Page 27

TWENTY-SIX

Adrian was in his office early. He read through Kaely’s profile slowly, trying to digest it. He was amazed by how detailed it was. However, if she’d given him a name, he would have been happier. He knew he was being watched carefully. The mayor and the town council were wondering if he was up to the task of catching what was likely a serial killer. So far, he hadn’t confirmed to them that there was one. Although he was pretty certain about it, he had no plans to state it publicly for a while. Not until he had to.

He’d been at his desk for a little over an hour when his phone rang. Dr. Gibson.

“Hi, Doc,” he said. “What have you got?”

As he listened to Gibson give him the news he was waiting for, he swallowed hard. Things had just gotten much more dangerous, in his opinion. The person who killed Chloe Banner knew what he was doing. He thanked Gibson and hung up. Then he went back to the profile. There it was. Kaely suspected that Chloe had been incapacitated by some kind of drug. She qualified that conjecture by stating that she hadn’t witnessed any defensive wounds and that autopsy results could alter her opinion.

Gibson had discovered flunitrazepam, also called the date-rape drug. There was also alcohol in her system. Not a lot, but mixed with flunitrazepam, it wouldn’t have taken long for Chloe to lose consciousness. Gibson had promised the complete autopsy results, but when the fax machine began to growl and spit out the first page, Adrian jumped.

“Keep it together,” he said to himself as he pulled each paper from the machine. Once everything was in front of him, he went through the report carefully. No sexual assault. One knife wound to the heart. Chloe died about four to six hours before she was found. Gibson agreed that she hadn’t died where she’d been found and that her clothes had been changed. He was a little confused by the stomach contents. She’d consumed alcohol, but no food. If she’d gone to the Grits and Grain event, there should have been food and even more alcohol. Besides, the timeline told him that she must not have made it to the event at all. What did that mean? She consumed the drug-laced drink somewhere else?

He began pulling up the names and addresses of every bar or restaurant in the area. Was it possible someone saw them? Would remember them? This was a resort area. There were too many possibilities. If they could just find her car.... Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He might have taken her somewhere in his own car.

Adrian wrote down the time of death and the location where the body was found. He sighed in frustration. The two-hour time-of-death window made the area they’d need to search too large. He wasn’t getting anywhere with the facts he had right now.

Lisa poked her head inside his office. “Just made coffee. You want some?”

Adrian was surprised. He thought he’d made it. In fact, he thought he’d already had some. Boy, this case was messing with his mind.

“I would love that. Sorry, I meant to start it when I got here. I totally forgot.”

Lisa grinned at him. “I never thought I’d see the day when you forgot about coffee.” She walked over and picked up his empty cup. “I’ll get you some before your head explodes.” She smiled at Jake. “I have some of those treats you like, Mr. Jake. How about one?”

Jake’s tail thumped loudly against the floor, signaling his reaction to her offer. Adrian smiled. Jake and Lisa went through the same routine every morning. She was so good with Mutt and Jeff—and her ability with dogs translated easily to Jake, who not only loved her but loved her dogs. If only Adrian could get that enthusiastic about things in his own life. Until these murders, he’d fallen into a slump. He loved his job and this town, but calls from tourists asking for directions and neighbors having petty disagreements had started to wear him down. Sure, there was their fair share of shoplifting and even domestic squabbles—but all in all, nothing very stimulating ever happened in Sanctuary—until now. Although, this current situation had brought with it some concerns. He was grateful for Kaely and Erin, but would he be able to use their information to find this killer before someone else died? And if they found another body—would it be his fault?

“Here you go.”

Lisa placed his cup of coffee on the desk and then removed a dog treat from her pocket. Jake sat up and put out his paw, which always made Lisa laugh. She tossed the treat up in the air, right above his head, and Jake snapped it up as it reached his nose.

“Thanks, Lisa,” he said.

She looked down at his desk, “Autopsy in? Anything new?”

“Yeah. Why don’t you grab your own coffee and come in. I’d love your opinion.”

“You got it, boss.”

Adrian had encouraged Lisa more than once to apply to join their small force, but she always turned him down.

“I like what I do now,” she’d told him every time he brought it up. “Seems silly to trade a job I love for something I might like. If that ever changes, I’ll let you know.”

A few minutes later, she was back, her coffee cup in one hand and a small paper plate in the other. “Tim brought doughnuts. I’ll bet you didn’t eat either.” She looked over at Jake, who was now lying on his dog bed in the corner. “I hope you at least fed Jake.”

“Do you really think I could get out of the house without feeding him? He wouldn’t allow it,” he said, grinning.

“No, I suppose he wouldn’t.”

Lisa put the cup and the doughnuts on Adrian’s desk. Then she pulled up a chair. “So, did you learn anything interesting from the autopsy?”

Adrian brought her up to date. “My question is, where were they when Chloe was roofied?”

“Why don’t you let me work on that? Her family is supposed to be in town today sometime. They’re going to stop by here first. I asked them for a current photo. Once we have it, I can send it to bars and restaurants in the area.”

“You heard from the family already?”

She nodded. “Lonzine and Dale found their contact information in Chloe’s room when they searched it.”

“What time are they coming in?”

“Should be here around one.” Lisa watched him for a moment before saying, “Do you want me to talk to them?”

Adrian shook his head. “I feel like this is something I should do, although I’m pretty sure you’d be better at it.”

Lisa took a bite of her doughnut, chewed, and swallowed. “I think you’re wrong.”

Adrian frowned at her. “How can you say that? You saw how I fell apart when I had to tell Susan Simmons that Rod was gone.”

He still got choked up when he thought about it. Rod Simmons had managed the local hardware store. He’d had a sudden heart attack and was gone before the ambulance arrived. Rod and Susan were such a great couple. Everyone in Sanctuary loved them. They hosted Christmas parties in the winter and held a huge BBQ every summer in their large backyard. Going to Susan’s house to give her the bad news was one of the worst moments of his life. Rod was the brother he’d never had. He cried so much, Susan had to comfort him . It was embarrassing.

“Boss, that was just what Susan needed that day.” Lisa’s voice was soft and full of compassion. “You shared her grief. It helped her to know that someone else understood how she felt. If you’d just delivered the news unemotionally, it would have been much worse for her.”

“If you say so. I felt totally unprofessional.”

“Well, if you’re such a failure at your job,” Lisa said, “ex plain to me why every member of your staff would gladly lay down their lives for you.”

He glanced over at her, startled. “I ... I appreciate that, but please don’t ever try it. I’ll fire you if you die.”

Lisa burst out laughing. “Well, so far that hasn’t been a problem.” She took a deep breath and said, “Okay, so this is the first actual murder... well, murders we’ve ever had since you’ve been here.” She paused a moment. “And we’ve only had to take down a couple of people who had access to deadly weapons.”

Adrian nodded. “Herman Glimscher. He was so drunk he didn’t realize what he was doing. Thankfully, that ended okay.”

“Thanks to his wife, Rose. Boy, did she read him the riot act. He got rid of that gun and never bought another one.”

“Then there was Tillie Perez who tried to run her husband down with her car.”

Lisa grinned. “Sorry, not funny, but Louis ran so fast I think his legs caught fire. I hate divorce, but frankly, I was relieved when she left him and moved to Cincinnati.”

“Louis was even more relieved.” He sighed. “Why don’t you make up a list of...”

Someone knocked on the door and Adrian called out, “Come in.”

Officer Lee stood there. Lonzine Lee was a terrific cop. She was unflappable, someone he depended on. The look of excitement on her face surprised him. Not a look he saw often.

“Just got a call from a state trooper, boss,” she said. “They found Chloe Banner’s car.”

“Where?”

“Pulled off on the side of the road between here and Townsend.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said slowly.

“She had a flat tire,” Lonzine said. “Looks like someone slashed it. There were tracks behind it. Pretty sure someone stopped to help her.”

Adrian and Lisa looked at each other.

“Our killer,” Lisa said.

“So, he cuts her tire and waits for her to pull off the road,” Adrian said. “Then he picks her up. But how did he drug her? Wouldn’t she have called a tow truck? And why would she have left with him if she didn’t know him?”

At that moment, he had more questions than he had answers. But if they were going to stop the killing, that had to change. And fast.