Page 53 of The Lost Bones
Nick was asleep on the couch on his stomach, his blazer on the floor and one arm hanging freely. He stirred awake and looked up with sleepy eyes. “What?”
“When did you get here? What’s going on?” Her voice came out shrill.
He sat up, rubbing the slumber from his eyes. “Well, last night I told you I was crashing, since you looked like you were… possessed.”
“Huh?” She had no memory of it. “Really?”
“How do you think I got in?” He fixed his tie and went to the kitchen sink to splash water on his face. “Kind of offensive if you think I broke in to sleep on your uncomfortable couch.”
To Mackenzie’s horror, she realized she had slept naked last night. If she didn’t remember him spending the night on her couch, what if she’d forgotten taking a trip to the kitchen in the middle of the night to fetch water? “So… you just slept? Nothing happened?”
He turned on the faucet and filled a glass with water. “What would happen?”
“Oh, I mean I didn’t bother you?” When he drank the water slowly, she got annoyed. “Well?”
“No, you didn’t bother me,” he replied, bemused. “Your car is still at the station. I need to go home and shower first.”
“I’ll take a cab to work.”
He smoothed his collar and sleeves and was about to head out when his phone trilled. “It’s Clint… Hello?”
Mackenzie watched his expression change. The laziness dissolving into indignation. He hung up and clutched the phone tightly in his hands, making the cords in his arms strain.
“What did he say?”
“Clint traced the account being used to pay for utilities at that house,” he said. “It belongs to Sylvia Hamilton.”
“Who’s Sylvia Hamilton?”
“Judge Hamilton’s wife.”
TWENTY-NINE
Lieutenant Rivera looked sharp as she approached the podium and nodded at the throng of reporters flashing cameras at her. “The Lakemore PD is disheartened to share that the remains of Deborah Arnold, more commonly known as Debbie, were found yesterday evening. Ms. Arnold’s partner, Ms. Khan, was informed last night and is being kept in the loop. There is clear evidence of foul play; however, at this stage of the investigation we don’t have any suspects. We request the residents of Lakemore to come forward with any information pertaining to the investigation and hope the coverage of this case is dignified. Our deepest condolences to Ms. Khan and the colleagues and ardent viewers of Ms. Arnold.”
Sully closed the video. “We’re all going to be in for a bumpy ride.”
Mackenzie was seated across from him. Sully hadn’t mentioned anything about the message left for her on Debbie’s face. She was waiting for it. Having worked with her boss for nine years now, she knew that the man wasn’t a fan of uncomfortable conversations.
“Nick and I are going to talk to the judge today,” she said. “Now that we know he has a connection to the case, it explains why he refused to sign the warrant.”
Sully drummed his fingers on the table. “But in your warrant, there was no mention of the house, right? How did you find out about it?”
Mackenzie faltered, scratching her head, trying to scramble for an explanation. But she couldn’t lie. It all had to go into a report anyway. When she related the story to Sully, she waited for him to bark a laugh like Nick had.
“Oh! Her!” Sully’s mouth fell open, and a look of wonderment crossed his face. “She’s still alive?”
“You know her?”
He grinned. “Why, yes. That’s Mallory. Gray dreadlocks, you said?”
“Yes!” Mackenzie perked up. “How do you know her?”
“It was over twenty years ago—I had just joined the force straight out of the academy. A young woman had gone missing, and I went to Tombstone to ask around. Mallory appeared out of nowhere, and said something cryptic about how the woman I was looking for was long gone and now wasn’t the right time.”
“Guess that’s her MO, to speak in riddles. Did you find that missing woman?”
He shook his head. “We didn’t have much hope anyway. She had a history of running away. But a creepy encounter like that, especially in your first year, stays with you.” He popped some gum in his mouth. “Other people have run into her too.”
