as if Zane had some guilty reason for asking. “We don’t know yet. But don’t worry, we will.”
Not informative, but he’d provided a clue when he’d asked Zane about his actions during the past month. One month was enough time for flesh to rot and peel from bones, he imagined, and for organs to begin to dissolve. Enough time for what was left to change drastically, yet still look human. More gross images slid through his mind. Sophie had the real ones. Jesus.
He followed the cop outside, veering toward the open yard gate. Sophie stood where she’d been for the past half hour, hands deep in her pockets and shoulders drawn in, as if the eighty-degree sunshine had chilled her to the bone.
She turned as he approached, looking uncomfortable, and waited until he was close enough that no one else could hear them. “I’m sorry,” she said, low and soft, and he hated that her voice wrapped around him like velvet.
“For finding a dead person?”
She blinked. “No. I’m glad I found her. I mean, she needed to be found, but I’m sorry it happened this way, that it’s disrupting your work, that . . .” She waved her hand in a frustrated gesture, then returned it to her pocket. “I don’t know why. It just feels like I messed up.”
“Maybe you’re sorry you didn’t follow my orders.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Of course not. Anyway, that wasn’t the issue that had been eating at his mind. “Sophie, who questioned you?”
“That big cop, Connors, the one you were just talking to.”
She turned away to watch as a van backed up to the yellow tape and someone opened the double doors in back. He studied her profile. Her face was pale, her brow creased with pain, but she didn’t look away from the activity around the grave site.
“Why didn’t he know I told you not to dig in that area?”
She still didn’t look at him. “Because I didn’t tell him.”
“Why not?”
He saw her eyebrows pucker and her mouth purse tightly, as if the question bothered her. “I don’t know.”
He didn’t know, either. A lingering sense of loyalty? Not likely. If she thought about it long enough, she’d probably give the cop a call.
When she continued to stare toward what had now become a shallow excavation site inside the crime tape, he felt he’d been dismissed. He started walking away.
“Zane.”
He stopped, looked back. “What?”
“I quit.”
4
S ophie couldn’t get the pictures out of her mind, or the smell out of her nose.
She couldn’t stay at Natural Designs another minute, watching as they painstakingly disinterred the body, placing it piece by piece into a body bag. Revulsion overshadowed any nagging worry that Zane could have something to do with a dead girl buried on his property. Let the police worry about that; she could tell from the tight stares they focused on Zane that they would. If he was innocent, they’d find out. It wasn’t her problem.
She took off in her Jeep and was halfway home before she realized she didn’t want to be alone.
Her tension was already easing as she cruised through a downtown busy with midday shoppers and the lunch crowd. This was the normal Barringer’s Pass world of tourists, scenic views, and quaint shops. Dead bodies didn’t enter into it.
Stepping into Fortune’s Folly was a comforting reminder of the real world, even though the back wall of Maggie’s store gave the feeling of stepping five hundred million years into the past. Fossilized giant trilobites and dinosaur footprints hung on the wall like prized works of art. Fossilized sea creatures resided in display cases beneath them. Both tourists and the local residents loved Maggie’s quirky and exotic items, and it was the chattering shoppers that Sophie needed to settle her nerves and wipe the images of rotting flesh from her mind.
She helped wait on customers, and after a few horrified questions, Maggie left her alone. Being married to a cop helped her understand that some things needed
Not informative, but he’d provided a clue when he’d asked Zane about his actions during the past month. One month was enough time for flesh to rot and peel from bones, he imagined, and for organs to begin to dissolve. Enough time for what was left to change drastically, yet still look human. More gross images slid through his mind. Sophie had the real ones. Jesus.
He followed the cop outside, veering toward the open yard gate. Sophie stood where she’d been for the past half hour, hands deep in her pockets and shoulders drawn in, as if the eighty-degree sunshine had chilled her to the bone.
She turned as he approached, looking uncomfortable, and waited until he was close enough that no one else could hear them. “I’m sorry,” she said, low and soft, and he hated that her voice wrapped around him like velvet.
“For finding a dead person?”
She blinked. “No. I’m glad I found her. I mean, she needed to be found, but I’m sorry it happened this way, that it’s disrupting your work, that . . .” She waved her hand in a frustrated gesture, then returned it to her pocket. “I don’t know why. It just feels like I messed up.”
“Maybe you’re sorry you didn’t follow my orders.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Of course not. Anyway, that wasn’t the issue that had been eating at his mind. “Sophie, who questioned you?”
“That big cop, Connors, the one you were just talking to.”
She turned away to watch as a van backed up to the yellow tape and someone opened the double doors in back. He studied her profile. Her face was pale, her brow creased with pain, but she didn’t look away from the activity around the grave site.
“Why didn’t he know I told you not to dig in that area?”
She still didn’t look at him. “Because I didn’t tell him.”
“Why not?”
He saw her eyebrows pucker and her mouth purse tightly, as if the question bothered her. “I don’t know.”
He didn’t know, either. A lingering sense of loyalty? Not likely. If she thought about it long enough, she’d probably give the cop a call.
When she continued to stare toward what had now become a shallow excavation site inside the crime tape, he felt he’d been dismissed. He started walking away.
“Zane.”
He stopped, looked back. “What?”
“I quit.”
4
S ophie couldn’t get the pictures out of her mind, or the smell out of her nose.
She couldn’t stay at Natural Designs another minute, watching as they painstakingly disinterred the body, placing it piece by piece into a body bag. Revulsion overshadowed any nagging worry that Zane could have something to do with a dead girl buried on his property. Let the police worry about that; she could tell from the tight stares they focused on Zane that they would. If he was innocent, they’d find out. It wasn’t her problem.
She took off in her Jeep and was halfway home before she realized she didn’t want to be alone.
Her tension was already easing as she cruised through a downtown busy with midday shoppers and the lunch crowd. This was the normal Barringer’s Pass world of tourists, scenic views, and quaint shops. Dead bodies didn’t enter into it.
Stepping into Fortune’s Folly was a comforting reminder of the real world, even though the back wall of Maggie’s store gave the feeling of stepping five hundred million years into the past. Fossilized giant trilobites and dinosaur footprints hung on the wall like prized works of art. Fossilized sea creatures resided in display cases beneath them. Both tourists and the local residents loved Maggie’s quirky and exotic items, and it was the chattering shoppers that Sophie needed to settle her nerves and wipe the images of rotting flesh from her mind.
She helped wait on customers, and after a few horrified questions, Maggie left her alone. Being married to a cop helped her understand that some things needed
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