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“I think my in-laws have an old bulletin board in the garage,” Laurie said. “You want me to get it so you can hang some of this stuff up?”
Holly tore her gaze from the boxes and managed a smile. “I can find it later. You’ve done so much already.”
She’d wait until Laurie left to unpack those. Her publicist had voiced on more than one occasion that she worried Holly’s fixation on her sister’s unsolved murder was excessive, and those of the Green River Killer. Laurie didn’t know the half of it. She’d never told Laurie about her growing theory there was a second serial killer at large around Seattle, The Bus Stop Killer, and that he’d killed Meg and a handful of others.
“Well, in that case, I’d better go,” Laurie said. “I promised Ken I’d be home to help with dinner and bedtime with the girls.”
Laurie swept her teased bangs to the side, blending them in with her feathered strawberry blond hair. She cast Holly a motherly look, even though they were less than ten years apart. “You going to be okay here?”
Holly wondered if Jared could’ve been lurking in the parking area to her houseboat and had followed them here. She imagined him breaking a window in the night, wrapping his thick fingers around her neck as she slept. She envisioned waking up in a strange bed, Jared looming over with the same crazed look in his eyes that he had when he—
“Holly. Hello?” Laurie snapped her fingers. “You need anything else before I go home?”
Holly blinked the thoughts away and forced a smile. “I’ll be fine. Just need to get back to work.”And get my mind off Jared.
Laurie crossed her arms. “You seemed like you were somewhere else there a moment.”
Holly shrugged. “Just the creative mind, I guess.”
Laurie furrowed her brows, looking skeptical as Holly glanced at the night falling outside the window. She hadn’t written anything today. Her literary agent had called this morning letting Holly know that her publisher had agreed to an extension. Holly was meant to send in her manuscript this Friday, but they’d given her two more weeks. She needed at least double that, but she would take what she could get.
Holly turned to the desk, where the pile of notes, Roxy Vega’s thick casefile, and her tape recorder filled with hours of interviews lay beside her keyboard. It was going to be a late night.
“Thanks for all your help today,” Holly said as the two of them made for the staircase.
As Holly had lugged her computer monitor and hard drive up the strangers’ staircase earlier that day, she couldn’t help feeling she’d overreacted. Maybe Laurie had been right, and Jared was reformed.
“And please thank your in-laws for letting me move in on such short notice,” Holly added as she followed Laurie down the carpeted stairs.
“They were happy to help.” When Laurie reached the bottom of the staircase, she turned toward her. “My mother-in-law is a huge fan of yours. She’s read all your books and wasthrilledto know you’d be staying here.” Laurie cocked her head and placed a hand on Holly’s forearm. “A little too thrilled, if you ask me. You might need to worry aboutherstalking you now and not just Jared.”
Laurie laughed. Holly frowned.
“Sorry.” Laurie shook her head. “I was just trying to be funny. But seriously, she wanted to come over and show you the house, but I told her we would be fine by ourselves. Trust me, you’d never get her to leave. She would’ve yacked all night about your books, and I know you’re on a deadline. But after you turn in this new book, she would love to meet you.”
“I’d love to meet her too.” After hugging Laurie, Holly opened the front door. “Give my love to Ken and the girls.”
“I will. I put the garage door opener on the kitchen counter, and I dropped the house keys into your purse.”
“Thanks.”
Laurie pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head as she stepped onto the porch. “One more thing. The phone is in the kitchen, and it’s on a party line.”
“Those still exist?”
Laurie laughed. “This cul-de-sac is miserly and stuck in the seventies.” She lifted a finger in the air as she started down the porch steps. “So, watch out. If you pick up the phone at the wrong time, you’ll be stuck listening to Carol from two houses down rehashing the latestMurder, She Wroteto her sister.”
Holly smiled. “Good to know.”
“Oh.” Laurie spun around as Holly started to shut the door. “I almost forgot. I told the next-door neighbor, Clint, that you’re moving in so he doesn’t think you’re squatting here or anything.” She winked and pointed to the house on her left. “If you need anything, I’m sure he’d be happy to give you a hand.” She grinned. “He’s also single.”
Holly rolled her eyes. She’d hardly dated after everything that happened with Jared. Instead, she’d buried herself in her work. “I’m perfectly capable of living on my own without needing a man’shelp.”
Laurie put up a palm. “Look, I’m just saying, it wouldn’t hurt you to have a man around for a change.”
Holly let out the closest thing to a laugh she’d experienced since learning of Jared’s release. “I hate to break it to you, but you might be more stuck in the 70s than this cul-de-sac.”
Laurie’s brick-red lipsticked mouth curled to a smile. “You might change your mind after you meet him. He’s very easy on the eyes.”