his men needed to keep the conversation to a minimum since there would be ears listening to everything they said. The dive team knew they were to get in, swim around for a bit, and then come up to the surface and report they’d found something.
Which was where we were now. Twenty minutes after we had arrived and the divers had made their way into the water, the crackle of static filled the air before a voice chimed in on my two-way radio.
“Command, this is Neptune Two. Copy.”
“Neptune Two, this is Command. Go Ahead,” O’Connor’s voice sounded.
“Be advised, we have found the object. Item is secure. We will bag and surface with it soon. Recommend standby for transfer.”
“Affirmative. Chain of custody on contact and awaiting your arrival,” O’Connor replied.
They had permission to pull any random piece of debris from the bottom of the lake they wanted, as long as it was small enough to fit in their hands, so as to not be obvious what it was from a short distance.
“They found something?” Diden asked.
“What were they looking for?” Stanton asked, his eyes wide with curiosity.
“It could be the break we’ve been looking for in the case,” I told them, hopefully sounding believable. “We got a credible tip, and as long as it’s still intact, it’s a piece of evidence that should pinpoint who the killer is.”
“What is it?” Stanton asked, trying to sound casual about it, but the gleam in his eye told otherwise.
“Nice try,” I said. “I don’t mind letting you stand here and watch the crew work, but I’m not telling you details that you could blast to your podcast and potentially let the killer know we’re onto him.
Just know that your connection may have been right—and this might be the key to connecting this woman to the others. ”
His eyes bugged out, but only temporarily. If I hadn’t already been staring at him while he did it, I may have missed it.
“Understood,” he said, but he was clearly disgruntled about it.
We watched the divers reboard the boat and prepare to end their search.
“So how long will you leave this area blocked off?” Stanton asked, aiming for offhand, but there was no mistaking the curiosity in his tone.
“Likely the next day or so, but then it should be open again to the public,” I announced, hoping he took the bait.
“Well, um, thank you for letting me watch. I need to get home now,” Stanton said to us and then turned to look right at Diden. “If you really do like the podcast, don’t forget to leave me a review, please. It helps with the ratings.”
“Sure, no problem,” Diden responded excitedly.
About thirty minutes later, Diden and I got back in the vehicle to head back to the office, and I hadn’t even closed my door before she huffed in frustration.
“You didn’t tell me they were looking for something specific,” Diden said, and I could tell she was a bit offended I hadn’t told her.
“Our office is like a gossip column,” I started to explain, giving half-truths the entire time. “I didn’t want to have anyone spreading rumors about stuff in case they didn’t find anything.”
“Fair, but it still would have been nice to know what was at play here.”
I knew what she meant, but since technically there wasn’t any real item for them to find, the less she knew the better.
The rest of the ride was silent, and I headed straight for my office once we got back so I could call Agent Andrews and fill her in.
“Well, how did it go?” Andrews asked.
“I couldn’t get a full read on him, but he’s definitely going to do something with that information.”
I told her everything that had gone down, including how he asked me what the evidence was and his reactions throughout all of it.
“Alright, well, this sounds like the plan is in motion. We just need to see if he takes the bait, and what he decides to do with that information,” she added.
And she was right. He could choose to pounce on the information right away, or he may decide to sit on it for a while.
Now began the waiting game.