Chapter Six
Ethan set the glass of water on the desk next to Livvy and wished like hell there was more he could do for her.
He wanted to soothe the shock he saw on her face. Wanted to do something to ease that tension in every muscle of her body. He wished he could fix this, but at the moment he couldn’t figure out how.
At least this shock and tension were happening in private since Grace had insisted they go to her office and wait for her.
Of course, everyone in the bullpen—heck, probably the entire town—would likely soon know about Livvy’s prints being on that knife.
But for now, Livvy had these quiet moments to settle.
Or rather try to do that.
“Grace will have to suspend me,” Livvy muttered. With her elbows on the desk, she covered her face with her hands. “There’ll be an investigation, and I’ll lose my badge.”
Sighing, he dropped down into the chair next to her. “There’s already an investigation on the books,” he reminded her. “That happened when you were six and Aileen found you. I’ve read that file. So have you.”
And the bottom line was that Aileen and her team of deputies had done a full-scale search to try to find a body or someone wounded, and they’d come up with nothing.
“You won’t lose your badge for something that happened when you were a kid,” he added.
There was more than a tinge of anger in his voice. He hated that Livvy was beating herself up like this, but he’d be doing the same thing if their situations had been reversed.
“I’ve been thinking about baby names,” Ethan threw out there.
Livvy’s hands dropped from her face, and judging from the look in her eyes, he’d surprised her.
Of course he had. That was because he rarely talked about the baby or her pregnancy.
It was all tied up with the guilt that still ate away at him like acid.
But at the moment he thought both Livvy and he could use a change of subject.
“Baby names?” she questioned. No anger in her voice. Just suspicion. She no doubt knew this was a distraction ploy.
But that wasn’t all it was.
“In four months we’ll be parents,” he went on. “And I figure you’re thinking about names.”
She stared at him. And stared. Then, she nodded. “I’ve jotted down a few options. I thought when the time was right, I’d run them past you.”
What she didn’t say was that she had doubts that the time might never be right, but he saw that in her eyes, too.
And he hated himself for it. Hated that he’d gotten his best friend pregnant and then basically done an emotional ghosting.
This was a major event in their lives, and he’d left her to handle it solo.
Well, no more.
Maybe it was the jolt of seeing this hell Livvy was going through, but he would do a better job of being there for her. And it started now.
“Neither of us have ties to family names,” he went on, “but if the baby is a girl, maybe we can go with Mellie.”
That got the reaction he’d hoped. Livvy smiled. It was barely there and brief, but the suggestion had obviously pleased her. Mellie Carston was their late foster mother, and along with dozens of other kids, she had given Livvy and him a home and plenty of love.
“Yes,” Livvy agreed. “That’s the perfect name.” And if the baby was a boy, she was sure they could come up with an equally perfect name. “Thank you.”
Before he could ask what she was thanking him for, the door opened and Grace stepped in. She immediately volleyed glances at both of them and gave a slight shrug.
“I’m glad I didn’t find you in tears,” Grace said, aiming the remark at Livvy. She kept her attention on them as she made her way to the chair behind her desk. “How are you holding up?” she added.
“I know you’ll have to put me on suspension,” Livvy was quick to say.
Grace sighed and leaned back in her chair. “When I was eight, I punched Mike Brennan after he called my mom some ugly names that no kid should have in their vocabulary.”
Livvy sighed, too. “That’s not the same as my situation.”
Grace held up her hand in a let me finish gesture.
“Mike fell back when I hit him, and he gashed his head on the edge of a locker. He needed a whole bunch of stitches, and I got suspended from school for a week. Now, thirty-something years later, if Mike showed up and insisted that injury had caused some kind of permanent brain damage, should I turn in my badge? Should I stop being sheriff for something I did as a kid nearly three decades ago?”
Ethan could see that Grace’s point was getting through to Livvy. Sort of. “I could have killed someone,” she muttered.
“And you could have simply picked up a bloody knife after witnessing something so traumatic that you mentally shut down,” Grace was quick to argue.
“You could be a witness, not a killer. Which brings me to the knife.” She shifted her gaze to Ethan.
“No one saw the knife being dropped off at Vernice’s. No one,” she emphasized.
Ethan studied Grace’s expression to see if she had doubts about Vernice’s story. Apparently, she did. “You believe Vernice could be involved in this somehow?”
“I’m open to any and all possibilities,” Grace replied.
“And the questions that come along with those possibilities. Such as, why would someone leave that knife with your former mother-in-law? Was it the killer? Was it someone linked to Livvy’s past?
If so, why now?” Grace’s attention lowered to Livvy’s baby bump.
Hell. That got Ethan’s mind whirling with some bad thoughts. “Vernice could want Livvy and me in hot water.” He mentally took out the could. Vernice hated Livvy and him. No doubts about that.
“My prints are on the knife,” Livvy pointed out.
Grace nodded. “Yes, they’re on a knife with no clear chain of custody.
We have no idea where it’s been for all these years or whose blood is on the blade.
We don’t know if your prints were planted on it.
The lab is looking into that,” she added, swiveling her chair toward Livvy.
“All of that is up in the air, especially why someone would involve Vernice in this by leaving her the knife.”
Yeah. That was a puzzler all right. And then Ethan recalled something. “Vernice had fertility problems. I remember her sympathizing with Isabel about it.”
“Bingo,” Grace said. “I just spoke to my mom about this, and she recalled Vernice going through fertility treatments, and she’s almost certain that some of those treatments happened at New Hope.”
Ethan cursed before he could stop himself. That was not a connection he’d expected. Or wanted to hear. Because Vernice did indeed have motive for wanting to ruin Livvy.
But murder?
He still couldn’t see her going that far.
“Maybe someone else killed Zadie,” Grace said, as if reading his thoughts. “And Vernice could have tried to capitalize on it by having the knife come to light.”
Livvy shook her head. “But how would Vernice have gotten the knife in the first place?”
“That’s what I intend to find out. But you two will have to stay out of that,” she insisted. “I’ll interview Vernice and try to establish the timing of her treatments at New Hope. Those could coincide with when Livvy appeared here in town.”
True, and if so, Vernice might have info that was critical to this investigation.
“Now,” Grace continued, steepling her fingers as she rocked back in the chair again. “Do either of you want any downtime—”
“No,” Livvy and he blurted out in unison.
It was Livvy who continued: “I don’t want to be shut away at home with the images of Zadie’s dead body to keep me company.”
“Fair enough,” Grace concluded. “So, I’ll lay out what needs to be done.” She paused and gathered her breath. “I had to cut Anthony loose. No grounds to hold him, much less arrest him. But I do have his mom’s diary, and I’ll have Eden go through that line by line.”
Good. Because there might be info in there to blow this case wide open. “Did we get the warrant to search New Hope?” he asked.
“Nope.” Grace muttered some profanity under her breath. “And Chloe and Franklin have made it clear that they won’t be volunteering any info about their clients or surrogates.”
That wasn’t much of a surprise, especially if Chloe or Franklin had something to hide.
“Since we can’t get into the files, we talk to the former clients, employees and surrogates,” Grace explained. “Rory’s coming up with a list now. I’ll divvy that up once it’s done. For now, though, I’d like the two of you to go to the hospital and try to talk to Sunny.”
“She’s awake?” Ethan asked, already getting to his feet.
Grace nodded. “I got a text right before I came in here. Of course, her doctor is probably going to frown on her being interviewed by the cops, but this is a murder investigation, so you won’t get stonewalled.”
No, they wouldn’t, and hopefully Sunny would cooperate as well. With her sister dead, though, she might still be in shock.
“And FYI,” Grace added as Livvy and he headed for the door, “if you need that downtime, just let me know.”
They both assured her they would, knowing that such a request just wasn’t going to happen.
Livvy was right—better to be out and doing something to solve this case than sitting around and having it weigh them down.
Besides, with all the moving parts of this investigation, Grace had to be short-staffed right now.
Livvy and he got in the cruiser and drove the handful of blocks to the hospital.
Even though Ethan had plenty on his mind, the reminder of the ultrasound popped into his head.
It was scheduled for tomorrow, and it would be done at this very hospital.
He wasn’t even going to try to convince himself that this was a routine appointment.
None of the OB visits were. They were exciting but also carried with them that sickening slam of guilt.