Page 64 of Vengeance of Childhood Proportions (Till Death Do Us Part #7)

Chapter Fifty-Four

Mal

Thankfully, I was able to catch Dr. Robinson before his team headed back to the mainland with the bodies and evidence.

I was hesitant to add the book into the evidence log.

Technically, it wasn’t evidence, and I was already in a hole buried up to my knees in political bullshit.

I did not want to add to that or risk losing the book.

After a private conversation with Dr. Robinson, he agreed to stay with me in Atelihai Valley to help me clean the book and see what we could decipher from it. His assistant could handle prepping the bodies for autopsy, which Dr. Robinson hadn’t been planning on getting to until tomorrow, anyway.

“You don’t think I’m nuts?” I asked the good doctor as he opened up the room in the sheriff’s office that his people had been utilizing while in town.

“I’ve worked with you a long time, Mal. We’ve done a lot of cases together.

” Dr. Robinson flipped on a lamp before pulling out a metal tray with a white liner from a closet.

He brought it over to the side table with the lamp.

“While I have no opinion on your mental status, I can say that I trust your instincts more than anyone else in your department. You care about justice in a way that’s rare nowadays. ”

I approached him with the book, which was now in a plastic bag he’d given me to help preserve any evidence still on it. Dr. Robinson took the bag and handed me a set of gloves. He put on a pair too before opening the bag.

“Ah, East Lynne . Whoever left this behind has good tastes.”

“I don’t think I’m familiar with it,” I said, pulling up a spare chair.

Dr. Robinson adjusted the swing arm of a magnifying glass over the tray with the book. “Underrated classic. Victorian wife abandons her husband and children for her lover and fakes her own death to avoid the scandal.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Ballsy.”

He tipped the book up, carefully shaking it to dislodge any loose debris. “Quite, especially for the times. Like I said, underrated.”

“How long could a book have survived outside in our weather?”

“You’d be surprised how resilient books are,” he said, reaching for a dusting brush. “I’ve heard that sheet music was recovered from the Titanic in 1996 and was still legible. We shall see what mysteries this little beauty can uncover for us.”

I raised an eyebrow at the reverence I heard in his voice. “Shall I leave you two alone or does such a fine book require a chaperone?”

Though Dr. Robinson chuckled, he also said, “Actually, I could use a spot of tea. This is a police station. Maybe see if you can find me a donut or two. My wife need not know about it.”

“About you and the donuts or you and the book?” I asked, standing.

He laughed. “Both, if you please.”

“Well, since you’re doing me a favor, I suppose you’ve bought my silence. Let me go see what I can find.”

I left the room. I’d been in the sheriff’s office a few times over this investigation, enough to know that the small break room was to my right.

As I journeyed down the hall, I passed the closed door of Sheriff Mawere.

Ironically, he was in Juneau while I was here in his shit town.

I’m sure Atelihai Valley could have been a lovely place, but the people had tainted it for me.

Hell, if retirement really was in my future, maybe I’d talk to my little owl about moving down to the lower forty-eight.

Pausing, I pulled out my phone to see if she’d answered my last text. I knew she was an artist and didn’t take her phone into her studio with her, because it was a distraction. While I understood that, I didn’t like it.

Thankfully, she’d answered and I smiled at the picture she’d accompanied the message with. God, I loved her tits.

“…telling you, it was five!”

I looked up from my phone at the loud voice. It was male and coming from inside the same break room I was heading towards. As I turned the corner, I saw the back of the cop who I had interviewed on Saturday about being knocked unconscious by the Atelihai Killer—or Killer s , as he claimed.

“It took five of them to take me down!” he insisted, his voice rising with each word.

“I knew they were there the whole time and they knew they couldn’t plant the body without getting past me first. So they attacked.

One blindsided me, hit me right over the back of my head, but I didn’t go down.

Dizzy, I was slow but I could still fight… ”

He was talking to a pretty woman I recognized as the sheriff’s secretary, Mena.

She’d flirted with me my first time in town.

I thought her sweet but a bit ditzy. Plus, I didn’t get true submissive vibes from her.

She’d let me tie her up because the idea of bondage would turn her on and she thought I was hot, but true submission came from the soul, not an overactive sex drive.

I was not interested in the former, and I was so grateful I had found the latter in my little owl.

The cop, Deputy Norris, had his ass parked on the round wooden table in the center of the room with Mena sitting in front of him. She had her elbows on the table and her chin on the back of her hands. From Norris’s angle, he’d be able to see right down her low cut shirt.

Another deputy I recognized as the cop whom I’d asked to stand guard at the auditorium door the first day Mira and I had come to Atelihai Valley was standing at the counter, stirring something in a white mug. The look on his face said he did not believe his colleague’s story of heroics.

“…when two of them realized they couldn’t take me.

They called in reinforcements! That’s when the other three showed up and took me on.

I could take on four, but that fifth guy…

Well, he was huge! Easily six-eight, all muscle, and I swear he tried to bite me at one point.

Did you hear about that case with cannibals a couple of months back?

I bet you he was the one who got away! Nearly ate my ear off! ”

“That’s funny,” I deadpanned from behind him.

Norris jumped off the table and quickly spun around, his eyes going wide as he recognized me.

“Because I was on that cannibal case and not a single one got away. I know, because I’m the one who shot and arrested the ringleader.

” Walking over to the counter where the other deputy was standing, I grabbed a white mug from the rack and started looking around for tea bags.

“Now, Deputy Norris, in the sworn statement you gave me about the night you were attacked by the Atelihai Killer, you claimed there were two assailants. They hit you over the head and you immediately lost consciousness. You had a vague memory of seeing two people, maybe two men, maybe a man and a woman, but could give no descriptions.”

Finding the tea bags, I realized I didn’t have to worry about choosing a flavor for Dr. Robinson, since there was only one type. Simple black tea would have to do for the doc. Too bad, I couldn’t find any donuts for him.

Turning around, I faced Deputy Norris, who was as pale as a polar bear. “It’s good you’re getting your memory back. Very interesting that you didn’t call to update your statement. But don’t worry,” I assured him, “I’m in Atelihai Valley for the foreseeable future. There’s plenty of time for that.”

I looked to Mena. “Do you happen to have a kettle or do I need to boil water in the microwave?”