Page 23 of Closer Than You Know

“Oh.” She glanced around. “We need more light in this place.”

She moved about the room, opening blinds—the ones that worked anyway. Not that it did that much good, considering the sun was setting. The evasive tactic warned that she was attempting to decide what she intended to share and what she planned to keep to herself. If he’d learned anything from his adventures with the Boyett sisters, it was that they worked very hard to keep their secrets. As well as he believed he knew Vee, he recognized there were things she didn’t tell him. He was okay with that—unless it involvedhisinvestigation.

She dusted off her hands. “I went to see Eve.”

“You had lunch together,” he reminded her, since she appeared to have forgotten the story she’d told him.

“But we couldn’t really. Have lunch, I mean.” Seeming to gather herself, she squared her shoulders and lifted her chin. “There was a car crash, and three family members were killed. She was working on preparing them for a family-style funeral. She couldn’t take a break.”

He nodded slowly. “I heard about that. The accident happened in Hazel Green, but the family is from Park City.” Bad, bad situation.

Vee shrugged. “I didn’t ask about the specifics. But anyway, she couldn’t leave for lunch, so we talked there.”

“I tried calling you.” He watched her closely. “I spoke with Nolan’s friends at work.”

“Sorry, I got caught up on a lead of my own.” Her expression closed completely then.

“Was this lead about Baker or the Time Thief?”

“It wasn’t about this investigation, no. Sorry. The call came and I had to check it out.”

The fact that she held his gaze steady without flinching made him smile. No matter that he was certain what she’d just said was not the whole truth, he couldn’t help himself.

Her face became lined in confusion. “Why are you smiling?”

“Because I know you’re evading the question.”

She exhaled a put-upon breath. “Fine. Eve told me about a friend Nolan had—a possible boyfriend. I went to see him. He said Nolan was focused on the Time Thief, but he had no idea about last night’s meeting or anything else about the case. My impression was that they don’t spend a lot of time talking when they’re together.”

Bent nodded. “You’re confident he knows nothing we need to hear.”

“I am.”

“All right.” He glanced around the room. “If he didn’t tell you about Owens, how did you end up here?Alone?” He would think she’d learned her lesson about taking chances like this, but then again, this was Vee he was talking about.Chancewas her middle name.

She laughed. “You mean Boggie didn’t call you and blab about my visit to her?”

“She did not.” Now there was a shocker. Elizabeth Baker generally liked to share anything she knew—particularly if the person with whom she intended to share with didn’t already know the details. Then again, she wasn’t herself, under the circumstances.

Vee glanced around the shabby room. “Which means she had an ulterior motive for sending me here.”

Maybe. Like Vee, Bent wasn’t completely convinced this Time Thief business was what the perp wanted the world to believe. Did he suspect Nolan Baker? He did. Vee’s analysis of the situation was brilliant—as always. Still, until he had more, it was only one of a couple of possibilities.

“The forensic team is on the way,” Bent said. If this was a setup, he wanted to know ASAP. Why the hell couldn’t people just tell the truth?

Like you always do?

He dismissed the voice that haunted him all too often. He did what he had to do to get the job done. At least that’s what he told himself.

Vera walked back into the bedroom. Bent followed. She opened the blinds there and then stood a few feet from the wall Owens had decorated with information about the Time Thief and his victims. Mostlynewspaper articles and crude drawings. Nothing they didn’t already have—other than his drawings, assuming they were his.

“Do we know anyone Owens hangs with?” she asked. “Who his supplier might be?”

“Owens is a loner. I have ideas on who supplies his needs. I talked to both of those guys as well. The consensus was that Owens is a head case.” Bent purposely left out the names. He was not about to have Vee trying to question those two deadbeats. Though he couldn’t prove anything related to their activities, both were dangerous.

“Apparently you’ve looked into Owens.” She pointed an accusing look at him then. “Why didn’t you tell me about him? Why wasn’t he on your case board?”

Good of Elizabeth to pass along her son’s concerns. Bent wouldn’t have expected less. “Because there was nothing here. No reason to consider him a person of interest and certainly no reason to have you showing up here alone.” Which was why he’d taken Owens off his case board before he invited Vera to consult on the case. He had known she would do something exactly like this.

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