“Yes, they are.” Despite the lack of running water, Greta insisted on washing their underwear daily. On the day she died, Hannah had worn some of the older woman’s garments. She stood up and sized him up. “How did you know they were mine?”
An enigmatic smile skirted over his mouth. “It was an educated guess. Your winter coat, which you may not remember, was purple.”
Some sort of connection existed between them, she could feel it, and the thought that something else might have prompted him to kiss her disconcerted her. “And the socks? They’re orange, Avery. I’m sure they don’t match anything I own.”
“Actually, they match the highlights in your hair.” He reached out and twirled a curly lock between his fingers. “You scare the hell out of me, Hannah. You cannot just walk out without telling me. You need to think about your…about your safety.”
Her heart, the only sound she could hear, beat furiously in her chest. Hannah had concentrated her attention on his lips, but when he hesitated, she dared to look deep into his eyes. She was flabbergasted to see fear, not anger, swirling in their mist. “My safety…is it all you care about?”
“No.” The back of his fingers caressed her cheek. “I care about you, Hannah, more than I should under the circumstances.”
His touch scrambled her memory, eliciting fond images of him and the blue-eyed boy stacking wood near a fireplace.
“Last night, your sergeant made a comment about your reputation.” At the time it hadn’t seemed flattering and she’d worried about tarnishing it further. In light of his current behavior, she wondered if it held any truth. “How did he react this time?”
“My reputation is tied to my investigation. It’s complicated, but in order to protect one I need to uphold the other.” He lowered his hand, leaving behind a feathery caress on her arm. “Sergeant Reed recognized your coat from last night. I told him you were babysitting Hannah’s dog while I was at work.”
The irony didn’t escape her. “And he bought it?”
“No. He’s convinced you’re a hooker and that…” As he leaned against the kitchen counter, he shrugged. “I’m sorry your reputation doesn’t fair any better than mine, but at least, your presence in my house won’t raise any suspicion. You did a great job changing your appearance, it was a brilliant idea, but you still took an awful chance venturing outside. Please, tell me it was worth it.”
The deference he conferred on her earned him another chevron in her book.
“The woman who stole the test result, she snooped around again, so I followed her.” Proud of her accomplishment, Hannah didn’t try to conceal her excitement. “Before you say anything, she didn’t look my way once. She walked everywhere, like she had no care in the world.”
“Keep going.”
“She stepped into a few stores, didn’t buy anything, then she met a rough-looking man for lunch at Tim Hortons. He had a bad case of acne.” Something in the man’s demeanor had sent shivers down her spine. “They had a heated conversation in the parking lot. Something about a knife.”
“A knife?” A small vein pulsed underneath his left eye. “Could you make out what kind?”
“No, but the woman wasn’t happy.”
Angry
would have been a better word. The woman’s hand had flown right, left, and center, and her face had mimicked a gargoyle. Had the man not jerked his head back and forth, Hannah might have figured out what was so special about that knife. As skilled as she seemed to be in interpreting people’s words, she couldn’t read lips if she didn’t see a mouth. “She walked away a few minutes later and he left in a red Nissan truck.”
“A Nissan?” Avery retrieved a notepad from his shirt pocket and scribbled something in it. “If you were to see that man again, would you recognize him?”
“He was rather unforgettable.” The type of face no woman wanted to meet in a dark alley at night.
“Good. Did you see where the woman went?”
“An older man with a little girl waited for her at the entrance of the library. He gave the woman a hug, and then crossed the street. She drove away with the child in a silver Lexus, license plate H-O-T-Two-Four-One.”
His pen stilled, and Avery stared at her like she’d shaved her hair and stained her skull bright lime green. “Are you certain it was the same woman you saw stealing the documents inside my office?”
“Positive.” An uncanny feeling churned her empty stomach. “Why?”
“I saw a silver Lexus parked in Terri Abbott’s driveway. I need to log into the DMV and run the number.” He glanced through the window. “We’ll wait for Reed and Cooper to leave, then we’ll go in.”
“Did you say
we
?” Going into his office in the middle of the day sounded more dangerous than tailing her mystery woman.
“I need to show you some pictures, Hannah. You’re not giving me much choice but to bring you in.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
“What if one of them comes back?”
After lecturing her about the risks of venturing outside, Avery understood her reluctance to accompany him. Had her life not been in jeopardy, he’d laugh at his inconsistent behavior.
“Reed is attending a town meeting. He’s gone for a few hours. And Cooper’s cruiser clunks like a freight train.” Cooper didn’t need his siren or flashing lights. He could be heard kilometers away. Unlike Reed who gave the constable all the leeway he wanted, Avery would have lost his patience with the guy’s foot-dragging. As his superior, Avery would have put him on desk duty until Cooper took the car to the garage. “We’ll have plenty of warning. Now sit in my chair.”
She sat at the edge of the seat, her back straight and her hands gripping the armrests, ready to leap to her feet and bolt. “I feel like a sitting duck.”
A feisty and beautiful duck.
“No one is going to shoot you. Now pay attention to the screen.”
Under her watchful gaze, he accessed the DMV database and entered HOT241 in the search engine. The make and model of the car appeared along with the name of the registered owner.
“Terri Abbott? The widow?” The look of surprise on her face matched the intonation in her voice, which he found fascinating. “Could another woman have borrowed her car?”
The resentful widow hadn’t struck him as the sharing type. “You tell me.” He clicked on a link, revealing Terri Abbott’s driver license. Unlike the woman by his side, the artificial beauty smirking on the screen didn’t knock his boots off. “Is that her picture?”
“That’s her, Avery.” When Hannah touched Terri’s mouth, a ghostly expression befell upon her. “I would recognize that smile anywhere.”
The positive identification sank Cooper’s story that he was trying to protect Terri from the truth when he stashed the paternity test.
“It’s possible she used her late husband’s key to enter the building.” Avery would need to check if Abbott’s keys were ever returned.
“What about the shady character she had lunch with? Could he be somehow involved?”
The employee at Fish & Games was the only person Avery had talked to about a knife, so he entered the name Steve Rogers. His picture downloaded moments later. “Is that the guy?”
“Not even close. Who is he?”
“Steve Rogers. He works at an outdoor store.” As Avery told Hannah about the knife and the possible ramifications, another suspect surfaced. “Maybe Steve called Vic and told him about my knife.”
On a hunch, he typed Victor Young’s name. The photo that appeared wasn’t flattering, it was downright creepy.
“It’s him, Avery. That’s the guy.”
It appeared Young had heard about his inquiry.
News travels fast in a small town.
Too fast.
“Let me double check something.”
The DMV record showed he owned a red Nissan truck. In a twisted way, it made perfect sense Victor Young would be involved. He was Terri’s cousin, still…
Avery couldn’t shake the feeling something was amiss, and over the last few years, he’d relearned to rely on his judgment, to trust his instincts.
“Avery?” The small hand on his forearm caught more than his attention, it awoke the longing in his lonely heart. “Have you ever dealt with him?”
“Not directly, but he possesses a long record.” The camera had captured the coldness in the sunken eyes and the harsh scars jarring his face.
The perfect poster child for a bad boy.
He cleared his search and logged out of the database. “I’ll be in the archive room for a few minutes. Just wait for me here.”
As he drew away, his coat caught in the handle of his drawer, pulling it open. He absent-mindedly pushed it closed before hurrying down the hallway.
The online version of Young’s criminal record hadn’t contained any insights from the officers who’d worked the cases. With any luck, the original arrest reports might contain some personal notes.
He returned a few minutes later with a thick folder under his arm. Hannah stood near his desk, her coat zipped and gloves on.
There’s a coat I’ll never be able to wear without thinking about her.
The drawer was ajar. As Avery pushed it again, someone pounded on the front door, then a key rattled in the lock.
“Someone’s coming.” Grabbing Hannah’s arm, he hauled her to the back exit.
***
“Thank you, Lee, for coming so quickly.”
When Terri called, it’d sounded urgent, so Lee had skipped the stop signs and hurried. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Lyn.” She dragged him to her car. “I locked her inside by accident.”
The vehicle was running in the driveway with her daughter fast asleep in the backseat, all bundled up in a snowsuit. A big box wrapped in pink paper sat on the driver’s seat.
He banged on the window. “Come on, Lyn. Wake up and unlock the door.”
The child stirred. For an instant, Lee thought he might have succeeded. She curled back into the fetal position and stopped moving.
“Once Lyn falls asleep, nothing can rouse her. I should have stayed at dad’s. It was late and he offered…” Terri’s lament carried into the night.
The safety mechanism of the Lexus should have prevented the accidental locking of the vehicle while it was running with no one at the wheel. The weight of the box must have fouled the sensors into thinking someone was sitting there.
“The heat is on. She’ll be fine until we get her out.” He pulled Terri into a tight hug and was pleased when she leaned into him. “Why didn’t you call a locksmith right away?”
“I was afraid someone would report me for negligence.” Sniffles peppered her words. “I didn’t want your new constable to get wind of the accident. He already treats me like I’m an unworthy piece of trash. The way he looks at me and Lyn…it gives me the willies. I’m not a bad mother, Lee. This was an accident.”
His dislike for Stone reached a new high. Terri and her daughter had been victims of Abbott’s callous behavior. They deserved compassion. Any half-decent man would show them some respect.
“You’re a wonderful mother, Terri. Don’t let Stone’s sour attitude spoil your opinion of yourself. The guy has no moral fiber.”
“Men like Stone, and Brent, shouldn’t be wearing uniforms. They ruin it for men like you.”
The truth, whispered softly in his ear, sparked a plan of action. He couldn’t let Stone destroy Terri. “Let me call Sanderson, he’ll unlock the door in seconds. If it makes you feel better, I’ll take the heat.”
“You’re so kind.” She ran her hand over the front of his jacket. “Would you stay after I put Lyn to bed?”
Lee would have loved to carry mother and child to bed, but he had a brawl to instigate at The Polar Skin and evidence to retrieve. “Sorry, but I’m on duty for a few more hours.”
“You could hurry.” Her warm breath tickled his chin. “I could wait for you.”
Some temptations were impossible to resist.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Tucked inside her coat, the sheet of paper Hannah had stolen from Avery’s desk rubbed against her shirt. If the drawer hadn’t opened, she wouldn’t have spotted her name. Why he kept information on her in his desk, where his colleagues could easily access it, intrigued her.
Avery’s timely departure to deal with a bar brawl gave her the chance to satisfy her curiosity. Once his truck was gone, she sat on the couch with Snowflake and the letter.
Halifax. January 12th. Five years ago. Hannah Parker claims a prominent businessman groped her in an elevator. She files charges of sexual assault, but after identifying him, she withdraws her complaint citing mistaken identity.
Hannah wouldn’t have lied to the police about a possible assault—at least she didn’t think she would—so she would have liked to know what had prompted her to change her story.
Halifax. January 20th. Same year. Parker is arrested for prostitution. The case is dismissed six months later for lack of evidence.
“No!” She couldn’t be a hooker. Avery wouldn’t treat her the way he did if she was. If the police didn’t have enough evidence to prove her guilt, it made her innocent…didn’t it?
The fur ball jumped off her lap and disappeared into the kitchen where Avery kept her bowls. He’d warned her that the dog ate and drank at the weirdest times, sometimes waking him in the middle of the night. Snowflake’s sudden departure didn’t trouble her as much as the letter.
Mooseland. February 10th. Same year. Her grandfather is murdered in the forest a week after she moved back to Mooseland. She implicates three individuals in his death only to be proven wrong when a couple of aboriginal teenagers confess to the crime in a suicide note.
That part matched what Avery had told her.
Mooseland. November 9th. Same year. She gives birth to a son, Rory, but withholds the father’s name.
“Rory?” The child haunting her dreams was her son? The sheet of paper slipped from her fingers and glided on the floor, stopping against a black, leather boot. Mad at Avery for lying, she lifted her chin, ready to lash at him. “Ave—”
“Who do we have here?” A smirk disfigured Cooper’s face. “Parker? You’re alive? What a pity.”
She struggled to prevent the wave of panic sweeping through her chest from spilling into her voice. “Avery will be back any moment. If I were you, I’d get out of here.”