Page 150 of Hidden Nature

“I’ll figure it out.” She shrugged and ate another bite. “On a professional level, I’m trying to figure out what drives someone to abduct people who’ve been resuscitated.”

“How’s that going?”

“It’ll go better when I get the files on the Anderson and Rigsby cases. My captain said we should have them by tomorrow. When I’m cleared to talk to the wife and girlfriend—Rigsby—and Anderson’s husband, family, I might scratch up a little more.”

She reached for some chips. “The lead investigators on the three cases are cross-checking with each other, and that may break something open. For now, I’ll go home and work with what I’ve got.”

Picking up her wine, she smiled at him. “And I don’t have to make my dinner.”

“Let me know if you need somebody to bounce things off of.”

She considered him. “If you give me an hour to go back over some things, make some more notes, I could use that. Since I’ve decided to go with ‘slightly strange,’ you could bring a change of clothes.”

Coolly, he went for more chips. “Sounds like you assume I’ll sleep with you.”

“I do. I do assume that.”

“Then finish your sandwich and get lost. I’ll be there in an hour or so. I want to run some baseboard first.”

She nodded. “I’m going to tell you something about the guy I was with for a while before I got shot.”

He shifted enough to meet her eyes. “See, that’s something I find awkward, and unnecessary.”

“Maybe it’s both, but I just want to say I never bounced work around with him, I never even considered doing that. Not only because I had Joel, but because he wasn’t interested. He never asked and wouldn’t have listened. And he couldn’t have run baseboard if you held a nail gun to his head.”

“So those are points for me.”

“They are.”

“I’ll make sure to add them to the scoreboard.” He ate some chips as he studied Sloan’s face. “In return I’ll tell you one thing about the woman I was with for a while before I moved here. She’d hate this place.”

He glanced toward the wide window and the sprinkle of moonlight through the dark.

“That’s not a dig, it’s just fact. New York’s her place. And this really isn’t.”

“So, my point?”

“I guess it is.”

“I’ll add it to my spreadsheet.” She rose, kissed his cheek. “Thanks for the sandwich.”

Later that night, the blue van parked at the far end of the lot, and kept watch.

One by one the shops in the strip mall closed. Owners or managers came out, locked up. Drove off.

They watched Lori Preston do the same.

“A little later than yesterday,” Sam noted down the time as he had the night before. “That tattoo parlor’s the only other place still open, and that doesn’t close for another hour.”

“I swear I don’t understand why people want to mark up the body the good Lord gave them.”

“If I was to get a tattoo, it would be right over my heart. It would sayCLARA, because that’s the name that lives inside my heart.”

“Oh, you!” She swatted and giggled.

“We could try for her, babe.”

“Not tonight. No, not tonight, doll. We keep an eye tonight.”

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