If I Should Die_ A Novel of Suspense - Allison Brennan [25]
He sent an email message to his partner Patrick, Lucy’s brother, giving him a rundown on what happened as well as a request for some needed research. As he typed, he watched Lucy’s mouth turn down. She was ready. He suppressed the itch to smile. He knew Lucy well.
She said, “A dead body trumps arson.”
“You think we should have shown our cards.”
“Weddle treated me like an idiot. I don’t think they’re going to take this seriously, no matter what Tim said. Why on earth would Deputy Weddle think I’d lie about seeing a dead woman in the mine?”
“I don’t think that’s—”
“And someone moved her. That means someone who knew we found the body went there last night to get her out. Why?”
“To cover up a murder?”
“Exactly. Yesterday I wasn’t sure if her death was natural or inflicted, but I wasn’t thinking straight. There is no logical way for her to naturally die in that position. Maybe she was killed in or near the mine, and it was the only place the killer could think of leaving her. Maybe it was an accident—and someone panicked and didn’t want to go to the authorities.”
“Tim said no one in town is missing.”
“No one from Spruce Lake is missing. What about the surrounding areas? Potsdam or Canton? A camper from last summer? Spruce Lake is small, but the highway winds through the state park and could bring people from all over passing through.”
“What do you want to do?” Sean asked, though he knew the answer.
“Go back down in the mine, first thing in the morning.”
“I knew you were going to say that.”
“I’ll understand if you’re not ready—”
“I’m not letting you go alone.”
“How’s your leg?”
“Fine.” It hurt like hell. “What do you expect to find?”
“I don’t know. Maybe nothing. Or maybe a clue to her identity. How she died. How she was moved. Who she was. A confession etched on the wall of the tunnel, I don’t know. I just feel like I need to go down there and do something.”
And that was the crux of the problem, Sean realized. Lucy felt helpless and her need to find justice for the dead woman—to give her family peace—overrode the details of the plan. If she didn’t search for answers, she wouldn’t be able to put it to rest. The woman would be on her mind, a tragic puzzle with no solution. Even if Lucy went down in the mine and found nothing, at least she would feel that she had done everything she could.
“All right,” he said. “We go down first thing tomorrow morning.”
“Thank you. And—would you mind if I asked Patrick to pull all missing persons in the area? Not just St. Lawrence County, but all of upstate New York? Maybe the adjoining states?”
“Already done.” He grinned at the surprise on her face and leaned back in the chair, hands behind his head.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Lucy stared at him with such a quizzical expression that Sean laughed.
“You never have to hold back with me, Luce. Your mind is a computer. You go through all the arguments you can think of to get your point across, and then bring them up one by one until you get your way.”
She looked both confused and sheepish, not sure if what he’d just said was a compliment. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Brainstorm with me. Give me all your ideas, the good and the bad, and we’ll go through them together. You don’t have to justify your reasons for anything, not to me.”
“That’s not what I was doing.”
“Yes you were. Maybe you don’t see it.”
She shook her head and turned away.
What had he said wrong? He wanted Lucy to know that he knew her, how she thought, how she felt, so she never felt that she had to put on an act for him. She didn’t have to sell him on her ideas. With her family and her colleagues, she was always hesitant to stand by her theories, though she was rarely wrong. Sean wanted her to have the confidence she deserved without tacit approval from Patrick or the rest of her family, or even him.