by Marion Myles
Inside the police station, the main lobby was bright and spacious. Every wall was painted a Mediterranean blue, and a fountain bubbled soothingly in the corner surrounded by half a dozen lush, potted plants. Mismatched furniture, the color of sand, and the table appeared to be a piece of reclaimed driftwood. A reception area counter resembled a beautifully tiered pile of wood fashioned to look like a retaining wall at a beach. The whole space gave the impression of a spa or a meditation center and was unlike any government office Mia had ever seen.
Setting her jaw, she walked straight up to the counter and waited while the woman there finished speaking into her headset.
“How can I help you today?” Her voice was pleasant and managed to convey an absolute interest in whatever Mia might have to say.
Looking the receptionist straight in the eye and pushing aside all thoughts of her dogs and the home she loved, Mia gathered every available ounce of courage. “I have information about a murder,” she said.
Chapter Two
Detective Roman Mancini stood sipping a mug of truly awful coffee and staring through the one-way glass at the woman in the interrogation room.
His partner, Kevin Latterly, walked over and joined him. “So that’s her, huh? She looks damned calm for someone who says they have information on a murder.”
Roman snorted. “Yeah. Makes you wonder, don’t it?
“At least she’s easy on the eyes,” Kevin commented.
“Sometimes the lookers turn out to be the craziest.” His brow furrowed, and he turned to stare at his partner. “Whoa, back it up. I thought you were soft in the head over Lisa. She know you’re still out window shopping?”
Kevin blushed to the roots of his hair. “Not me, you asshole. I was thinking of you. It’s been a while. Too long. Time you got back in the saddle. Or if not in the saddle, at least threw your leg over the horse. Celibacy is not a good look for you. Plus, it makes you mean as a snake. Consider hooking up as a public service and a much-needed gift for your partner.”
“Bite me.” Roman glanced back at the woman. “Even if I was interested in…mounting up…I’m not so desperate I’d be plucking from the dregs of the lost and found at the police station. Besides, she’s not my type.”
“I’d wager redheads built like her and biting their sexy pillow lips are the type of every man on the planet.”
“You know what? Sometimes you’re a total dickwad.”
Kevin punched his arm. “Aw, come on. You know you love me.”
“Like a venereal disease, that’s how I love you.” Roman tipped his head toward the interrogation room. “So, you gonna take the lead with her?”
Kevin sighed. “Let me guess, you want me to go in all soft and understanding, right?” He shook his head sorrowfully. “Why do I always have to be the good cop?”
“Because you’ve been blessed with that wholesome, sweet-as-apple-pie face that makes women, especially, want to spill their guts on the floor for you. You’ve got to play to your strengths, buddy.”
“You do know good cop, bad cop is the worst kind of cliché?”
“Clichés are clichés for a reason. No point in going against a hundred years of cop history. Okay, give me a smile.” Kevin curled back his lips in a vicious snarl, snapping his teeth together, and Roman clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Good, all warmed up and ready to go. Let’s get this over with and get back to doing the real police work.”
Kevin smiled. “Man, I love my job.”
* * *
Mia sensed someone watching her. Make that two someones. She worked hard to stay calm and steady and give the impression of being a credible witness, but it wasn’t easy. The serenity of the main lobby had given away to the more familiar drab and depressing interior of the police station. She hated cop shops. They reminded her of every child services office she’d been in, and even worse, the hospitals.
So many hospitals.
This interrogation room was as grim as it got. The walls were painted an unfortunate vomit green, and the linoleum floor was a tired grey with a ragged line of rips by the door. In several places, it had worn through and showed the concrete beneath. On her right the wall sported a large, asymmetrical stain. She imagined it might be anything from water damage to coffee to blood. Probably blood, she thought, suppressing a shudder.
Purposely, Mia didn’t let her eyes stray to the video camera mounted on the tripod. It was trained at the metal table where she sat on an unbelievably uncomfortable wooden chair. Mia doubted the camera was recording, but it made her nervous anyway.
She’d been stuck in the room forever. It was a tactic. She knew damned well there was nothing she could do except wait it out, but she didn’t have to like it.
Finally, the door opened, and she glanced at the two men as they entered. The first, blond and blue-eyed with a handsome, friendly face. His counterpart was taller, broader, and all kinds of dark and broody.
The dark-haired man stepped forward. “Ms. Reeves, I’m Detective Mancini. This is my partner, Detective Latterly. We understand you have information about a murder?”
“Well, maybe…I mean, it might not be a murder, but it’s to do with a girl who went missing a while ago.” The two men slid onto chairs opposite her.
“Okay, why don’t you tell us what you know.”
Mia swallowed once. Stay cool, she coached herself. “I found this bracelet.”
Reaching into her purse, she pulled out a swath of bubble wrap and placed it on the table. She unrolled it to reveal a delicate piece of jewelry. Silver and designed as a series of interconnected hearts, the tiny solid silver heart hung down at the midpoint with initials A R inscribed inside the tracing of yet another heart.
Detective Mancini was a smooth one, all right. If she hadn’t been studying him so closely, she might have missed the expression of horrified shock flick over his face or the way his hands clenched into fists on the table. His knuckles showed bone white against his tanned skin.
Detective Latterly merely looked down at the bracelet with a measure of curiosity before glancing back at Mia. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. How do you think this connects to a murder?”
“Well, I’ve heard the stories about a girl who—”
“Where did you get this?” Detective Mancini cut her off.
“I found it in the woods at the edge of Carlton Park.”
“It was just lying there?” he pressed. “Where exactly? Be specific.”
Her eyes flicked to Detective Latterly who watched his partner in surprise. “It was pretty far in…maybe a hundred feet or so from the parking lot. I could show you.”
“You came in here to tell us you found a bracelet deep in the woods by the park? No offense, Miss, but maybe some kid lost it. Why didn’t you put an ad in the local paper?” Detective Latterly asked.
Before Mia could answer, Detective Mancini cleared his throat. “Could you excuse us?”
He jerked his head at Detective Latterly and sprang to his feet. When the door slammed behind them, Mia was once again alone in the room. She released a slow, steady breath. It was going to be fine. Detective Mancini was taking the bait. All she had to do was stay true to her story. She’d show them the spot in the woods, and then she’d be out of it, free and clear.
After a further hour of questioning, during which Mia stuck stubbornly to her story, it was decided that the detectives would follow her out to Carlton Park. Mia pulled into a parking spot beside the walking trail and braced herself for the final step of her plan. She got out of the SUV. The men, both wearing serious, grim faces, joined her near the edge of the forest.
“In through here,” Mia said, pointing straight into the heavily treed area.
“What made you go into the woods?” Detective Mancini asked.
“Um…well…I was a vendor at the fair, and it was a long, tiring weekend. Lots of people. After we packed up on Sunday night, I guess I felt like going for a walk to clear my head before heading home.”
“But i
t was dark by then,” Detective Latterly said, sounding doubtful.
“I’m a big girl, Detective. I’m not afraid of the dark.” Her tone came across as amused.
She led them deep into the woods, ducking below branches and weaving between the trees as though guided by a homing beacon. Finally, she stopped beside a felled tree.
“I found it right here,” she said, pointing to the ground beside the rotting wood.
“Let me make sure I’ve got this straight,” Detective Mancini said. “You’ve been working all weekend at the fair. It’s dark. You’re all packed up ready to go home, and you suddenly decide to go for a walk in the woods where you happen to find a bracelet beside an old log.” Skepticism dripped from every word while his eyes stayed steady on her face.
Squaring her shoulders, she defiantly held his gaze. “I tripped,” she shot back. “On the log. Went right down on my hands and knees. That’s when I found it.”
“And it was sitting there on top of the ground in plain sight?”
“No, of course not. When I dug into the earth to get up, I could feel something bumpy under the rotten leaves, so I scraped the dirt back and there it was.”
Detectives Mancini and Latterly shared a long look. She knew her story sounded hinky, but what other option did she have? There was no way in hell she was telling them the truth, and this was all she could think of to get them looking for Anita. Mia stood silently watching while they explored the area. Once the detectives had satisfied themselves there was nothing else to see, they all returned to the parking lot.
After pulling the keys out of her back pocket, she clicked the lock on her Escape. “Maybe I shouldn’t have wasted your time with this, but I figure if it helps bring answers for a missing girl, it would be worth it,” she said.
“If you think of anything else, no matter how small it seems, make sure to call. Here’s my card,” Detective Latterly said, extending a hand her direction.
Detective Mancini stepped forward, and opened the car door, gesturing her into the driver’s seat. He pulled the seatbelt loose and passed it to her. “You buckle up now and make sure to drive safe. His eyes locked with hers as he leaned just enough to crowd into her personal space. “We may have some follow-up questions. Please let us know if you’re leaving town for any reason. You have a nice day now.”
His words were all Southern softness, but they came out like a warning. She stared back boldly, not blinking, before closing her door and starting the engine. As she drove slowly away, she watched in the rearview as the two men continued to stand like sentinels at the edge of the parking lot.
“You believe her?” Roman asked.
“Not for a second. She must think we’re morons. No way someone goes walking through a pitch black forest and trips over a piece of jewelry.”
“Then how the hell did she get my sister’s bracelet?” Roman’s voice was laced with anguish. “Anita was wearing it the day she disappeared. That was one of the details the police held back. No one knows other than family and close friends and whoever helped her disappear. Now, ten years later, this woman turns up pretending she found it. She has to be involved somehow or know someone who was. “
“And how come today she asked to speak to us specifically? She knew damned well it was your sister,” Kevin said.
“Word’s gonna spread faster than wildfire.” Roman sighed. “This will kill my mama. It’s not like it ever went away but, shit, something like this opens up the wound all over again.”
“I’m sorry, man. This sucks large and wide.” Keven glanced back toward the forest. “Still, maybe it is something. Wouldn’t you rather have answers?”
Roman shook his head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I imagine Anita’s somewhere else, living a great life. She’d be turning thirty this year. Hard to believe she’s been gone all this time.”
“One thing’s for sure, we’re going to be looking at Mia Reeves and looking at her hard,” Kevin said. The grim tone of his voice matched the expression on his face.
“Oh, hell yeah. You drive, okay? I’m going to start running her right now. If she’s got so much as an overdue parking ticket, I’ll have her back in the interrogation room so fast her head will spin.”
Chapter Three
Not until Mia turned onto her gravel driveway and her house came into view did the knots of tension in her shoulders and neck finally loosen their grip. It had only been five hours since she’d left, but it might as well have been five days and nights without sleep based on how drained she felt.
The dogs ran the fence line in the side yard, leaping and barking in joyous welcome, and she couldn’t remember ever seeing a more beautiful sight. When she got out of the car, they arrowed toward the doggie door and inside, throwing themselves at her en masse the minute she stepped in the house. She stumbled back against the wall and sank to the floor letting them crawl over her, lick her, bump against her.
This was where she truly belonged. This was her heart. She’d done what she’d had to do at the police station, what her brand new conscience insisted was the right thing. Now she could let it go and relax back into her happy, quiet, peaceful life.
“I think it’s about time we went for a walk,” she announced. “Come on boys and girls. Let’s go clear our heads.”
The dogs ran out ahead of her, jostling each other gleefully while they galloped across the lawn. Mia sighed, took a deep breath, and raised her face to the sky. The hot rays of the afternoon sun warmed her inside and out.
She wandered along the gardens, deadheading flowers, pulling the odd rogue weed, and checking the perimeter of the vegetable patch. This spring she’d fought a bitter war with the rabbits. When she saw the fence was still intact, she couldn’t help smiling. Yes, the little victories in life made it all worthwhile.
Mia had plans to expand her gardening and was in the process of ordering equipment for the small greenhouse. The idea was to experiment with aeroponic growing. The technology excited her with its highly efficient methods that didn’t require soil and only used a fraction of the water when compared with traditional gardening.
Looking back at her house, she sighed happily. She’d loved this place from the first moment she’d set eyes on it, and now it was all hers. The property was large. Not farm large, but fifteen acres was the perfect size for her and the dogs. Most of the land was open except a small grouping of trees at the back of the property through which a lazy stream wound its way. The dogs loved it back there, so she made a point to walk her land every day.
Mia’s log house was set so far back from the road, she had the sense of living in the remote wilderness. Yet, the property was still only a couple miles out of town. When she’d first moved to Dalton, weeks had passed with her only human contact being the UPS and FedEx delivery drivers who arrived on her doorstep on an almost daily basis.
Lately, though, she’d started venturing into town once or twice a week to personally pick up groceries and other supplies rather than ordering everything online. People were friendly here. It was the South, after all. At first, Mia had been annoyed by the questions, the casual interest, but gradually she’d learned the art of small talk. Now she could manage conversations about the weather or complain about the potholes like any of the natural-born townsfolk.
“Layla, Tucker, get over here right now,” she shouted, catching sight of them digging by the hostas. “I mean it. If you harm so much as a one petal on a single plant, you guys are in the dog house. Overnight. With no food or water. Because that’s how much I love my plants.”
The pair ran back to her with muddy paws and guilty expressions, like teenagers caught smoking under the bleachers at the back of the school. Mac pushed in at Mia’s side, claiming his place of dominance, and they returned to the house a touch more soberly than they’d burst out of it moments ago.
“Okay, guys, it’s about time I got to work. I’m so behind it’s not funny.”
The dogs arranged themselves around Mia’s workroom off the kitche
n, stretching out in slivers of afternoon sun and luxuriating in the added warmth. It took almost an hour to unpack from the weekend trade fair, a job she’d neglected last night while researching the disappearance of Anita Mancini and preparing her story for the police, complete with prop.
When her workspace was finally set to rights, she booted up her laptop and opened the orders file. In anticipation of how tired she’d be after working the spring fair, she’d thankfully scheduled a light day for today. Even still she was dangerously behind. Six items were in the queue, which meant they had to be completed, packed, and ready for pickup by nine o’clock tomorrow morning.
Yawning, she stretched her arms overhead and cleared her mind. The first order was for Coral. Mia remembered the conversation she’d had with the client in need of inner peace after going through a difficult divorce. She swiveled in the chair and reached into the appropriate tray. Closing her eyes, she let her hand wander over and among the stones.
It took longer than usual, probably due to lingering stress from the questioning at the police station. Finally, one of the stones made itself known, warming under her fingers and vibrating ever so slightly. She closed her hand over it and held it against her chest. Oh, yes, this one would do nicely for sad Mrs. Brooks.
Mia worked on into the night, taking breaks after finishing each piece to clear her mind and emotions. She fed the dogs, brewed cups of tea, and even took another short walk right after moonrise. Each diversion served to separate her from the previous crystal so she could start open and fresh for the next client. By two o’clock the final necklace was nestled in bubble wrap and ready to be sent to its new owner.
At last, she crawled into bed. Despite sheer and utter exhaustion, she was unable to sleep. Her mind tumbled and twirled like a gymnast. She turned to her tried and true technique of directing thoughts to quietly babbling brooks, fields of wildflowers blowing gently in the breeze, the calm surface of a mountain lake. Yet, somehow it was Detective Roman Mancini who pushed his way front and center in her mind’s eye.
