Page 61 of Whispers of the Lake

“She wrote in there a lot,” I said as she scrolled and clicked. “But there’s this one entry about them that sort of surprised me. May I?”

She nodded, turning the laptop my way. I clicked on the entry about Eve spending time with Alex and Damian then turned it back to Kennedy.

Kennedy’s brows furrowed deeper with every line. “Wow,” she finally said.

“Right?”

“Are you sure this actually happened?” She lifted her gaze to mine. “How do you know this isn’t fabricated? That she didn’t make it all up as some sort of fantasy in her head?”

“I don’t think she would. Eve is very promiscuous and loves sex. I wouldn’t count it out.”

“So, she had a threesome with the brothers, and theykilledher because of it?” Kennedy raised a brow. “Sorry, I’m just not making sense of it.”

“I can’t piece it together either, but if that’s all they did, why are they being so secretive about it? And why did they have her purse? Eve makes pretty good money doing what she does. What if those guys did something to her and took her purse so they could try and use her cards or drain her accounts or something?” I was reaching now, but I needed Kennedy to side with me on this and get the same sense of urgency I had. Every passing hour left a colder trail.

“The purse thing is odd, yes, but it’s not enough, Rose.” She handed the laptop back to me after closing it. “Nothing in this can be used as full-blown proof, at least not enough to spark an investigation. Unless we find Eve or discover a body or blood—something—there’s nothing I can do.”

I swallowed my frustration.

“But like I told you, I spoke to the district attorney. She’ll likely give me guidance on the matter. It could take a few days but—”

“Are you kidding me?” I tried my best not to frown. “We don’t have a few days, Kennedy. She could be trapped somewhere or even dead!”

“I understand that, believe me,” she said, holding up patient hand, “but I can’t go hunting the Reeds down based on a purse and a virtual journal.”

I slid my eyes to Pinto, who was sitting on the love seat licking the top of his paw with his eyes closed.

“What if I get picture proof that Eve’s car is in Sheriff Reed’s garage?”

Kennedy frowned. “I hope you aren’t telling a cop you plan on breaking and entering into another cop’s home.”

“Of course not,” I lied. “I can sit in my car nearby and wait for him to get home after a shift. I’ll snap a pic when he opens the garage again.”

Kennedy suppressed a groan. “I think you need to get some rest. Think this through a bit more and let me handle it. I know you want to act now, but you don’t want to tip the Reeds off and make them paranoid. If Sheriff Reed catches sight of you lurking around his house, he’ll find a way to shut this down. That’s the last thing I want happening again.”

My brows puckered. “What do you meanagain?”

Kennedy paused, realizing she’d slipped up. “It’s . . . nothing.”

I kept quiet, watching as she rubbed one of her nails with the pad of her finger. I’d learned a long time ago that silence made most people want to talk more.

When the silence went on for too long, she cut a glance at me. “He assaulted my dad at a bar.” She sighed. “I had just completed my training at the academy and my dad took me and my brother out for drinks to celebrate. Sheriff Reed comes in all loud and boastful. My dad and brother decided to play pool, but when my dad was going for the pool sticks, Reed snatched one of them out of his hands.

“Reed told him he was gonna have to wait his turn and said he was going to play with his boys once they arrived. My dad doesn’t take shit from anyone so he just grabbed another stick and told him once Reed’s friends arrived, he’d take a break so they could play. Reed got pissy about it and punched my dad in the face. Just like that.”

I gasped. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. And the worst part about it is there were people who saw this happen but all of them sided with Reed. But he didn’t realize that I’d been recording the whole thing. I had proof that he swung first. We filed a report and were even thinking about suing, but Reed reached out a few days later and offered me a job. He said he’d give it to me, but only if I redacted the report and deleted the video.”

“And I assume you did?”

“Wouldn’t be wearing the uniform if I hadn’t,” she grumbled, peeling the gloves off. “Believe me, I didn’t want to. I told my dad I wouldn’t, but he didn’t want my opportunities limited. He wanted me to get the job, to make some money, make a difference in this shit town. Work a few years in Sage Hill so we could move to Raleigh or Charlotte.” She shrugged, but I didn’t miss the sadness in her eyes. “My dad insisted I take the offer, so I deleted the video, and we pulled the report. There isn’t a single day that I don’t want to punch James in his face for punching my father in his.”

“You hate him,” I said.

“I don’t hate him. I just don’t like that he’s running this town or that so many people think he’s a good person. He’s a snake who loves hiding in the grass.”

“Damn,” I murmured.

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