Grimm took the printed letter and read over it. “Yeah, I’d say you’ve angered the monster. Maybe we shouldn’t stay at the carriage house any longer. Move around town each night to keep the monster at bay.”
“Come on,” Quinn said, but she considered what he was saying. The black hoodie had been there twice already, was that the monster or someone hired to do a job? “Detective Phillips said they had an unmarked car watching the place.”
“What good is what the police are doing if they didn’t even check your bathroom last night to find what was written on your mirror?”
“Even if they saw it, they couldn’t have possibly known to check the showerhead for the toxin.”
“No, but it would have alerted them that someone had tampered with the room and maybe they would have gone over it more carefully checking things out,” Grimm said.
She nodded. “Okay. You’re my protector. I’ll do whatever you think is best.”
“Did I just hear right?” Sheraton said, standing in the doorway. “Quinn is giving in?”
“No, she is making the right choice in this matter,” Grimm replied. “We’re going back to the carriage house and packing a bag, and we’ll be moving around from now on until it is safe for her to return home.”
“Smart move,” Sheraton said. “I just wish I had room for you both to crash for a night, but my place is small.”
“No need to apologize, Sher. I think your place would be a target if we went there. It’s best if we go as far away from the familiar and still stay within the perimeter of Altoona if we can,” Quinn said. “We may have to go outside of it, if what this letter says is on the money, and I’ve sparked the wrath of the killer.”
“If this doesn’t work, give Street a call. He might have a safe house you can stay at,” Sheraton said.
She packed up her laptop. “You won’t see us tomorrow because we’re heading to Lewistown. I’m going to contact Heather Randall’s family this evening about visiting. We’ll also hit the brewery and the Lewistown PD while there. I’m curious if they had a sketch artist do a drawing from eyewitness accounts or not.”
“Before you leave, I bet we have a photo of Cliff Beamer from the society pages you can take with you and show to the owner when you talk to him,” Sheraton said. “That way we will know whether he was one of the guys chatting up Randall before she went missing.”
“Great idea,” Quinn said. “I need to get a new notebook from my desk. I’ll be right back.”
“Sure,” Grimm said. “Do you have a preference where we stay in Lewistown?”
“As long as it isn’t too expensive, ratings are good, and it’s clean.”
“In other words, you’d rather pick it,” he said.
“I didn’t say that.” She hurried from the room but was back two minutes later. “I think I have everything now. Just waiting on Sher.”
“Okay. Come look at this,” he said. “There’s a bed and breakfast in Lewistown we can stay at, or we can look at one of the motels outside of town and drive in. At least there we can get an adjoining room at the Holiday Inn Express. It ticks off what you said you required.”
“I’ve stayed at that hotel chain before and never had an issue,” she said. “I don’t mind driving a few extra miles.”
“Okay. I’m booking.”
Sheraton came in holding up a couple of photos. “Take your pick.”
Grimm and Quinn looked through the few photos and selected two to take. “I also snapped this one of him in his baseball hat.” Grimm showed her the photo from their morning encounter.
“Now who was being sly?” she said.
“You couldn’t have all the fun.”
Quinn tucked the photos into her laptop bag with her notebooks and slipped the strap on her arm. “I guess we’ll see you the day after tomorrow if nothing happens.”
“Or we don’t come across a lead that takes us elsewhere,” Grimm said. “I like that possibility better.”
“So, do I,” Sheraton agreed. “You two, be safe.”
They packedand hit the road faster than Quinn expected. Grimm put the top down on his jeep and they enjoyed the fresh fall-like weather as they traveled on the interstate. He reached for her hand and held it, which startled her at first, but she went with it, enjoying the feel of her skin against his rough. This simple gesture brought her so much joy despite what she’d been going through lately and she couldn’t stop looking over at him.
She waited until they arrived in Lewistown before she placed her call to the Randalls’ for fear that her home had been bugged, and the CI unit had not discovered the devices. She really didn’t know when she’d feel safe being there again. Probably not for a long time anyway.
