Mara could almost hear the distance between them.
“Why?”
“I need to talk to you tomorrow.”
“About Henry?”
“Yes.”
Another silence.
Then Joyce said, “I have been waiting eighteen years for you to say that.”
The line went dead before Mara could answer.
At seven the next morning, three state vehicles entered Monroe County Police headquarters.
By eight, access to the primary evidence room had been temporarily restricted under a state administrative preservation order.
Sheriff Thomas Baines arrived at 8:17.
Mara watched from a conference room window.
He looked almost exactly as she remembered him.
Larger around the waist.
Gray hair.
But the same polished smile.
Baines had always possessed a politician’s gift for making eye contact feel like intimacy.
As a teenager, Mara liked him.
He brought doughnuts to the house.
Called Henry “old man” even though they were close in age.
After Henry’s resignation, Baines was one of the few officers who visited once.
Mara remembered him standing on the porch.
She remembered believing he was kind.
At 8:31, he entered the conference room.
“Mara.”
She stood.
“Sheriff.”
He opened his arms as though expecting a hug.
She did not move.
His arms dropped.
“You look like your mother.”
“I hear that.”
“I heard about last night.”
“I assumed you would.”
“An unfortunate misunderstanding.”
Mara stared.
“A destroyed evidence item appearing in my vehicle is a misunderstanding?”
Baines pulled out a chair.
“Sit.”
“I’m fine.”
He sat anyway.
Across from Mara were two state investigators and Deputy Attorney Karen Lowell.
Baines’s attorney had not yet arrived.
Still, he spoke confidently.
“We are taking this extremely seriously.”
“Good.”
“Sergeant Creel has been placed on administrative leave.”
“That was fast.”
“The circumstances demand it.”
“What circumstances?”
Baines looked at Karen.
“We need to establish what happened.”
Mara replied, “Officer Keller can probably help.”
Something flickered in Baines’s eyes.
“He is inexperienced.”
“He found the bag.”
“So he claims.”
Mara’s attention sharpened.
“So he claims?”
Baines spread his hands.
“We cannot assume anything.”
The maneuver was elegant.
Creel had been suspended.
Ryan was being positioned as unreliable.
Baines himself remained above everything.
Mara had seen executives do the same thing during corporate fraud investigations.
When a structure began collapsing, the smartest person in the room usually started identifying which lower floor would be sacrificed first.
“Where is Officer Keller?” she asked.
“Off duty.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Mara knew that was false.
Ryan’s personal vehicle was in the parking lot.
She had seen it.
“Sheriff, do you remember my father?”
Baines leaned back.
His expression softened perfectly.
“Of course.”
“He liked you.”