Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 67665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67665 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 338(@200wpm)___ 271(@250wpm)___ 226(@300wpm)
“Hey,” a voice called me out of my daydream.
I inhaled slowly, fighting the urge to jump. “Hey.”
It was Ryan, the officer who had been working the drug case before I came along. “Have you moved into your cabin?” He took a seat at his own desk, facing mine.
“Yeah.” I typed something just to look like I was busy.
“How is it?”
I shrugged, picturing Lindsey’s body grinding beneath me. “It’s good.”
“How’s the new roommate?” Ryan grinned, as if he knew something.
I sighed. “So far, so good.”
“I don’t know if I could manage being just roommates with Lindsey.” Ryan had also been born in Singer’s Ridge and had gone to high school with both Lindsey and Ava.
I narrowed my eyes. “How was dinner last week?” I tossed the examination back at him.
“Oh, you know…” He stretched awkwardly. “Ava was there.”
“And how did that go?” I asked.
“Not good,” he admitted. “How’s the case?”
I laughed, because we should have been talking about the case to begin with, not as a method of diverting attention from each of our love lives. I filled Ryan in on everything I had discovered, including my suspicion that something fishy was going on over at the hair salon.
“Do you think the girls know?” Ryan asked.
I shook my head. I was going to give Lindsey the benefit of the doubt. Unless she proved to me that she was a willing participant in the drug scheme, I was going to put her down as innocent.
“What’s our next move?” Ryan said.
“I think we need to talk to them. You can talk to Ava, and I’ll talk to Lindsey. See if you can get any details about large purchases that have been made or deliveries they’re receiving.”
Ryan frowned.
“You don’t think Ava has anything to do with it, do you?” I asked.
“No,” Ryan said quickly. “It’s just…things ended kind of awkwardly for us. I wasn’t…the most stand-up guy if you know what I mean.”
“Right.” I didn’t know exactly what had happened between Ryan and Ava, but I could guess.
“Maybe I could talk to Lindsey, and you could talk to Ava?” Ryan suggested.
I shrugged. “Sure.”
We waited until after six when we knew the girls would be off work. We walked over to the hair salon and panicked a little when we found it empty.
“Look, it’s Ava’s car.” Ryan pointed across the street at the diner.
We jogged across the street and up the porch steps into the most popular dinner place in town. It didn’t take long to find the girls sharing a booth. Lindsey sat with her back to us, leaning forward as if she were sharing a secret. Ava saw us first, pointing a finger to silence her friend.
Lindsey turned, and I could see her face light up. She was actually happy to see me. I hoped she didn’t think we were now engaged in some kind of relationship. The sex had been a mistake—a life-affirming, earth-shattering mistake. I didn’t look forward to a conversation where I might have to establish boundaries. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
“Evening, ladies,” I said.
Ava smiled like she knew something but kept her mouth shut.
“I was wondering if we might have a word with you about the hair salon?”
Their faces fell when they realized this was not a social call.
“If you could come back to the station with me?” I asked Ava.
“Me?” she said.
“Yes.” I nodded.
The two girls looked at each other in confusion. “But we haven’t finished our dinner,” Ava protested.
“It’ll just take a few minutes,” I promised.
“Okay.” Ava slid out of the booth, smiling shyly at Ryan as she passed him.
Lindsey looked up at me with wounded eyes, and I wondered why. I was asking Ava back to the station to give a witness statement, not to have dinner. Hell, I was interrupting their dinner—it should have been obvious that this wasn’t a date. Still, I couldn’t shake Lindsey’s disappointed gaze. It followed me all the way back to the station.
“Do you want a coffee?” I asked Ava when we reached my office.
“No, thank you,” she said stiffly.
We were alone in the building. Cheryl and the chief had gone home for the night. Ryan was at the diner with Lindsey. The other policeman on duty was out patrolling. The night dispatcher worked from home, so we barely ever saw her.
I turned all the lights on to avoid a romantic setting and pointed to the chair beside my desk. “Have a seat.”
Ava sat.
“Did you know Carrie Fishburn?” I opened, intending to shock her.
Ava nodded. She was clearly uncomfortable but determined to see this through.
“What about Barbara Clydesdale?”
“Yes, I knew them both,” Ava said.
I listed the other two victims, and she admitted to knowing all four of them.
“What is this about?” Ava interrupted me. “Do you think we had something to do with their deaths? They all died of drug overdoses.”