Page 46 of Our Daughter's Bones

His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. He gave a sharp nod.

“Good,” she sighed.

“I was thinking about the money.” He pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his coat.

“You’ve started smoking again?” Her voice rose, but she bit her tongue. It wasn’t her business anymore. Except she had spent a year trying to get him to quit.

“I got a vice, Mack. Sue me,” he said as he perched a white tube between his lips.

“You can’t smoke inside.”

“I’m not. The ritual helps me think.” He rolled his eyes.

“You want to expose Luna to poisonous air?”

“She lives with her mother.”

“But still––”

“Working relationship, Mack.”

She ground her jaw. “Fine.”

“Any leads on that man in the video?”

“Yeah.” She showed him the address. “Clint narrowed the logo down to three stores in Washington. I did some research. Seems like this is the place to go to. They use the exact same logo. ‘ER’ looks like initials.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Initials? That’ll really help us narrow it down.”

“Did anyone with these initials turn up in Erica’s investigation?”

“Nope.”

Mackenzie suppressed a shudder. Would he keep Abby alive? Why would he? The best way to keep her silent was to kill her.

“We have to assume she’s alive until a body turns up.” He’d read her thoughts. “Besides, Clint said he would have Erica’s messages and call logs by this evening. There was some damage to the phone, but the data isn’t lost. It might give us a clue.”

Where was Abby Correia? Was she even in Lakemore anymore? Mackenzie turned to look at the map of Washington State on her computer screen. The great outdoors was abundant in Washington. Abby could be buried in the woods or sitting in the bottom of a lake.

“Coffee?” Daniel St. Clair walked in, carrying a coffee tray. “How’s it going?”

He looked crisp and fresh, with a shaven jaw and combed hair. If she breathed deep enough, she could catch the scent of fresh linen from his suit.

“Oh, thanks.” Nick frowned and took a cup.

Daniel offered the tray to Mackenzie, but she shook her head. “I don’t drink coffee.”

“Seriously?” He raised his eyebrows. “Never heard that before. How do you function?”

She shrugged, “I get by.”

He put the tray away and leaned against Troy’s desk. “Get by? I heard they call you Mad Mack around here. Gum?”

Mackenzie’s face flooded with color as she shook her head. She caught Nick suppress a laugh and shot him a glare. “A silly nickname. Are you staying at a hotel?”

“I rented an Airbnb for a month. I’m hoping it’s not going to take longer than that, but if it does, I’ll consider a hotel.”

“Think we’ll find Abby in a month?”