Page 78 of Deathtoll

When had it rained last?

Saturday.

He’d helped Kate clean out Betty’s house that day.

A ten-second memory snapped into sharp focus, as clearly as if he were back in Betty’s kitchen. Emma’s smiling face as she asked,Did Kate tell you I saw a ghost?

“Asael.” Murph spat the name as if speaking a curse.

Asael had been in Betty’s house. Within arm’s reach of Kate. He could be in there right now.

Murph took off for his pickup, calling Joe as he ran.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Murph

When Murph’s phone rang with a call from Bing, he was just flying past the town-limit sign, finally back in Broslin.

“Anything?” the captain asked. “Where are you?”

“Coming back from the water tower where Mordocai died. I had a hunch.”

“And?”

“A single footprint.”

“More than we got.”

“The print was left in mud.”

“Saturday,” the captain said immediately. “Okay. Say Asael was here that early… What was he doing between then and taking Emma?”

“Watching Kate. I want to get into Betty’s place.”

“You got a search warrant?”

“I’m telling you, something about that place bugged me when I was there to help with the cleaning.”

“You try to sell that to the judge. The hamburger wrapper had no usable prints, by the way. The results just came back.”

“And who would eat a hamburger with gloves on? Then there’s Emma saying she saw Betty’s ghost in the kitchen window the night after Betty had died.”

“Broslin PD doesn’t investigate ghosts.”

“I’m not Broslin PD.”

“Take that thought and meditate on it.”

“Emma is gone. I’m not going to let the bastard take Kate too.”

Bing said nothing for a couple of seconds, then a couple more. The silence was followed by a sigh that indicated his strong suspicion that he expected to regret whatever he was going to say next. “Linda Gonzales has the key. As police, I can’t go in without a warrant. As someone who was there helping with packing things up, if you need to go back in for something completely unrelated to police business and Linda gave you the key…”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet. She isn’t home. Her daughter collected her this afternoon to celebrate her grandson’s birthday in Trenton. She won’t be back until tomorrow morning.” Bing paused. “Hold on. Sophie is calling. I have to take that.”

Murph drove straight to Kate’s place. He didn’t relax until he saw her through the window, crossing her kitchen.