Page 39 of Dirty Valentine
“That’s not normal for a Wednesday afternoon,” I murmured, that familiar itch between my shoulder blades that meant danger was close.
“Let’s see what the neighbors know.”
Mason & Associates Insurance occupied the adjacent building, and the moment we walked through the door, a woman behind the reception desk looked up with the eager expression of someone starved for conversation.She was probably in her mid-sixties, with steel-gray hair teased into a style that hadn’t changed since 1985 and reading glasses hanging from a beaded chain around her neck.
“Well, hello there,” she said, her voice carrying the melodic cadence of Virginia born and bred.“Y’all aren’t here about insurance, are you?You’ve got that official look about you.”
Jack showed his badge.“Sheriff Lawson.We’re looking for Dr.Mills next door.Her office appears to be closed.”
The woman—her nameplate readDolores Hutchins—leaned forward conspiratorially, her eyes bright with the thrill of being part of something important.“Oh honey, she’s been gone since day before yesterday.Just up and left like the devil himself was chasing her.”
“Can you tell us what you saw?”I asked, settling into the chair across from her desk.Sometimes the best way to get information was to make people comfortable, let them tell their story.
“Well now,” Dolores said, adjusting her glasses and settling in for what was clearly going to be a detailed recounting.“I was just finishing up the Jones policy renewal—Myra Jones lives out on Tobacco Road with all those cats.”She said it all in one breath and I thought the woman must have incredible lung capacity.“That’s when I heard Dr.Mills’s car start up.Must’ve been around five thirty, maybe quarter to six.”
She paused for effect, making sure she had our full attention.
“Now, I wouldn’t normally pay it much mind, but she was loading a suitcase into her trunk.A big one, the kind you take on vacation.And Dr.Mills, bless her heart, hasn’t taken a vacation in the three years I’ve been working here.Woman’s married to that practice.”
Jack leaned forward slightly.“Did she seem upset?In a hurry?”
“Oh, she was rattled all right.Kept looking over her shoulder like she expected someone to jump out of the bushes.Her hands were shaking so bad she dropped her keys twice before she got the car started.”Dolores’s voice dropped to a whisper.“And she had her medical bag with her, which struck me as odd if she was going on a trip.”
My pulse quickened.A doctor’s bag could contain all sorts of interesting things—including drugs that could stop a heart.
“Has anyone else been asking about Dr.Mills?”I asked.
Dolores’s eyes lit up.“Well, now that you mention it, I did see someone poking around her office earlier this morning.Tried the door, looked in the windows.When they saw me watching, they waved and walked off toward the parking lot.”
“Can you describe them?”Jack asked.
“Not really, honey.I wasn’t paying that much attention until they started acting suspicious.Average build, I’d say.Could’ve been a man or woman—they were wearing one of those baseball caps pulled down low.”
“What kind of vehicle were they driving?”
“Didn’t see one.They must’ve parked somewhere else and walked over.By the time I got curious enough to get a better look, they were already gone.”
We thanked Dolores and stepped back outside, where the air had grown heavy with the promise of rain.Thunder rumbled in the distance, and the first fat drops began to splatter against the pavement.
“She ran,” Jack said, his voice carrying the grim certainty of a man who’d seen too many suspects flee.“Packed a bag, took her medical supplies, and disappeared right after we found her car on our surveillance footage.That’s not the behavior of an innocent witness.”
“Could be she’s scared of whoever killed Thomas,” I said, pulling my jacket tighter as the wind picked up.“Or could be she killed him herself and realized we were closing in.”
Jack was already pulling out his phone.“Either way, I’m putting out a BOLO on Mills and her vehicle.And I want a deputy to check her home address immediately.”
The storm was moving in fast now, turning the afternoon prematurely dark.Lightning flickered in the distance as Jack finished his calls, coordinating the search for a woman who might be a killer or might be the next victim.
As we drove away from the empty medical office, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were already too late.Somewhere in King George County, the truth was waiting—and so was death.
CHAPTERTWELVE
The Virginia countrysideblurred past in shades of storm-gray and emerald as we headed toward Newcastle, but the peaceful scenery did nothing to calm the knot of unease growing in my stomach.Something about this case felt like standing on the edge of a cliff in the dark—one wrong step and everything would come crashing down.
Jack’s phone shattered the tense silence, Cole’s name flashing on the display like a warning.
“Talk to me,” Jack said, his voice carrying the controlled tension of a man bracing for bad news.
Cole’s words crackled through the speaker, each one hitting like a physical blow.“That deputy you sent to check Mills’s house just called it in.Jack, you need to know—the front door was standing wide open like an invitation to hell.Chen and I are heading over there now.”
