Page 29 of Dead Love

“Wow,” I whistled. “You’re not in the hospital with her?”

“I’m doing what I do best: trying to figure out what happened so I can put that asshole in prison where he belongs.” He shook his head. “The only solace that I have is that my daughter is missing, which means she made it out. She’s out there. Somewhere.”

His eyes were dreamy, staring off into space, tears welling in his eyes. I didn’t believe a second of it.

“Anyway,” he continued, immediately shaking off those emotions, “She was at Quiet Meadows yesterday. Right before she disappeared. Did you see or hear anything?”

I looked up at the ceiling, mulling it over in my mind. He could pretend to care about his daughter like I could pretend to not know who started the fire.

“The only person I saw her talking to was Andrew,” I said. It was partly true. “He seems to be eyeing her.”

“Andrew and Kora have always been close. Grew up together.” Mike ran a hand over his head. “Andrew was out on duty with me. He’s devastated. Maybe more than I am.”

I’m sure he was.

I patted him on the back. “I’ll keep an eye open.” He smiled. “How did the Echo arrest go?”

“Found the distributor, but he never goes to the nightclub,” he shrugged. “Arrested him anyway, but still on the lookout.” He puffed his chest. “Still, it’s good for the county. Especially Punica. Makes the people feel safe, you know? The source has been brought to justice. Now we need the seller.”

“You’ll find him soon.” But I would find him first.

I followed Sheriff Mike out to the patio, exchanging meaningless pleasantries, when he stopped and turned to me.

“There’s one other thing,” he said. “There’s been another Echo death. Keep it quiet for now, but it might be murder.” He glanced at his squad car, then focused on me. “The media will find out soon, but you wouldn’t know anything strange about those deaths, would you?”

Finally, he had figured something out.

“Puncture wound to the chest?” I asked.

“You saw, then.”

“Your coroner is the one who missed it. Not me.”

“Damn it,” he hit his forehead. “I can’t talk much about the case.” I stifled a chuckle; it’s not like that had stopped him before. “But you know what they’re saying. It seems like you’re profiting off of the deaths.”

“So is Poppies & Wheat,” I sighed. “Plenty of places profit when people get together.”

“But none so clearly have an advantage when it comes to murder.”

I studied him. His face was expressionless, but I got the feeling that he was hiding a secret. That he knew he was accusing me of something that had nothing to do with me.

Something else was at play here.

“I wanted to warn you,” he said. “You know. As a friend.”

Friend?“Think of the positives,” I said, lifting my head. “It’s given you something to fight for when it comes to your reelection campaign.Youprofit as well.”

He plastered his usual smile across his lips. “As long as I can find the scoundrel, I will deliver punishment swiftly, all for my people.” He winked. “The votes help motivate me, you know.”

“I’m sure.”

Once he was gone, I checked the surveillance footage of the basement—Kora paced, checking the walls for a secret exit. There was water in there, some blankets too, but it would take her a while to find them if she was still concerned with finding an escape.

At Quiet Meadows, we didn’t have any services that day, but Catie was there early. She must have gone to pick up a body, perhaps the one the sheriff had mentioned. A few minutes later, the coroner called, putting Nyla’s cremation on hold. But when the time came to burn Nyla, would Kora want to witness it? It gave some closure. Others, it made the grief worse. I would give that to her, then. If nothing else, it would be intriguing to see how the cremation process affected her.

Until then, I worked on a decedent that had died of natural causes. Once the body was prepped and placed in a rigid cardboard casket, I slid open the metal doors to the first retort, then pressed the button to start the process. The conveyor belt brought the casket into the retort. The door shut automatically. A beep from the computer signalled that it had reached the desired temperature.

A few hours later, I pulverized the bone pieces to ashes in the granulator machine and grabbed a temporary plastic urn. As the grains fell into the container like sand in an hourglass, I thought of Kora.