She resettled the end of her braid. “What about the bullet that was removed from Frank’s leg? Could that lead us to some clues?”
“Possibly.” He noticed she’d used the wordus. She’d assumed this search wastheirsearch, and with good reason. They’d tackled their problems together in the past. “I’m wondering if the town of Enumclaw could be a clue.”
“Right. Because why would Frank have been shopping in that particular cemetery for a new identity unless he had a connection to the town?”
He nodded. “On the other hand, he may not have had any connection to the town. He might’ve been driving through Enumclaw, spotted the cemetery, and decided to pull over to search the gravestones.”
Her lips twitched with skepticism. “Would you put something that random into one of your books?”
“No, because random chance doesn’t work in fiction. But in real life, people do inexplicable things all the time.”
She reached for the bowl of chocolate-covered cashews on the side table and offered them to him.
“No thanks.”
She adjusted into a cross-legged position, wincing a little as she did so, almost as if the motion had hurt her.
“You okay?”
“Fine.” She set the bowl in front of her ankles and popped two cashews into her mouth. “What if the bullet wound is connected to Frank’s decision to change his identity?”
“It probably wouldn’t hurt to search for news stories about shootings that happened in the general area of Enumclaw shortly before Carolyn met Frank.”
“Because Frank already had the bullet wound and the new identity when they met.”
“Correct.”
“What year was that?” she asked.
“1985.”
“If I were a betting woman, which you know that I am—”
“Yep.”
“—I’d bet on us. Working together, I think we have a shot at figuring this out.”
“Thanks, but I’m planning to look into this by myself. In other words,alone.” He tried and failed to keep his expression serious.
Her chestnut-colored eyes lit with fire. “I’d like to see you try to stop me from joining you.”
“That’s what I was afraid you’d say.” Those were the words he spoke. However, the truest, hungriest, most selfish part of him was very glad that she was determined to join him in this. He wanted her as his ally. He wanted her near him.
Which was idiotic.
If they spent hours working side-by-side, he had no confidence in his ability to resist her. Nor did he trust that he’d be able to make himself return to Japan and finish his trip when the time came.
Once the funeral was over, he discovered what had happened to Frank, and Carolyn was on her feet again, he needed to leave Washington. He still had six months of travel plans left to complete.
Even so.
Regardless of all that.
He wanted her near him.
Phone call from Zander to Detective Kurt Shaw:
