He leaned forward slightly and dropped his voice. “She was a few years younger than me in school. I saw her around and she wasn’t crazy then. She was normal. Popular even. I was away in college when it happened, but apparently her whole family abandoned her. Just went poof in the night. Her boyfriend too. They left her all alone, flew to the opposite ends of the country just to get away from her. And that’s when the crazy came out. At least when it started to show to everyone else apparently. Her family probably ditched her because they already knew she was a loon.”
“So you just heard about this? You weren’t there when any of it happened?” He was as bad as nosy Sally. Rumors weren’t facts. He knew that.
“Sure, rumors spread like hotcakes. But these ones are true, I’m telling you. I mean, if the woman is sane, why does she live out in the middle of the woods in that rundown shack?”
It wasn’t a shack. The house would have been beautiful in its prime. I couldn’t exactly argue with the rundown part though. It had been the first thing I’d noticed about the place. “Well if she was alone it would be crazy. But she’s not.” I remembered how defensive she got when I implied that she shouldn’t be out in the woods alone. “She’s married, right?”
He rose both eyebrows and laughed. “Married? Are you kidding? Who would marry that whack-job?”
I took another sip of my beer. So it had been another lie. She was alone in that house. Why had she been so quick to lie to me? The question had been turning around in my head for the past hour, always leading toward one conclusion. She was hiding something. “Maybe she’s out there because she’s trying to run from something she did.”
“Not this again. We’re off the case, man.”
“Just hear me out. What if we solved the case instead of the FBI? We could do no wrong after something like that.”
He just stared at me.
“All we have to do is go question Violet again and…”
“You have the hots for her.”
I laughed. “No, definitely not.”
He slowly shook his head. “You’re smitten.”
“Who uses the word smitten? I’m not smitten.”
A huge smile spread over his face. “She was hot. I haven’t seen her in years, but I remember her being at least an eight.”
She was a ten, hands down. If Damien didn’t see that, he was blind. But the captain and Violet certainly didn’t look anything alike. Damien tended to go after curvy, powerful women who he pretended he knew how to handle. Violet wasn’t like that. She seemed…delicate. Like a violet actually. A lying, timid yet audacious, sexy as sin violet. I shrugged away the thought. “I’m not attracted to her. But speaking of women…how did your chat with the captain go?”
“Great. Pretty sure she's going to say yes to a date any day now.”
Keep dreaming. “So what did she say about the case?”
“That two cops were killed in the explosion, which is why we had to rush over there. Everyone thought there was also a civilian in critical condition. He left in an ambulance before we arrived on the scene, but they IDed him at the hospital while I was on the phone. He’s actually some hotshot agent from out of town that’s part of an ongoing investigation.”
“Benjamin Harlow?”
“Yup, that’s the one.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
Damien shrugged. “It didn’t sound good. He’s in critical condition. I doubt he’ll make it through the night.”
Damn. I was really hoping to question him about everything. He’d even be able to ID Violet if she was the one that had been living in the house. But that theory was pretty much out the window. If everyone knew about the crazy lady on the hill, surely Sally would have known. She would have just said Violet had done it and then gone home. That wasn’t it. I was missing something.
What I needed was a good night’s sleep so I could sort through the details with a fresh perspective. All I could focus on right now was that there were two cops down. And that Benjamin guy would be a third soon enough. This case was big, just like I had suspected. Any more information Damien could give me would be helpful. “So…what’s the ongoing investigation?”
“That’s all I know. The case was ours for less than ten minutes.”
“Did you hear anything else about Benjamin? It was strange…Sally knew him. But she said his last name was Jones instead of Harlow.”
“Maybe I was wrong about you having the hots for Violet. Clearly you have a thing for Sally. What’s she look like?”
Frumpy and twice my age. “I’m not interested in Sally or Violet. I’m interested in solving the case.”
“How about the two dimes at 10 o’clock?”
I didn’t even turn to look. “Aren’t you trying to score with the captain?”
“Yeah but big fish take time. I’m just looking for tonight, not the long haul.”
“I’m going to pass.”
“Suit yourself. I’ll see you in the morning.” He grabbed his beer and headed over to the table behind me.
I sighed and pulled out my wallet. Damien had barely given me any information. I was going to have to solve this thing on my own. And on my own time because I was already on thin ice at work.
Chapter 5
Violet
I sneezed and pulled the comforter up to my chin. Everything hurt. My whole body was betraying me, begging to stay in bed. But I had promised Zeke a fun day off. He needed to get his mind off the snarky five-year-olds in his class, and I had the perfect day planned. A little cold wasn’t going to get in my way of putting a smile on Zeke’s face. Even thinking about him coming home in the afternoon with a frown on his face killed me.
I tickled his side, waking him up in a fit of giggles. “It’s a three day weekend.” I tried to yell it and sound excited, but it came out as more of a hoarse whisper.
He squirmed out of my tickle attack. As soon as he could breathe, he sat up in bed and looked down at my face. “You’re sick.”
“I’m not sick.” I was most certainly sick. I sneezed again, crushing any doubt in either of our minds. My plunge in the lake had done me in.
He put his tiny little hand on my forehead. “I must have given you what I had. I’m sorry, Mommy.”
“We both know you weren’t sick last night.”
“I was. I feel better today though.” He climbed off the bed. “I’ll make you pancakes.”
I tried to hide my smile. For a moment I thought he’d go to school after all and abandon me in my dire state. He had just admitted that he felt fine. But he was going to stay and take care of me. It wasn’t the fun day I had planned, but it sounded pretty perfect to me. Minus the pancakes. My little dude could not cook. Last time he made me buttermilk pancakes he didn’t dilute the powdered buttermilk. They tasted like chalk mixed with acid, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him that. I had eaten three of them. Three. I could have died. That’s how much I loved him.
“How about cereal instead?” I asked.
“But you love pancakes and whenever I don’t feel good you make me my favorite foods.”