“The one that Kowalski was drinking from, that Monique brought to him with his muffin that day.”
Juliet knew it had already been dealt with but didn’t mind double-checking, if only to put Sienna’s mind at ease. “Let me check the evidence log.” She scanned the screen and occasionally tapped it with the eraser of her pencil. She stopped scrolling. “They have it. There wasn’t enough left in the cup for them to test and the tests on the cup itself were inconclusive.”
Sienna relaxed her shoulders. “Good. I don’t know if Gretchen could take that kind of betrayal in the state she’s in right now. Hopefully, Monique is better to her than she lets on.”
“Agreed. We don’t have a whole lot of leads right now. I suggested bringing in the big guns from County, but Quinlan is adamant that we don’t need them. Not yet, anyway. My fear is that we’ll conclude that Richard committed suicide and Gretchen being run off the road was just a terrible coincidence, just so we can close the case, even if I don’t believe that scenario is possible.” Juliet dropped her pencil onto a stack of paper dramatically and sighed.
“Could it be, though? I don’t really believe that either, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
“I mean, anything’s possible. But it just doesn’t fit. Not here, not in this town. We haven’t had a violent crime in Shell Creek for months, and even when we did have one, it was a domestic. I’m having a hard time rationalizing that two people faced this catastrophe on the same day, at almost the same time, randomly,” Juliet said. Saying it out loud just confirmed it—there was no way what happened to the Kowalskis was a coincidence.
“I agree with you. Gretchen is so sure Richard wouldn’t have overdosed on his pills intentionally. They had plans. Richard was going to retire when he turned sixty-eight, they were going to rent an RV and go see the country. Gretchen even showed me a little pocket-sized map she had in her purse with little circles around each of the landmarks they planned on visiting. I’ve been in this business a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of things. Sometimes people do things that don’t make sense. But in this case, suicide doesn’t seem like something Richard Kowalski had been contemplating. And if he were going to do so, he wouldn’t have done it in a place where he’d fall facedown in the dirt.” Sienna glanced at the clock and picked up her bag. “I should probably head back to the hospital. Gretchen is on a mission to get discharged today, which I highly doubt is going to happen. I’ll talk to you later?” Sienna asked.
“Definitely.” Juliet hesitated as Sienna turned to leave. It wasn’t her business, but she couldn’t help her curiosity. “Sienna?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you…okay?”
Sienna tilted her head, her brow furrowed slightly. “With what?”
“You know, just everything going on with you. At home, I mean.” Juliet wished she could just take it back. It sounded caring and supportive in her head, but the words out in the air just sounded weird.
“Oh, right.” Sienna smiled tightly in a way that made it seem like she was trying to forget. “I am okay, yes. Strangely okay. This isn’t new, or something that just sprung up. It’s been a long time coming, and if I’m being totally honest, I feel more relieved than anything else. It’s hard, of course, but it will pass, and I’ll be fine.”
“Good. Good. I just wanted to make sure. If there’s anything you need, or you know…” She trailed off without any idea what to say next.
“I appreciate it.” Sienna smiled and leaned against the door. “Actually, you know what I need?” she asked after a beat. “I could use a night out. Just to have a few drinks and think about something other than murder or divorce. Any interest?”
“Sure, that sounds great. Tomorrow night? As long as nothing comes up, of course,” Juliet said, making a sweeping hand gesture over the paperwork piles on her desk.
“Perfect.”
“Will is taking Dec to see the new Star Wars movie, so that totally works out. I’ll text you when I’m able to get out of here?” Juliet asked. She hoped she didn’t sound as excited as she felt. She didn’t want Sienna to get the wrong idea. Or even the right one, really.
Sienna agreed and walked out, giving Juliet one more wave before making her way out to the parking lot.
Juliet sat back down in her chair and covered her mouth with her hands. She liked Sienna, a lot. If circumstances were different, she could see herself developing feelings for Sienna.
I’m a grown woman. She’s a grown woman. There is no reason for me to pine away for someone that I could simply have a discussion with. I’m interested in her, she may be interested in me. And also, she’s my friend’s estranged wife. And my son’s stepmother.
Well, that cleared up nothing. If Sienna wasn’t interested in her in that way, then the awkwardness would be unbearable. They had to work together for at least the next few weeks, and their home lives were intersecting more than ever. Even when the divorce was final, it wasn’t as though Sienna would just disappear. Will would probably never forgive her, especially since he had confided in her. Declan would hate her for making things even more difficult than they were currently. Juliet shook her head and tried to bury herself in her work again. It wasn’t worth the hassle and emotional fallout. She’d have to settle for having a new friend.
* * *
The library was still empty. It was more like an abandoned saloon in an old-time ghost town than an up-to-date resource archive. It was dusty, as usual, and the constant rain outside had made the normally bright reading room gloomy and cold.
Juliet had been through his office a number of times already, trying to find a piece of evidence that would link him to something. Anything. Undisclosed debts, a secret family, anything. He had an empty calendar on the wall, some knickknacks on the shelves, and a lifetime’s worth of reading on how to run a library successfully.
Juliet opened every drawer in Kowalski’s office, looking for anything that might have been missed. She sorted through a pile of Post-it notes that he’d crammed into his pencil tray. There were some budget items, a few specific member requests, and a couple of business cards. On impulse, she flattened her hand and ran it along the underside of the drawer. A sharp edge poked her index finger. In the corner of the small drawer was a folded up fluorescent pink note, not visible from the drawer itself. Juliet plucked it from where it had been lodged, unfolded it carefully, and read the single line.
It simply read: Mr. Restarick.
She was glad she’d snapped on a pair of cheapie latex gloves before ransacking his office. What did the note mean? It didn’t look hidden, it seemed more like it had been shoved down over time through riffling around, and although it could be something as innocuous as the name of someone who’d had a reference question, she couldn’t shake the feeling it was more than that. She took a quick spin through Kowalski’s Rolodex, which she was surprised he still used with the internet at his fingertips but came up with nothing under R for Restarick.
Juliet pulled off the right glove and lifted her phone from her back pocket. A quick search showed that Restarick was a more common name than one would think. There was a Darren Restarick who had been arrested for a DUI in the area just outside of town the previous year. She sent a quick text to Officer Leland to see if they had anything on him.
“Did you find something, Officer?”
Juliet startled and nearly tipped over in Kowalski’s creaky swivel chair.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you. Just hoping you found something.”
Tara Wolfe, the assistant librarian, stood in the doorway with her rain jacket folded over her forearms.
“What are you doing in here? The building is still off-limits to the public.” Juliet tried to angle herself to see behind Tara. She seemed to be alone, but her presence was still unnerving.
Tara gave a fleeting smile. “I know it is. I used my key and came in through the back. I just had a few things I needed from my desk.”
Juliet stood. “Can I take a loo
k at the things that you took from your desk?”
Tara hesitated, which Juliet noted immediately. “Uh, sure. But can I ask why?”
“You’re not allowed to remove evidence from an active crime scene. If it’s just your phone charger and your favorite pen, then I’m sure it will be fine.” Juliet walked around the desk, the plastic glove still covering her left hand. Tara opened the plastic shopping bag she’d put her things in and then closed it after a few seconds.
“All set?” she asked.
Juliet had seen a phone charger, fittingly, an unopened box of tampons, and the looping blue nylon of a lanyard.
“Yes. Should be good to go,” Juliet said, offering a tight smile. Tara was hiding something.
The relief on Tara’s face was palpable. “Thanks. I know I shouldn’t be embarrassed by tampons, totally silly. Especially since you’re a woman too.” She shrugged as though she wanted to appear unassuming.
Juliet laughed with her, forced though it may have been. “Actually, before you go, can I take a quick peek at your lanyard?”
The smile faded from Tara’s face, but she quickly plastered it right back on. “For what? I assume they give those out for free at the police station?” She laughed again.
Juliet joined her again. “I know, right? You’d think they would. I just need to see that particular lanyard for a second. No time at all.”
Tara opened the bag again. She pulled out the lanyard slowly, exposing the writing on blue fabric. It said, “Majestic AF.”
“Cute,” Juliet said. She held her left hand out, palm up. “Can I have it, please?”
Tara yanked the lanyard out of the bag and dropped it into Juliet’s hand. The lanyard was attached to a flash drive.
“Where did this come from?” Juliet turned it over in her fingers.
“From the children’s desk downstairs. I work down there during Saturday reading hour. All that’s on it is my personal stuff. Papers I’ve written, ideas for engaging children with nonfiction, things like that. Can I go?” Tara asked. Her patience had apparently worn thin.
“I’d like to hang on to this. Don’t worry, the tech guys don’t care about your personal stuff. We’ll just want to see if anything was captured on the drive that might be useful. You know, metadata, that type of thing.” Juliet was banking on the fact that Tara wasn’t a tech guru, because Juliet sure as hell wasn’t. The only reason she knew the word “metadata” was because of her son.
“So, they won’t be going through my personal files?” Tara seemed to relax just the slightest bit.
Thank God, she has no idea either. “That won’t be the goal. They’ll mostly be looking for pertinent information that the computers here gather.”
Tara looked skeptical.
Uh-oh, may have gone too far. Juliet kept her expression neutral.
“This flash drive can gather information from every computer it’s been in? That seems odd.”
“I know, it’s so crazy what technology can do these days. Maybe our suspect was messing around on one of the terminals, looking up incriminating information. You just never know.” Juliet turned back toward the desk. “I’ll get this back to you ASAP.”
Tara stood in the doorway for a moment, not saying anything, but not leaving either. “I just need to grab one more thing from the main floor, okay?”
Juliet frowned, liking this less and less. “No, not okay. Nothing else leaves the library. Can I have your key, please?”
“Why? I said I won’t use it again.”
Juliet smiled that fake smile again. “Because we need to secure the library, and in order to do that, we need to know that people aren’t coming and going. The key?”
Tara took the tarnished key off the ring and slapped it into Juliet’s hand. “Do you need my key to the supply closet as well? Wouldn’t want the pens and paper towels to go missing.”
“Okay, you have a good day, now.”
Tara hesitated, but slowly started toward the exit. Juliet fought the urge to wave at her sarcastically.
Once Juliet watched Tara walk down the front steps, she locked the door and went back to sorting through Richard’s desk.
Juliet pulled out an evidence bag and slid the flash drive into it. She put the strange Post-it Note in a separate bag and continued to flip through every magazine, every book, every notebook he had in the office, page by page. There was something here. She could feel it.
Chapter Twelve
There were too many choices when it came to what a person should wear on a non-date, but also not a non-date, when one doesn’t want to completely preclude the notion of it being an actual date.
Sienna laughed out loud at the thoughts running through her head. These were the thoughts of a twenty-two-year-old, not someone in their mid-ish forties. But there was also a spark in her belly Sienna hadn’t felt for many, many years. Not with Beth, not with Will. Juliet excited her, made her feel alive in a way that she didn’t want to let go of. But she also knew that there were so many complications and boundaries between the two of them, anything between them would be too messy. Still, it was a nice feeling, and she wanted to keep it even if nothing ever happened between them.
She decided on a pair of jeans and a pink silk button-up with quarter length sleeves. She’d wanted to wear her chunky sandals, but since it was raining, again, she settled on a pair of black canvas shoes and gave herself the once-over in her full-length mirror. She fussed with her hair a little and applied fresh lip gloss to give her some shine.
“Sienna, I’m leaving,” Declan yelled from downstairs.
“Have fun. May the force be with you,” she said, laughing as Declan groaned. She tried not to think about the fact that she was getting ready to have drinks with his mother while he was out with his father, whom he wanted Sienna to reconcile with. And that was why it was too fucking complicated. Even just friendship wasn’t clear-cut.
She pulled out of her driveway slowly, checking the text that Juliet had sent her the previous evening and setting her GPS. They were going to meet at a little pub right on the ocean that Sienna had never been to.
Neptune’s sign came into view just as Sienna opened her window to breathe in the sea air. The rain had finally let up, and there were people sitting on the deck, talking and laughing, and a small band was playing Jimmy Buffet on a riser in the corner. It was still warm for early September, so across the street from the pub a handful of people were running in and out of the waves in the dying daylight. It was fun and peaceful and exactly what she needed right now.
Sienna walked through the main entrance. There was a heavy mahogany bar that was draped with seashells and fishing net. She looked around until she caught sight of blond waves peeking out from behind a menu. She’d recognize those waves anywhere.
“Hey,” she said, taking the seat next to Juliet. “Have you been here long?”
“Hey!” Juliet leaned over and gave Sienna a hug, just long enough for Sienna to smell whatever floral shampoo she’d used earlier that day. She didn’t want to pull back, but she was afraid if Juliet caught her inhaling her hair, it would come across as creepy. So, she pulled back.
“No, I’ve only been here for a few minutes,” Juliet said, taking a sip of her draft beer. “What are you feeling tonight?”
“Sangria. Lots of it.”
Juliet smiled broadly. “That I can do.” She signaled for the bartender and ordered Sienna a sangria, preferably in a bucket. The bartender returned Juliet’s smile.
An oversized hurricane glass with red wine, peaches, and blackberries was placed in front of her. The bartender included an orange slice garnish, which Sienna promptly pushed into the glass. She took a long swallow from the polka-dotted straw. “Okay, that’s amazing.”
Juliet was playing with a plastic sword meant for a martini. “Do you ever get the urge to just take something like this and stab yourself in the hand with it?”
Sienna nearly spit out her sangria. She managed to swallow with minimal choking. “
Um, no? Do you?” Sienna laughed.
“Of course, I do,” Juliet said, joining Sienna in her laughter. “Come on, I’m not making this up. Say you’re on a Ferris wheel, and your car is stuck at the top, waiting for the next set of people to get on. You look over the side, and think for a second, less than a second even, ‘I might jump,’ and then you sit back in the car and pretend like nothing ever happened. That’s never happened to you?”
Small talk wasn’t on the table, then. She could go with that. “Not that I can think of. I mean, I remember being up on a friend’s twentieth floor balcony and wondering what would happen if I fell. Obviously, I’d die, but I was thinking about the moments before. But I wasn’t suicidal or anything like that,” Sienna said. She licked her lips and took another drink.
“That’s totally it. And no, that’s the thing, it has nothing to do with being suicidal or wanting to die or anything even remotely like that. It’s just some weird impulse we have. Like sometimes when I walk by the constabulary sword Quinlan has hanging in the office, I think about grabbing it and hacking my hand off. I would never, ever, do that, because why would I, but the thought is there for a fleeting moment.” Juliet grinned and took another sip of her drink.
“That’s really weird and strangely relatable,” Sienna said. The alcohol was already making her feel a little bit lighter.
“I know. I looked it up a while back. There’s even a name for it. L’appel du vide. Call of the void. Wild, huh?” She threw a handful of popcorn into her mouth.
“Very.”
That strange opening set the tone, and they talked easily about nothing and everything and laughed for the better part of two hours. Sienna suggested splitting an appetizer, to which Juliet heartily agreed. The idea was to soak up the booze so that a buzz was the most Sienna would feel. Continuing to drink at a pretty quick pace while they ate sort of foiled that plan. Sienna wasn’t quite drunk, but she was definitely beyond buzzed.
“You want to go outside for a bit? Get a little fresh air?” Juliet summoned the bartender.
“That sounds wonderful, actually.” Sienna felt the back of her neck and realized she was sweating. It was hotter in the pub than she’d realized.
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