Stuart, Iowa. “It’s about two hours from here.”
“No problem.” Except for the four hours I’ll have to be in a car with Dan.
* * *
“Thanks for meeting us, Gage.”
When I said I’d meet Quinn for coffee, I’d hoped she’d be alone, but I’m not sure that’s ever going to happen again. I think she’s attached at the hip to this guy.
“Mate.” Cooke Thompson reaches out and shakes my hand over the table. “Thanks for taking the time.”
“No problem. But I only have about thirty minutes.” It turns out Kara’s father was more than happy to let us check out her bedroom, so we’re heading out to his place this afternoon. But I need to get a few things together before we take off.
“So, do you have any news?” Quinn’s voice is tentative. “Tayler’s going a little crazy, to be honest.”
Cooke scoffs.
“We have a few leads—”
“Another suspect?” She suddenly sounds excited.
I don’t want to give anything away since we really don’t have anything solid. “We’re checking out all leads.”
She rolls her eyes. “Now you sound like you’ve got a cheat sheet of things to say when you’re not supposed to tell anyone what’s really going on.”
She’s right. “Look.” I lean closer and lower my voice. “We’re seriously checking out everyone.” Hell, we even looked at the video footage of every person who came and went through the front door of Kara’s building. The management has been nice enough to identify those who actually live in the building and those who don’t. Two of our patrol officers have questioned the residents to no avail.
Quinn sighs dramatically. “Okay. I get it.”
The urge to reach out and take hold of her hand is strong, but I keep my hands to myself. “We don’t know enough just yet.”
“But Tayler’s not the killer.” Quinn looks at me, then at Cooke.
“Mate, just drop the charges on Tayler so we can get back to our lives.”
That statement irritates me. “Oh, I’m so sorry that this has upset your lives so much. I’ll be sure to tell Mr. Becker how badly you want this to be over.” I mean….
“No.” Cooke shakes his head. “Apologies, mate. I didn’t mean it that way. That’s insensitive of me.”
I nod because yeah, it was.
Cooke looks apologetic. “Just… the girls are beside themselves with worry, which makes me fret.”
“I get it. I do. But you’re just going to have to wait until we know more.” Hell, we may never know who killed her, but hopefully we’ll solve this thing.
“We get that, Gage.” Quinn looks like she’s about to cry. “This is all so….” A tear trickles down her pretty face, and I want to reach out and take it away from her, but the big English oaf gets to it first.
“Love,” he says to her softly. “Gage is going to get the killer.”
I nod because the need to make her stop crying is overwhelming. “I’m going to do my damn best, Quinn. I promise.”
“I know.” She sniffles. “It’s just so bizarre.” She pauses. Looking me in the eye, she blinks like she just realized something. “I think I’m lucky I was out of the country when it happened.” She peers at me expectantly.
Sheislucky, because if she’d been around here, she’d be my number one suspect. Well, maybe number two suspect. She had the motive. Kara’s obsession with her would have made anyone snap.
Giving her a small smile, I have to agree. “I’m glad you weren’t here too.” As I stand to leave, I say, “I’ll keep you posted.”
“I know. Thank you, Gage.”
