Chapter 3 #2
The man paused as he came abreast of Grant. “Are you with Agent Hart?”
Grant nodded, taking his cue from Avery and not offering anything more than brief answers to direct questions. Something was off.
“This is Grant Hayes,” Avery said, “He’s a talented profiler I’ve worked with in the past. He’s agreed to help us with the case.”
The man held out his hand. “Excellent. I’m Sheriff Taylor. We could use all the help we can get. Agents Bradley and Hart have been hard at work since they arrived three days ago. We’re so shorthanded around here, we’re glad for the help. Anything to find the man terrorizing our small town.”
“Glad to help,” Grant said. What the fuck is going on?
The auburn-haired woman reached out a hand. “Agent Melissa Bradley. Nice to meet you. Agent Hart didn’t tell us she’d contacted a profiler.”
Because she hadn’t. She’d been unconscious in a hospital. Grant maintained a poker face.
Without missing a beat, Avery said, “I wasn’t sure I could get him.”
Scrambling to match her story, Grant added, “I had a break in my schedule and came as soon as I could. Nice to meet you.”
“Is he going to the Medical Examiner’s office with you?” Agent Bradley asked Avery.
Avery nodded. “We were just leaving.”
“I’m anxious to hear what he has to say. Glad you’re on board, Mr. Hayes,” Agent Bradley said.
“Grant,” he corrected.
Bradley nodded. “Grant. Glad you could come. Agent Hart will bring you up to date.” She and Sheriff Taylor continued down the hall.
Before they could leave the building, an older man wearing jeans and a blue chambray shirt entered, carrying a tray of disposable cups.
“Ah, Dan, it’s good to see you,” Melissa Bradley said.
The man smiled and held out the tray. “I was about to start my shift at the bar and grill and thought you all had been working so hard you could use some of Cook’s coffee from the diner.”
Agent Bradley moaned and reached for a cup. “You’re a lifesaver. Thank you for thinking of us.” She turned to the sheriff and handed him the cup.
Sheriff Taylor lifted the cup in salute. “Thanks, Dan. Perfect timing. We were just on our way out.”
“Don’t let me keep you,” Dan said. “We’re counting on you to make our town safe.”
The sheriff’s lips thinned. “We’re doing the best we can.” He followed Agent Bradly out of the office.
As the door swung closed behind them, Dan called out, “That’s all we can ask.” He turned to the deputy behind the front desk. “Joe, you need a caffeine boost.”
“Sure do,” the man said and grabbed one of the cups.
When Dan turned to Avery, she shook her head. “No, thank you.”
Dan pointed to the cup closest to him. “This one has a dash of caramel and cream, the way you like it, Agent Hart.”
She gave him a strained smile. “In that case...” Avery reached for the cup he’d indicated. “So nice of you to remember.” She held the cup without taking a sip.
Grant held up a hand. “None for me.”
Avery turned, the frown dipping lower on her forehead. “Ready to go?”
Grant nodded and followed her out the door. He waited until they were back in his rental car before turning to her. “What the hell just happened?”
“I don’t know,” Avery said. “Is this part of my memory loss? Was I here and forgot everything that happened over the past four days?”
Grant shook his head. “I feel like we just stepped into the Twilight Zone.”
“Me, too.”
“But you weren’t here. You were in a hospital bed, according to the nurse and doctor who worked with you.”
“If I was in the hospital, why do Agent Bradley and Sheriff Taylor act as if I’ve been here the entire time?”
“Perhaps we should have asked them,” he pointed out. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
She shook her head. “Truthfully, for a moment, I thought I was having a memory lapse, and I didn’t want them to think I wasn’t capable of working the case.
I wanted to gather any information they might have about what they’ve been working on.
I don’t know. I feel like I’ve stepped into an alternate dimension.
” She pushed a hand through her black hair, pulling it up into a ponytail.
Grant watched Avery’s movement, something about her hair jogging a memory. “Is it me, or did they act like you had come back into the office after just leaving?”
Avery’s eyes narrowed. “The deputy at the desk did say the sheriff was right where I’d left him. I thought it was strange then.”
“And Agent Bradley asked if you’d forgotten something, like you’d left and come back. Not to mention that man, Dan, made coffee just the way you like it.”
“That was strange.” Avery drew in a breath and huffed it out. “How would he know how I like my coffee?”
Grant stared at the entrance door. “When we arrived, did you see the man and the teenager holding the door as a woman came out?”
Avery nodded. “The one wearing the black ball cap?”
Grant nodded. “I swear, she looked familiar. When she turned away, I could see she had a long black ponytail sticking out of the back of the cap.” His pulse quickened, and he reached out to start the engine. The woman with the ponytail had left the parking lot, heading east.
“They think I was on my way to the Medical Examiner’s office.” Avery met Grant’s gaze.
He handed her his cell phone and backed out of the parking space. “We need directions to the M.E.’s office.”
Avery unlocked the screen without asking for his password and clicked the map application icon. Seconds later, she had the directions. “Takes five minutes to get there.”
Grant pulled out on the street heading east.
“Do you think someone is really passing herself off as me?” Avery shook her head. “Wouldn’t the sheriff have asked for her identification, her credentials?”
“Not if Agent Bradley got there first and vouched for her.” Grant turned onto another road, following the directions the map was giving him. “How long have you known Bradley?”
“A week,” Avery said. “We went to a barbecue at my boss, Paul Fletcher’s, house, the first day I arrived. Come to think of it, she’s been busy wrapping up another case and has been out of the office a lot. She was supposed to arrive the day after me.”
“Is it possible she would mistake someone with similar hair color and build for you?” Grant asked.
“I suppose it’s possible.”
“And you’re new in the San Antonio area. She wouldn’t know a lot about you.”
Avery glanced down at the map and back up, her mouth set in a grim line. “Turn right at the next street. The M.E.’s office is a little past the edge of town.”
Grant turned the corner and pressed his foot to the accelerator.
Moments later, he pulled into the small parking lot of a brick building that was that burnt mustard color popular back in the 1970s.
He parked next to a back SUV similar to the one the woman in the ball cap had driven out of the sheriff’s parking lot.
He’d only caught a glimpse of the woman’s SUV.
He couldn’t be sure this was hers. There was only one way to find out.
He shoved open his door at the same time Avery opened hers.
Together, they entered the M.E.’s office.
“Be ready,” Avery whispered, “in case she tries to run.”
Grant was ready, his muscles tense, ready to corner the woman pretending to be Agent Avery Hart.