Page 59 of Dirty Looks

“Sounds like you know a little bit about where she came from,” I said sympathetically.

She paused and looked at me and said, “You’re not a cop.”

“No,” I told her. “I’m the coroner for King George County.”

She blew out a breath on a sigh. “I suppose everyone’s past catches up to them eventually.”

“We’re not here to cause her trouble or bring notice to her,” Jack said. “But we do need to talk to her. It’s important.”

“I hate to think of that scared look coming back into her eyes,” Sharon said. “The first six months she worked here she jumped at every shadow and was constantly looking over her shoulder.”

“It sounds like you’re taking good care of her,” Jack said. “We just need to talk to her. You have my word.”

She looked at Jack steadily and then nodded. “She and a couple of the other crew are loading up the truck in the back for a job. You should be able to catch her before they pull out. Tell her I told you to use the breakroom, and that I’ll drive her to the job site when y’all are done.”

“We appreciate it,” Jack said.

“Just straight through there,” she said, pointing us toward the back of the pergola and behind one of the greenhouses. “Can’t miss them.”

I hurried my steps to match Jack’s until we made it to the loading area. It was more practical and industrial back here. Graveled paths and rows of trees in five- and ten-gallon buckets for as far as the eyes could see. There were large boulders for decoration and bags of mulch and pebbles.

There were three of them loading the truck. All had on jeans and a Miss Mossy green T-shirt. But Emma Lidle stood out amongst them. She looked almost too small to be lifting the bags of mulch onto her shoulder and then onto the truck, but there was a hidden strength in her that wasn’t visible to the naked eye.

There were two guys in the truck, probably college age or a little older, and they smiled at us as we approached. But not Emma. As soon as she saw us fear leapt into her eyes, and I saw the thought cross her face of running.

“Hi guys,” Jack said casually. “We don’t want to throw you behind schedule, but we just talked to Sharon and she said wecould borrow Emily here for a few minutes. Just to talk.” Jack looked straight at her as he said this. “Sharon said she’d drive you over to the site herself as soon as we’re done.”

“Sure, I guess,” one of the guys said, taking the bag of mulch from Emma. “Meet you over there, Em. We’ll go ahead and get started.”

The other guy stared at Jack a little longer. “Is everything okay?” he asked, looking back and forth between Jack and Emma. He was protective, much like Sharon Mossy had been, and it made me wonder if something hadn’t started to bloom between the two of them.

“Em?” he asked. “Want me to stay behind?”

She shook her head and then said, “No, no, it’s fine. Y’all go ahead and I’ll catch up. We won’t be long.”

“Sharon said we could use the breakroom,” Jack said.

Emma licked her lips and her eyes darted to the side one more time, as if she were giving it one last thought to flee, but then she nodded. “It’s through here.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and walked quickly through the open garage door of the greenhouse. She hadn’t changed much from the family portrait. She’d darkened her hair some so it wasn’t so astonishingly white blond, and her face had refined and thinned down some from the baby fat it had carried before.

She walked quickly into a side room that said employees only and then waited until we entered before shutting the door behind her.

“Who are you?” she asked, not sitting down at one of the little round tables with metal chairs. There was a soda and snack machine against one of the walls, a microwave on the counter, and a small refrigerator.

Jack took out his badge and let her take her time looking at it. “My name is Jack Lawson. I’m the sheriff in King George County. This is my wife, Dr. Graves.”

I noticed he didn’t share the fact that I was coroner straight off, and I thought that was a smart move seeing as she looked ready to bolt at any moment.

“Emma, let’s sit down. We have some important things to tell you.”

She shook her head hard and hissed, “Don’t call me that here. My name is Emily.”

There was a twinge of hysteria in her voice and I took a step forward, putting myself in her line of sight.

“Emily,” I said. “We are not here to hurt you or cause you trouble. But some things have happened and we need to talk to you. No one else knows you’re here. Just us. We promise.”

“How did you find me?” she asked. “If you can find me anyone can find me.”

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