Olivia lowered herself onto the chair. “Tea would be great.”
He exchanged a quick look with Jane at how slurred Olivia’s words were. So far her weakness and speech issues were the main symptoms.
Megan rushed past them to join in the volleyball game with Will, and the sounds of teenagers’ shouts mingled with the roar of the surf. Reid dug out a dripping bottle of cold sweet tea and uncapped it for Olivia.
She took a swig, then choked on it. Her face went red, and he patted her on the back. “You okay?”
After she took a few breaths, Olivia nodded. “I’ve been having some trouble swallowing.” Her hand shook as she set the bottle into the chair’s cup holder. “You two looked very serious. Is it the murder?”
Jane shook her head. “Augusta is handling that. It’s a situation involving my mother.” She ran through the details of yesterday and what Gabriel had said.
Olivia listened without interruption. “You’re going to contact your mom?”
“I think I have to. I thought about calling her.”
“She won’t answer. You’re afraid to see her, aren’t you?” Olivia brushed a few windblown strands of brown hair away from her face. “You have to go in person, Jane.”
Jane looked away to stare at the waves. “Seriously, I’m confident it will be a total disaster. She’s known where I was all along, and she told Dad not to tell me her location. That says a lot about what kind of reception I can expect.”
“Anyone would be terrified.” Olivia nodded.
“Reid also said I should fly over to see her. But as good as Augusta is, the homicide investigation is my responsibility.”
Reid dropped back down onto the blanket. “I’ll go with you. Like I said last night, we can make it a two-day trip. Over one day, back the next.”
Jane’s gaze flitted to the whitecaps rolling to the shore. “You don’t have to get involved in this, Reid. It’s not your fight.”
“Anything that involves you matters to me. I wouldn’t want you to go alone.”
Olivia’s smile of approval emerged. “You’re a keeper, Reid Dixon.”
He only hoped Jane thought so. “What if you asked your dad to call her? She might talk to him.”
“I don’t think he’s had contact with her in some years.”
Olivia leaned back in the chair. “Wait. What if you gave her number to Gabriel? Even if she didn’t answer, he could leave the message he wanted her to have.”
Reid hated to burst their bubble. “I don’t see your mom responding to Gabriel. She hasn’t had contact with him in over fifteen years.”
Jane rubbed her forehead. “You’re probably right. I’ll probably have to show up on her doorstep.”
Reid could imagine that scene, and it wasn’t pretty. There had to be a better way to get in touch with Jane’s mother. Did he have any contacts in Maine he could send over and impress on her how important it was that they talk? He’d had an intern from Bangor. He reached for his phone and looked at the map. It wasn’t that far from Folly Shoals. And if that didn’t work, he could try calling himself.
He placed the call and spoke to his friend only to find out the guy was on temporary assignment in California. He ended the call. “No go. My friend won’t be back in Maine for another month.”
“I appreciate the effort.” She gazed out toward the water. “I can do whatever I have to do.”
He’d never doubted it. She was the little engine that could.
* * *
Jane’s team sat at the front table of the war room when she entered into the Monday morning scents of coffee and beignets. Augusta’s brown eyes were alert and eager beneath her fringe of short brown hair. Jackson sat at one end of the table, twiddling a pencil between his fingers, and the forensic tech, Nora Craft, had her nose in her computer at the other end.
Jane ordered Parker to lie down as she stepped to the front by the whiteboard and picked up the marker. “I hope the atmosphere in here means you have leads on Saturday’s homicide. Nora, you go first. What have you gleaned from the crime scene?”
Nora looked up from her laptop screen. In her late twenties, she was a no-nonsense type of woman who always turned up something important to the team.
She tucked a strand of brunette hair behind her ear. “No prints other than the deceased’s and family we’ve been able to identify. The back door lock was broken, so it’s likely the arsonist entered that way. The arson investigator determined the accelerant used for the fire was kerosene, so it’s going to be impossible to track. There was a trail of kerosene from the back door to the bedroom.”
Nothing Jane didn’t already know or suspect. “Any sign her ex-husband has been in the house lately?”
“I have her computer, and she’s had some nasty emails from him, but I found nothing in the house. That doesn’t mean anything though. He could have worn gloves, and the fire would have destroyed hair and fiber evidence.”
“Her phone records?”
“Got ’em. Multiple calls to Drew, but he doesn’t seem to have picked up. The messages were short, like she left messages on his voice mail.”
Jane’s phone vibrated as she turned to Augusta, who was looking at her laptop. “Any word on the autopsies?”
“Downloading Gail’s right now. Give me a second.”
Jane reached for her phone, then left it where it was. “I think I just got it too, but it will be hard to read on my phone.”
A frown crouched between Augusta’s eyes. “I didn’t expect this. The autopsy found traces of Rohypnol in her stomach.”
Roofies. “Someone drugged her?”
“Looks like it,” Augusta said. “Official cause of death was smoke inhalation, but someone drugged her so she slept through it.”
“Do you know if she’d been at a bar or anything like that on Friday, the night before the attack? The drug could have been left over from the night before.”
Augusta shook her head. “Her neighbor at the crossroad reported she saw her come home from work at seven, and she didn’t leave until an early morning run at six.”
“Homicide,” Jane said.
“Looks that way to me,” Augusta said.
Nora pursed her lips. “I’ll get the contents of the fridge and see if anything’s there. Takeout maybe?”
“I can canvas the delivery places,” Augusta said. “And I’m talking to anyone who might have seen someone on the pay phone.”
The marker squeaked under Jane’s fingers as she wrote down suspects. “We haven’t narrowed down our suspect list. Could have been the caller, could have been her ex-husband, or someone else entirely.”
“That’s about it,” Augusta said. “We don’t have a prime suspect yet.”
“I’ve got the names of both attorneys working on the alimony case. And any complaints against her business in case it’s a disgruntled client who’s been calling.”
Augusta smiled at the rookie. “Good work, Jackson. See what you can find out about the whereabouts of those affected by the falsified tests.”
Though he was fresh out of police academy, the young man was an excellent officer. His southern drawl masked the sharp intellect in his black eyes. But he’d grown up with police work in his blood. His daddy was one of the best officers around, and his marksman scores were impressive.