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“Your place,” he stated, his voice raspy, his throat dry.
“You want me to shoot these?” she asked.
He nodded, unable to get another word out.
“You okay?”
He nodded again.
“Walt? Something wrong?”
His mind tried to stop his mouth, but it was over before he could stop himself.
“Everything,” he said.
31
Walt stood, backlit by the glare of the Jeep’s headlights, his ghoulish shadow stretching far in front of him. Fiona parked her Subaru by the cottage and stood alongside him.
“Do you want to come in?” she asked.
“That flower bed is damaged,” he said, his eyes on the freshly turned earth.
“The deer wreak havoc,” she said.
He looked over at her, the harsh light playing across her face. “When did Kira go missing, exactly?”
“I don’t know exactly. A couple days after the Advocates di
“The right timing and she’s in the clear.”
“Do not go there.”
“Believe me, I’d rather not. Occupational hazard.”
“You don’t really believe that? Kira, I mean?”
“Unfortunately, it’s not about what I believe. It’s what the evidence proves. You know that. And before it proves, it suggests. Right now, it’s suggesting things I’d rather it didn’t. I don’t like any of this, believe me.”
“It was a few nights after the Advocates di
“Nothing was said.”
“Because?”
“Because you wouldn’t open the door.”
“That’s ridiculous. If I didn’t open the door it was because I wasn’t home.”
“Or it wasn’t you. I saw someone on the couch.”
“My door doesn’t have a window in it.”
“Yeah, I know that.”
She crossed her arms. “Well, maybe it was me. For the record, I don’t like guys peeping on me.”
“For the record: I care about you. I was worried about you.”
“Well, don’t be. I’m fine.”
“And Kira? Is Kira fine?”
“You’re begi
“You’re begi
“Maybe it’s late.”
“Maybe it is. I’d like to bring a team up here. I’d like to eliminate her from consideration, and that’s the best way to do it.”
“Don’t you need a warrant for that?”
“Do I?”
“It’s not my property, Walt. I, or I guess you, can ask Michael and Leslie, if we can find them. They’re in Tibet or Bhutan or something. She’s on a meditation retreat, so who knows? It could be weeks. A month or more.”
“It’s to help eliminate Kira from-”
“I get it, okay! I understand it. I’m just saying that Michael and Leslie aren’t easy to find.”
“Find them,” he said. “For Kira’s sake.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It’s not that complicated.”
“It’s late,” she said.
“You want me to go.” He made it a statement. “Your earlier invitation?”
“I don’t think I realized how tired I was.”
“Why-” He caught himself. There were questions he’d been wanting to ask her for some time now-her name appearing on St. Luke’s emergency room manifest; her refusal to answer the door that night. He could have asked them anytime. He could have asked them now. But he held off because once asked, he couldn’t take them back; once they were asked, he would have answers and he wasn’t sure he wanted the answers. He couldn’t recall a time that as sheriff he’d not wanted answers, the feeling so foreign to him he felt upended. She was protecting Kira, and for him to go after the girl meant he would have to go through her, and it was the last thing he wanted.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Let me help clear her,” he said. “I want to clear her.”
“I’ll try,” she said. “I promise.”
“If she was threatened. If it was something like that-”
“Walt, she wasn’t here that night.”
“Yeah, but you see, that’s part of the problem. The autopsy couldn’t establish an exact time of death-the cold nights, the hot days. It screws everything up. We have a witness-”
He felt her tense and knew she tried to hide it.
“But it doesn’t establish a TOD for us. Time of death,” he explained. “We don’t know which night it was. It’s one of two. But you seem to think otherwise. Can you help me out here?”
“How?”
“Explain to Michael and Leslie how important this is for Kira. If they complicate this, it only makes things worse for her.”
“I told you I’ll try to find them. It isn’t always so easy.”
“I’m going to say something as a friend. Not as sheriff. Okay? For a minute let’s say I’m not wearing the uniform.”
“Okay.” She crossed her arms more tightly. Any more and she’d have trouble breathing.
Collecting himself, he looked up into the darkness of the trees, the shadows from the headlights playing tricks on the eyes.
“I know you’d do anything to protect her. I understand that urge. But don’t put yourself in the middle of this. The law is real clear about that kind of thing. Believe me, I don’t want you or Kira caught up in this. But a thing like this, it sorts itself out eventually, and there’s no going back and changing what was said, or done, before it does. There’s no changing that stuff.”
“Some cases don’t get solved,” she said. “Some cases go cold.”
He felt his breath catch. A few seconds earlier he’d been wondering if she’d somehow managed to substitute her name for Kira’s on the emergency room manifest-if she was sacrificing herself for the young woman. Fiona showed no signs of head injury. Had Kira taken off to hide her injuries? Was she waiting for a bruise to heal before returning? He’d been thinking he needed a look at the actual medical records. But that had all evaporated with her pushing him off the investigation. Could he let the case go cold? Could he do such a thing? A month earlier he wouldn’t have even considered such a possibility.
“You’re right, it’s late. Neither of us is thinking clearly.” He stepped toward her and kissed her on the cheek, but she stood rigid and unresponsive.
He whispered, “I hear you.”
“I… My memory is all messed up.” He saw now that her face was stained with tears.
“Shhh.”
She faced him and met eyes with him. She looked frightened-terrified, was more like it-and he pulled her to him and held her.
“There’s so much to tell you,” she said.
“I’m here.”
“I want to tell you.”
“It’s tricky,” he said. “Some things may be better left unsaid.” He wondered where that had come from. He couldn’t-wouldn’t-ask her to betray Kira. There were other ways he could do this. He could leave her out of it. “Get some rest.”
“But I want to…” she said.
“Sleep on it.”
She nodded, his uniform shirt damp with her tears. She clung to him as he gently pushed her away and walked back to the Jeep. He stopped and looked back at her in the headlights, wondering how he could let such an opportunity pass. Wondering who he’d become.
Bea licked him as he climbed in. He pushed her into the backseat and drove off, intentionally avoiding a glance into the rearview mirror.