Page 15 of A Circle of Crows

“Uh,I think the Constable’s name was Abernathy?”

Abernathy.The Constable who had answered the call from Angus.

Quickly,I pulled a notepad from my desk and jotted down the note. “Verra helpful, thankye so much.”

“Sure,”she muttered slowly. “Anyway, um, I wanted to arrange to come pick up her, her… remains, to bring her home.”

“Ofcourse,” I said. “But ye should know, this case isn’t quite closed—”

“Whatdo you mean? The Constable told Officer Kinney that it was an accident. Whywould the case still be open?”

Itwasn’t wise to alarm the woman, I realized. I didn’t know what she’d been told,or who she was talking to, and with that thought, I immediately realized howlittle I trusted the people in my department. While I couldn’t be sure ofexactly what was going on, what I did know was, something was happening.Incompetence, corruption, laziness—who could say for sure at this point? Butwhatever it was, I needed to be careful and keep my head down, starting withthis woman on the phone.

“Right,”I responded with a nod. “Justtrynabe thorough. So,when were yeplannin’ to come?”

“Ijust booked a flight for tomorrow, for my son and me,” she said with too muchsuspicion for my liking. I wasn’t the one she should be suspicious of.

“Okay,Miss Allan. When ye arrive, can ye do me a favor?”

“Um,sure.”

“Giveme a ring before ye come to the office,” I said quietly. “Don’t talk to anyoneelse. Just me. Can ye do that?”

“Why?”

Squeezingthe back of my neck, I replied, “Oh, no reason for alarm. I justwannaask ye a few questions before—”

“Aboutwhat?”

“Oh,it’s only protocol, miss.Nothin’ to worry about.”

“Then,why do I need to specifically speak toyou? Why can’t any otherConstable do that?”

Ihad never once assumed the woman would be at all daft, but I also hadn’texpected her to ask so many questions. Of course, I did understand why shewould be suspicious, we were, after all, dealing with the death of her sister.But Christ, I was hoping this would be easier.

“It’sjust my position, miss.Nothin’ more than that.”

“Sure,fine,” she muttered. “I’ll be there at some point tomorrow.”

“Allright, miss. Have a safe flight.”

“Thankyou,” she replied shortly, and then, she hung up, leaving me to sit at my deskand wonder what I was about to get myself into.

CHAPTER SEVEN

ROSIE

“Yadon’t have to go,” Patrick, one of River Canyon’s finestand my neighbor’s son, said, eyeing me with gentle concern.

“I’mfine,” I said, hoping I would soon believe it. “I made Gracie go over therealone. I won’t let her take the flight home by herself now, too.”

Patricknarrowed his soft, blue eyes with sympathy and concern. “Rose,yadidn’t make her doanything,yado know that, right? This wasn’t your fault.”

“Yeah,”I replied, nodding as I stood from his desk. “I’ll be in touch with you as soonas I come back.”

“Yabetter,” he replied, curling his lips into a sad, littlesmile.

AsI headed out of the River Canyon Police Department, to get in my car and drivemy son and me to the airport, I couldn’t help but scold myself for the lie Ihad told him.