by Unknown
Without uttering another objection, she turned and made her way toward the evidence room. Finn rubbed his hands over his face, skirting his swollen eye. He hadn’t told her that sleep would have been impossible now that the lab was here. He was just as anxious for those results as she was. Not only might they lead them to the man who had ended Danny Saxon’s life, the tests just might allow them to stop the killer before he decided to make Keira his next target.
Chapter 5
Oddly enough, Keira felt at loose ends as she drove home. When she’d offered to come and keep Finn company in the lab the look in his expression had approached alarm. He’d been quite clear about the need to avoid outside contaminants, which, now that she thought about it, was a borderline offensive way to refer to her presence there. But she got it. He was a professional and probably more than a little OCD about his work. Because she’d had the same accusation leveled at her in the past, she could appreciate the quality.
Keira couldn’t bring herself to stop and grab something to eat. If her appetite made a return, she had cans of soup in the cupboard. Besides, Chase was probably waiting to be relieved of his surveillance of her property. It had likely been a bone-crushingly boring day spent watching the cameras.
Light snow was falling. She turned on her wipers. The forecast called for snow for the next several days. Had it come sooner, they might have missed the glare on the bumper of Abernathy’s truck behind Bielefeld’s shed. Once in a while, they caught a break.
The closer she got to her home the less anxious she was to reach it. She should have stopped by Tiffany’s. It was the other woman’s regular night off, Keira was almost certain of it. And Tiff was between boyfriends right now, a rarity in itself, and might have been free.
The moment she had the thought she discarded it. The case consumed her every thought. She wouldn’t be good company, and she definitely wouldn’t have responded well to her friend’s good-natured prying for details. Better that she be alone to deal with her crappy mood herself.
As she turned down the long drive toward her dad’s property—hers now—her headlights caught the faint tire treads ahead, and she slowed unease stirring. Joe Boster hadn’t made them. There wasn’t enough snow yet for him to plow. He’d likely wait until early tomorrow morning.
She hated the nerves that jittered in her belly. Nerves that were fresh and raw after the break in last night. The killer wouldn’t have come back. Not because he didn’t dare, but because it was too soon. Surely he’d wait for Keira’s counter-move before reacting again.
Keira stopped the vehicle just as her phone rang. She answered it with Bluetooth.
“Sheriff Saxon.”
“Keira, it’s Chase. There’s a vehicle in front of your property. I called in and had the plates run. Belongs to Tiffany Andrews.”
Relief escaped her in a long stream of breath. “Okay, I’m just in the drive now. You can knock off until I contact you tomorrow.”
“No problem.” Chase’s voice sounded more cheerful than it had when she’d stopped by earlier today. “Beats watching daytime TV, I can tell you that.”
“If that’s a bid for sympathy, you’ve got it.” She could only imagine the dearth of programming. “I appreciate the call. Thanks.”
She drove down the drive and passed the running vehicle parked outside her house as she made her way to the attached garage. Using the automatic opener, she continued into the space, parked and got out to discover her friend walking toward her, holding a grocery bag.
“I’m bored,” Tiffany declared baldly as she hugged Keira with her free hand. “And I come bearing gifts. I figured you wouldn’t kick me out if I brought food and wine.”
“Depends.” There was something about her blond friend that had a way of lifting her spirits, even when they’d been drifting dangerously close to moody moments ago. “What kind of wine?”
Tiffany followed her into the garage. Keira lowered the overhead door and unlocked the entry to the cabin. “I classed it up just for you, meaning it’s not in a box. Does wine go with Chinese? Doesn’t matter,” she declared in the next moment. Keira paused to lock the door behind them, and her friend sailed by her toward the kitchen. “Wine goes with everything.”
Interest stirring, Keira followed in Tiffany’s wake. “Tell me there are crab Rangoons.”
The woman threw her a look over her shoulder. “When have I ever failed you?”
Keira rounded up wine glasses while Tiff—with the familiarity bred of long friendship—went unerringly to the cupboard that held the plates. A mental image of last night’s intruder doing the same flashed across Keira’s mind. The woman turned with two dishes in her hand, stilling when she glanced her way.
“What?”
Forcing a smile, Keira shook her head. “Nothing. I’m glad you’re here.” She was a bit surprised to find the words true. The exhaustion that had been crowding in for the last couple of hours lifted a bit. She welcomed the distraction.
“Good.” Tiffany opened a drawer and took out some forks. “You can talk me out of making a mistake with this dark, brooding stud that keeps showing up at the bar to talk to me. Steve, his name is. Steve Feller. He’s hot in a sort of Marlboro man kind of way. Think he lives in Doty.”
“He’s a loser.” The wine bottle didn’t take much finesse since it was a screw top. Keira poured them both generous portions and carried the glasses to the table where Tiffany was dishing up orange chicken. “He’s got some domestic assault charges against him. His wife had the good sense to get out a couple months ago, and when I sent a deputy with her to go back and get some of her stuff, he tried to interfere and landed in jail again. Not exactly a prince.”
“Well, shit.” Tiff’s tone was philosophical as she reached for her wine glass. Lifted it in a salute. “Let’s drink to the fact that this time I actually found that out before I slept with him. That’s maturity, right?”
Amused, Keira clinked her glass against Tiffany’s. “Definitely.” She sipped, before setting down her glass to attack her food with an appetite that had been absent only minutes ago.
“Maybe I’m just feeling desperate because I heard the juiciest gossip that Dorie Hassert is getting laid.” She nodded at Keira’s shocked expression. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. Haven’t seen her with her mystery man yet, but word on the street is she’s hinting to one and all that she’s playing mattress tag with someone. Which makes me just a wee bit desperate. My mom says I’m destined to die alone.” Tiffany hadn’t lifted her fork yet. Instead, she took a long gulp of wine. “Of course, she also says I’m a bum magnet, so reason would suggest if that’s the case, it’d be best to be alone, right?”
“Your mom needs to look in the mirror before leveling remarks like that to you.” Keira rose immediately to her friend’s defense. Rhonda Andrews had always had a revolving door on her social life, and some of the men she’d brought home had seemed more interested in the woman’s teenage daughter than in Rhonda. “She’s not exactly an expert on healthy relationships.” Nor had she ever shown expertise in mothering.
“She didn’t like your dad.” Tiff set down the glass and picked up her fork. “I never knew why until a few weeks after his funeral. I stopped by with some groceries and she was in a melancholy mood. Blamed him for running off the one guy she now claims was the love of her life.”
Keira paused with her fork mid-air. “He did? Who was that?”
“Not sure.” Tiffany bit into a crab rangoon and let her eyes slide shut in ecstasy. “Heaven. I think it was the one that creeped us out. Remember the guy who hung around my room when you were over?”
“Mullet Head?” Tiffany had always hung nicknames on her mother’s boyfriends.
“I don’t think so. The one between Mullet Head and Beer Belly. Greaseball, I think.”
Keira did remember the man and the way he’d made them feel. She hadn’t had the words for it as a thirteen-year-old, but during that summer Tiffany had spent far more time at the cabin than she
had at her house. She scooped up more rice and reflected on the news for a moment. “What did Danny do?”
“She didn’t go into detail, but I got the impression he gave her some facts about the guy’s past and maybe hinted DHS might think he wasn’t the type who should be around kids. Because now she claims it was all bullshit, of course. He was a great guy.” Tiffany rolled her eyes. “As were they all.”
“Did you ever hear anything about Lori and Roger Wilson?”
Her friend leaned forward, eyes huge. “Your mom? With Wilson? Back in the day?”
“According to something I heard yesterday, yeah.”
“No, but that would explain a lot. Remember how he used to come to our practices and games? I could ask around if you want me to.”
Keira shook her head. “That’s all right.” She had a feeling Finn would quietly check out the man on his own. He seemed to have considered the details Wilson had provided as credible. As difficult as it was to believe that someone she’d known her whole life could be behind Danny’s death, she had to face the fact that she may well know the killer. Alger County had ninety-five hundred residents. She knew many of them by sight.
Tiffany turned her attention to her wine, holding up her glass to admire the glint of the liquid in the light. “Maybe we’re both destined to be alone. You had happiness within your grasp once before Fate, that noxious bitch snatched him away.”
She could think of Todd now without that heaviness in her chest. The catch in her throat. The feeling of loss would linger longer. Like something unfinished had escaped her before she’d known for certain what she had. It was times like these that she knew she’d made the right choice to leave Chicago and its dead behind her. Keira had been up front with the committee when they’d approached her to fill her father’s position. She had no idea what her long-term plans were. The job had helped ease the unusual sense of indecisiveness enveloping her. But there was still a part of her that felt like she was in a state of suspended animation. Maybe now a sense of new purpose would change that.
Finding her father’s killer.
Deliberately changing the subject, she said, “I think you need to give Beau Chandler a shot.” And then watched her friend choke on her orange chicken.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” She chased the bite with a gulp of wine. “He’s okay looking but too damn quiet. And he’s got a huge Adam’s apple. Seriously, that’s all I notice when he does talk, is that thing bobbing up and down like Cassie Winkelman’s boobs when she jogs.”
Now it was Keira’s turn to choke at the mental image that accompanied the description. “It’s not that noticeable.” But damn if she’d ever be able to look at the man again without the thought in her head.
“I’m going to have to leave here to meet anyone that I haven’t known my entire life.” Tiffany gave a little sigh and pushed her plate away. “You’ve been telling me that for years. And you’re right. I might go work on Mackinac Island this summer. Hell, fifteen thousand tourists a day, I’m bound to meet someone, right?”
“By the inside of a month, the tourists would be coming to see you.” Memory struck belatedly. Keira got up and went to fetch her purse, which she’d left in the living room, coming back with a fifty.
“No. No way.” Tiff shook her head violently. “This was my treat. You paid last time.”
Taking her chair again, Keira pushed the bill across the table to her friend. “For dinner last night. I didn’t have time to stop by and pay today like I meant to.”
Her brows rising, the woman took the money and tucked it in her purse. “That’s like a forty percent tip.”
Keira tipped her glass to her lips. “The waitress deserved it. She had to deal with assholes all night.”
“Not all night, but yeah, the jerk factor of those two increases parallel to their alcohol level.” She surveyed Keira steadily over the rim of her glass as she drank. “So. Were you really not going to mention it?” At her silence, Tiffany shook her head. “Seriously. The way you tore out of there I knew something big was going down. And today I heard it was trouble here? What happened?”
The woman, Keira had often thought, was like human radar. “Where’d you hear that?”
“Over breakfast at the diner. Same place I heard that Dorie was boinking some mystery man. It’s a hotbed of gossip.” She made a c’mon gesture with her fingers. “So give. Someone broke in here?”
“He came in through a window, but he was long gone before my deputies arrived. Nothing was taken,” she forestalled Tiffany’s next question. “The alarm likely scared him off.” She didn’t share details of ongoing investigations with anyone outside the department, even though she knew she could trust her friend to keep a confidence. Tiffany may be a fountain of information about others, but she was as private as a vault when it mattered.
“Uh-huh.” It was clear from the woman’s tone that she knew Keira was sugarcoating the incident. “Did you talk to Yembley about it?”
“He left minutes before we did. He wouldn’t have had time to get here.”
She looked unconvinced. “Maybe not, but he might have a friend who could. I’m serious, Keira, that guy hates your family. It’s not the first time he’s gone off about your dad in there, and you. I’ve gotten in his face about it before but well, he’s not an especially fast learner.”
Keira reached out to touch her friend’s hand. “I appreciate you sticking up for me, but if you see him again just give him a clear berth. He’s unpredictable. Remember that.” If today was any indication, the company he kept was, as well. “We took his buddy down this afternoon. Believe me, if there’s the slightest shred of evidence that Yembley was involved, he’ll be next.”
Tiffany squeezed her hand. “I hope you kicked his ass. I’ll try to steer clear, but if Yembley disses you again, I can’t be accountable for my actions.”
When Keira blew out a breath of frustration, her friend smiled wickedly and held up her wine. “To fierce women everywhere.”
After a moment Keira gave up and reached for her glass. Tapping it against her friend’s she echoed, “To fierce women.”
_______
“I appreciate you re-scheduling my presentation.” Although she was less grateful for the seven AM meeting, beggars couldn’t be choosers. The new time was just over the eighteen hours required for public notice under Michigan law. That might explain the absence of a representative from the local paper. The media only had to request the minutes of this gathering to compile a story. Keira was going to do all she could to make sure the minutes Dorie was taking reflected nothing worth reporting.
She sipped from the coffee she’d bought on the way and offered a polite smile to the five commissioners across the table. “The story will be in the paper today. The drug bust that prevented me from attending yesterday is likely the largest in county history and one of the biggest on the UP this year.”
Her revelation set the room abuzz. She answered the most general questions lobbed at her while avoiding the specifics her office had withheld from the local reporter yesterday.
“Great work, Keira.” Commissioners Stewart and Bailey spoke simultaneously. Two others nodded with enthusiasm while Arnie Hassert was noticeably quiet. Joni Stewart said with a smile, “Leading with news like that is an excellent way to tempt the board to grant this special transfer of funds request.”
Chairman Tom Dailey gave a hearty laugh. “As long as it doesn’t require the county to transfer more funds to your department for this fiscal year.”
“It doesn’t.” Theirs was a small county and finances were perpetually tight. Arnie Hassert aside, she hoped she was never in a position to have to ask for additional monies after the budget had been set. “This is more of a housekeeping matter. I’ve hired a private forensics firm to assist with a homicide. Given the circumstances, it’s imperative that my office avoids the appearance of a conflict of interest. The attorney general suggested to increase transparency I should give the money to the county and
have you pay the fees from the deposited amount.” She took the check from her purse and handed it to Dailey. “The county attorney can write up the necessary paperwork. The only responsibility the county has in the matter is to pay presented bills against this deposit and to refund any unused monies back to me after the case is closed.”
The chairman looked uncomprehending. “This is a personal check.” His brow furrowed. “And the amount…surely this firm won’t charge that much?” Joni craned her neck to see and her brows shot up when she saw the figures on the check.
“Hopefully not, but I’ve also requested a private lab, so…” Keira lifted a shoulder, wishing that the meeting was already over.
“That’s ridiculous.” Unsurprisingly the outburst came from Arnie. “MSP can be called in to help with homicides. It’s a waste to hire a private firm to do something our own state law enforcement can handle.”
It was the moment she’d been dreading. Keira didn’t discuss ongoing investigations with the board, and her deputies were trained to be tight-lipped, as well. She was cognizant that anything she said was likely to end up in the daily paper, and managing the information disclosed was second nature. “There are reasons the MSP won’t be called.”
“Conflict of interest.” This was from Dailey. “You haven’t been here long enough for there to be a case…” She gave an inward sigh when his mental light bulb seemed to go off. “Not…Keira, this isn’t about Danny?”
“I can’t confirm or deny the victim’s name. ” She waited for the uproar from the five to calm before going on. “I’m not at liberty to disclose much more, but the case is unfolding rapidly. The agent I’ve hired is primary on this case with my office providing support.”
“It sounds to me like you’re over-reacting, which is not a quality we need in our sheriff.” Arnie’s voice was sour. “You’re not emotionally fit to be making these types of decisions, I said as much at the time. We had another interested party ready to apply for your position, one equally qualified…”