The sound of crunching gravel announced the arrival of the county medical examiner. A town as small as Shell Creek didn’t have their own resources of that type, so Quinlan had requested that County send someone over. Dr. Kellie McAllister walked over to where Juliet and Quinlan were crouched.
“Hey, Kellie,” Juliet said, nodding in her direction. This wasn’t the first time Kellie had been sent to Shell Creek, so Juliet knew her well. Not to mention the fact that they had dated casually over the years.
“Hi, Juliet. Chief. What have we got here?” Kellie asked, snapping on her gloves and taking a few tools out of her medical bag.
“Town librarian. Richard Kowalski, late sixties. We’re guessing it was some kind of cardiac event?” Juliet said.
Kellie worked quickly while Juliet snapped photo after photo, starting close and panning out slowly from there.
“Can you help me roll him onto his back, please?” Kellie took a thermometer out of her bag.
The three of them carefully turned Kowalski onto his back. Wisps of his hair danced in the light breeze. Juliet felt another pang of sadness, knowing that this kind man’s existence had come to such an unexpected halt.
Kellie prodded his ribcage and made a slit in the cotton of Kowalski’s dress shirt. Juliet fought the urge to look away as she made a second cut into his skin and slid a thermometer in to check the temperature of Kowalski’s liver. “At this point, I don’t think this was a fall or a cardiac event. You see the thin blue line across his lips? That points to methemoglobinemia, which is when the blood cells stop holding oxygen.” She checked her thermometer and made some notes in her spiral notepad.
Juliet looked closer. She saw the blue line that Kellie was referencing. “What does that mean?”
“We’ll obviously need to run tests, but my first thought is a nitroglycerin overdose. Any idea if he had heart trouble?”
Quinlan nodded. “He had angina. Used to pretend to beat on his chest to get the ticker out of A-fib.”
Juliet couldn’t imagine how he’d have overdosed on nitroglycerin. “If that’s the case, could it have been accidental? Like he forgot he took one and took another by mistake?”
Kellie shook her head. “Unlikely. I mean, anything’s possible, but a man of his size would have needed at least six tablets to overdose. Probably closer to eight to actually kill him.”
Quinlan looked at Juliet and raised his eyebrows. “Could have been suicide, but that doesn’t seem to add up. Could be a homicide. But why would anyone want to hurt Richard Kowalski? I doubt he was running drugs from the nonfiction section.”
“We’ll know more once we fully examine him and run some tests. Based on his temperature, lividity, and rigor, I’d estimate his death between nine p.m. and eleven p.m. Rough estimate, of course.” Kellie began to pack up her things as the mortuary technicians arrived. “I’ll be in touch as soon as I have some results for you.”
“Thanks, Dr. McAllister,” Juliet said as she walked away. She made sure to use her professional title in front of the technicians. Kellie winked at her affectionately while Quinlan was measuring something near the body.
“This damned mud should be helpful to see footprints, but it’s just a big messy jumble of dirt and grass. We’ll need to get footage from the security cameras and canvass the neighborhood to see if anyone saw or heard anything. You think it could have been suicide?” Quinlan asked.
“I didn’t know him all that well, but from what I did know of him, I wouldn’t think so. Not that depression or suicidal ideation is something people wear on their sleeves, but my gut tells me no.” Juliet breathed deeply. “Will County send their teams over?” Juliet had presided over many deaths in her eleven years on the police force, but this was the first maybe-murder that she’d encountered.
Quinlan shook his head. “Nah. We’re on our own, unless this blows up into something more. As long as things are manageable, investigation and evidence collection are on us. If we find we’re in over our heads, we can reach out to County or State. But we’re nowhere near that point yet. You ready to dust off all that forensic jargon they taught you at the academy?”
She nodded. “I guess so. Just want to make sure we do right by him.”
“We will. Get Leland, Jeffries, and Deagle out here ASAP.”
Juliet called in to get the remainder of the Shell Creek Police Department over to the library, speaking softly into the radio clipped to her shoulder. She texted Declan to tell him he needed to go over to his dad’s house after school. She didn’t know how long the investigation would take, but she wanted to make sure he was taken care of in the meantime. She couldn’t seem to shake the butterflies in her stomach. The idea of investigating a homicide had always seemed so intriguing, but the reality of it wasn’t nearly as glamorous. The friendly hometown librarian was dead. There was nothing exciting or exhilarating about it. Maybe it would be an open and shut case. She hoped.
Chapter Four
Sienna sat at her desk, going through file after file. She’d wanted to work as a victim advocate so she could help people and make a difference. But it seemed like all she ever did was paperwork. Human interaction was becoming less and less frequent.
She’d decided to take a job in the city instead of in one of the surrounding towns since she figured there would be more to do, and frankly, the pay was better. Not every town had a dedicated victim advocate. It was usually based on population size and budget. In the city, she was one of four. And even that didn’t always feel like enough.
She needed a break. It was hard to admit it, but Sienna was burned out. At work, at home, pretty much everywhere. She wanted to decompress, to just be, but there didn’t seem to be anywhere she could run to that offered that type of peace.
It didn’t go unnoticed by her superiors. She was aware that she’d been snippier than usual and quicker to judgment than she’d ever been in the past. She was still patient and kind to her clients, which would never change, but she was ready to lash out at anyone who needed anything from her. A simple request such as grabbing something off of the community printer prompted a sigh and a temple rub.
Which was why she wasn’t surprised when her supervisor approached her desk, looking concerned. She braced herself for an unpleasant confrontation.
“Sienna, I have an assignment for you.” Nancy Dixon, the victim services supervisor, sat on the corner of Sienna’s desk. Sienna leaned back in her chair.
“Okay?” she asked tentatively.
“It’s no secret that something’s been bothering you. I’ve asked you if everything is okay here, and you’ve told me that it is. I don’t want to intrude into your personal life, but I hope you know that if you ever need anything, you can always talk to me,” Nancy said. She pulled at the lapel of her suit coat.
Sienna nodded and gave her a light smile. It would have been easier to have a conversation about her personal life with a crocodile than it would have been to have one with Nancy. She was an excellent boss, but a friend she was not.
“Anyway,” she continued. “Shell Creek—that’s your hometown, correct? They’ve requested assistance from one of the county advocates. I thought it might be nice for you to take a break from this place and change your surroundings for a bit. And it’s in your own backyard, so that will make the commute a hell of a lot easier.”
Sienna wondered what had happened at home that a victim advocate was needed. Their small town didn’t have much crime to speak of. Of course, she would take the assignment.
“Yes, that would be great. I appreciate you coming to me. Do you know when they need me?”
“Right now. They asked for you to meet up with police at the hospital. The requesting officer said it was urgent.” Nancy stood and tapped the desk, her indication clear.
Sienna took the hint, gathered the files she needed to work on later that night, and grabbed her purse from the bottom drawer. A distraction was just what she needed.
* * *
Coastal Creek Hospital
was located just over the town line in Shell Creek. The hospital was shared by Shell Creek and its sister town, Salt Creek, as well as a few of the other small towns in the area. It was square and nondescript, but it was always clean and inviting. Sienna knocked softly on the door to room 1033 in the intensive care unit.
The door opened and a familiar face greeted her. Juliet looked as surprised as Sienna felt, even though she knew Juliet was on the police department. She hadn’t made the connection when Nancy relayed the assignment.
“Sienna, hey,” Juliet said and smiled. “Are you the victim advocate that County sent?”
“Yes. Were you expecting someone else?” Sienna asked. She shifted her laptop bag from one shoulder to the other.
“No, not at all. I knew you were a social worker, but I thought Will said you worked with children. I could be wrong, though.”
Doubtful. It wouldn’t have surprised her if Will didn’t know what she actually did for a living. “Same type of work, just a different focus. What’s going on here?”
Juliet slipped back into professional mode without hesitation. Sienna hadn’t meant to cut her short, but she didn’t want to talk about Will and what he thought he knew, either.
“Gretchen Kowalski. Do you know her?”
Sienna recognized the name but couldn’t place it. “I’m not sure. Is she local?”
“Yes, she’s the wife of Richard Kowalski, the librarian here in town.”
The connection clicked. “Oh, right, I do know who they are. I’ve met them a few times over the years at different functions. Very nice couple.”
“Well, we found Richard Kowalski early this morning lying outside the library. He died there at some point last night.”
Sienna gasped. “Oh, that’s terrible. Do you know what happened?”
Juliet shook her head. “Not yet. We should find out soon, once the medical examiner and the forensics guys finish up. It’s a possible homicide.”
“Really? Who on earth would want to kill Richard Kowalski? Was it random?”
“We don’t know anything yet. But that brings us to Gretchen Kowalski.”
Sienna nodded slowly. If Gretchen had had a heart attack or some other type of physical reaction to learning about the death of her husband, that would be awful, of course, but not something Sienna would be called in for. She specifically worked with people who had experienced some kind of crime.
“One of our officers went over to the Kowalski house to notify Gretchen about what we’d found. But she wasn’t there. The officer was headed back to the station to get some information when she received a call that there was a vehicle lying in the embankment off of I-22. Sure enough, it was Gretchen Kowalski. She was trapped behind the wheel of her car, drifting in and out of consciousness. Couldn’t get to her phone, and she was far down enough that passers-by couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary.”
Sienna nodded again, but still didn’t understand how this involved her. She could tell that Juliet was affected by what was going on, even though she held her cool demeanor. Sienna was skilled at detecting underlying emotion, and the faint lines around Juliet’s eyes gave her away.
Juliet toyed with a pen between her fingers. “She’s hurt pretty badly, but the doctors think she’ll be okay. She was lucid for a while and told us she’d been run off the road. Someone had been following her, flashing their high beams at her repeatedly. She tried to pull over, but they bumped her from behind. She panicked and sped up. So did the car behind her. They pulled up alongside her car and left her no room on the shoulder. She lost control and headed straight into a tree. The airbag deployed, and she couldn’t maneuver herself around it. She was heading to the library to bring Richard some leftovers since he was working late. She was driving his car. He had hers because there was a light knock in the engine, and he didn’t want her driving it just in case it was anything serious.” Juliet swallowed hard and turned toward the bed where Gretchen was lying.
“That’s unbelievable. Does she know about…?” Sienna didn’t want to mention his name, just in case.
Juliet nodded. “We just told her a little while ago. She broke down and sobbed as much as her body would let her. It was the saddest fucking thing I’ve ever seen,” she said, her voice breaking.
“Did you know them well?”
“Well enough.”
“I’m sorry.” Sienna placed a hand on Juliet’s bicep. “I’ll do whatever I can to help her through this.”
“I know you will. I’m glad they sent you.” Juliet covered Sienna’s hand with her own. “She’s asleep right now, thankfully. They gave her something to relax her.”
“Good. She’s going to need her strength,” Sienna said. She pulled out her notebook and wrote down everything Juliet had told her. Juliet sat in the empty seat next to her and put her head in her hands, answering any questions Sienna had before she gave her a tired smile and left.
There was nothing left for Sienna to do but wait until Gretchen woke up. She pulled a crossword puzzle book out of her bag and set her thoughts on eight across. Any time spent away from her emotions was time well spent.
Chapter Five
Will was sitting in one of the lounge chairs in front of the pool house typing away on his laptop when Juliet caught sight of him. She’d rung the bell to the front door, forgetting that he probably wouldn’t be in there. It was all so awkward.
“Hey,” she said, pushing his lounge chair with her knee. “I’m surprised you’re even home.”
“Hey. I got your message this morning. What’s up? I assume it has to do with Richard Kowalski?”
“Yeah. We don’t know anything yet, but I’m going to be spending a lot of time on this, presumably anyway, so I wanted Declan to stay with you in the meantime. I don’t want him home alone any more than he has to be. God knows what that kid does when he doesn’t have any parental supervision,” Juliet said.
Will smirked. “Hopefully, he isn’t anything like I was. Of course, that’s fine. I’ve been trying to spend more time at home, for obvious reasons, and Sienna is usually here any time that I’m not, anyway.”
Juliet wondered if she should tell Will that she’d seen Sienna earlier in the day, but it wasn’t her place to talk about the case, or about Sienna’s workload.
“Okay, I’m going to get going. I’ll check in with Dec tonight,” Juliet said. “Thanks.”
“Jules, wait,” Will called as she was walking toward the gate. “Can I just run something by you real quick?”
Juliet turned back toward him, her stomach sinking. “Sure.”
He looked up at the sky and then back to her. “How am I supposed to fix this? I thought I had it all figured out with Sienna, but obviously I was wrong. She met with an attorney. She really wants this over and I don’t know what to do about it.”
Juliet sighed. Will had never been great at relationships. She’d seen him with many different women over the years. He started out romantic and interested and easygoing, but quickly slipped into that self-centered place that he liked to call home. He’d always been a better friend than anything else.
“You know I love you, Will, and I’m just trying to be honest with you. I don’t know if you can fix this. From what I can tell, she’d been pretty open with you about what wasn’t working, right? Sometimes you can’t undo what’s been done.”
“That’s not helpful at all.” Will shook his head and pouted.
“The only advice I can offer you is to just give her the space she needs. If you’re up in her face twenty-four-seven telling her that you’re a changed man, you’re just going to piss her off. Talk to her again when the time is right. Show her that you’ve changed, don’t just tell her. Maybe she’ll feel differently once she has time and space to look at things from a clearer viewpoint. Maybe not. And if she really does want it to be over, then you need to accept it.” Juliet didn’t want to hurt Will’s feelings by any means, but she also didn’t think telling him that sending flowers and chocolates was the way t
o go either.
Will breathed in deeply. “I don’t want to just give up though. We’re married. It’s not like it’s some fling I can just chalk up as a mistake. It’s been a sizable chunk of my life. God, I suck at this.”
Juliet smiled. “Finally, something we can agree on.”
“Real funny. Get out of here.” Will gave her a gentle shove on her shoulder.
“Okay. I’ll keep you posted as much as possible. Call me if anything comes up.”
Juliet slid into her squad car and tightly gripped the steering wheel. In her gut, she didn’t think Sienna was interested in reconciling. But stranger things had happened, so she didn’t want to dash his hopes completely.
She drove to the library in silence. No radio or phone, just silence. She wanted to collect her thoughts in peace before revisiting the crime scene. Chief Quinlan was standing out front and Officer Celeste Jeffries, who was also Juliet’s closest friend, was searching the grounds near the parking lot.
“Find anything?” Juliet asked as Celeste examined an empty nip bottle she found on the ground.
“Not really. Quinlan has the security tapes queued up and Kowalski’s assistant is going to open up his private office. She was pretty shaken up earlier when Leland called her. I guess they’ve worked together for a long time.”
“News about his death is already out. Even Will knew. Tough to keep anything close to the vest when word spreads like wildfire like it always does in this place,” Juliet said.
“Tell me about it.” Celeste bagged the bottle. “When Leland called the Kowalskis’ daughter, she’d already heard about it from Sandra Bonner, the lady that found him.”
“That quickly? How?”
“No idea. Like you said, wildfire. Maybe she thought it should come from a family friend instead of the police,” Celeste said.
“Is she a family friend?” Juliet didn’t remember Sandra Bonner mentioning that in their conversation.
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