Page 13 of Hold Your Breath

Giving her a sharp look, Chris urged her toward the building with a hand on her upper back. “Looks that way. Where were you parked when it happened?”

“Behind The Coffee Spot the first time.” A sheen of ice on the ground caught her eye, so she carefully shuffled her boots across the slippery patch. “Yesterday, my truck was in the Fire Station One parking lot all day.”

“This was two separate incidents?”

“Yep.”

“Hmm.”

They walked back into the warmth of the lobby, and Lou shivered, this time from the relief of escaping the cold. Chris led her to the back office, tapping a key fob against the sensor next to the door. When a small green light flickered, he twisted the handle and held it open, standing to the side so she could enter.

The room was cramped, barely big enough for the desk and two battered chairs it contained. A computer that looked like it had been through a lot of hard use sat in the center of the desk. Chris gestured toward one of the chairs, and Lou took a seat.

“So.” Chris sat back in his chair. “Who’d you piss off?”

She frowned. “That’s the second time someone’s asked me that in the past sixteen hours. Have you been talking with Callum?”

With a laugh, he said, “Nope. It’s just the obvious question.”

“I can’t think of anyone. Seriously, I’m a very likeable person.”

He laughed again. “I can see that.” Tapping his pen against his notepad, he stared at the Field County map hanging on the wall. “You live in Burton Valley, right? So, some of your neighbors are the Taylors, Gene Wentworth, Terry Buck…who else is out there?”

“The Moonies own the place next door, but they live in Arizona and have only been out a couple of weekends this winter. Oh, and the father and son who have the same jacked-up teeth are in that trailer about a half mile south of me.”

“Right!” He snapped his fingers. “How could I forget Tim and Tim Junior Helling?”

“How indeed?”

He started the pen tapping again. “Any trouble with any of them?”

“No. The older Helling freaks me out a little when he talks about how the perfect world population is eleven million people, but he’s always pretty polite about it. I’m about sixty percent sure he’d allow me to stick around with the others.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that theory from him a few times. He’s harmless, though. How about any of the other neighbors? Hard to imagine it’s one of them. You have a pretty nice bunch out there.”

She shot him a sideways look. “You almost sound a little disappointed that I don’t have any real crazies within spitting distance.”

“Well, their sanity is not helping us widen our suspect pool.”

“True.” She thought for a moment. “Vic and Missy Taylor are sweethearts. Vic used their skid steer to blow the snow out of my driveway in January. Unfortunately, the county road was still blown over with three-foot-high drifts, but I could drive up and down my driveway if I wanted.”

He motioned for her to continue.

“Gene’s been pretty friendly. After his last stroke, though, he’s really gone downhill. He was telling me how he can barely see ten feet in front of him. I don’t think he should be driving.”

Frowning, Chris made a note. “Thanks. I’ll check it out. How about Terry?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think I’ve ever met him. Wait—does he drive a black pickup with a blue topper?”

“Yes.”

“We’ve waved when our trucks have passed each other on the road, but that’s about it.”

“Hmm.” He flipped through the pages in his notebook where he’d been scribbling as she talked. “How about before? Where are you from?”

“Connecticut.” She was already shaking her head. “The only people I aggravated there were my parents, and they wouldn’t even come out here to visit, much less skulk around dark parking lots stabbing my tires.”

“No ex-lovers, boyfriends, stalkers, roommates, rivals?” he rattled off, making her stare and then laugh.