And then, as I become aware of the soft cotton spread beneath me, I realize: Uruguay. I’m stillhere. In a bed I share with Bas. This is my home for certain, so far away from my old life but where I get to feel of the world again. My eyes well with tears, wetting the pillowcase.
After climbing out of bed and wiping my face, I check in with Bas, who’s starting a fire in the great room. I promise to join him momentarily. I grab my laptop from my tote bag and take it to my office, placing it on my desk.
There’s a lot to catch up on now that I’m home. I want to email my friend Ellie today and set up a time to talk—and share everything with her—as soon as she’s back home from her vacation. And I need to get back to the in-house editor I’ve been working with, who’s written to say she’s very happy with the recent edits I did and has another project for me. In a day or two, I’ll be ready to jump into work again.
There’s something else I intend to do this week. Now that I’ve got my hands on more of Mel’s writing, I’ve decided to self-publish a collection of her work in book form. Not to sell online. The book will be mainly for me, Logan, some relatives on Logan’s side, and old friends of hers, like Harry. Mel dreamed of being published, and now she will be.
The intoxicating smell of woodsmoke wafts in through the partially open door.
As I start to leave the room, my cell phone rings, and I nearly jump at the sound. I’ve been on pins and needles since I left, wondering how the case against Morgan will proceed.
It’s Logan, and the sight of his name makes me flinch a little.
“Hey,” I say.
“You settled in yet?”
“Pretty much. Anxious about the investigation, of course.”
“Well, that’s partly why I’m calling. Turns out Morgan bought orange electrical cord at a Walmart several towns away from Edgerton. She paid cash, but she was caught on a store camera. Halligan had asked to see footage from every place within a huge radius.”
Still standing, I feel my knees weaken. This is huge, more than I dared hope for.
“Thank God.”
“Wait, there’s more. You know the anti-anxiety drug clonazepam? The tox results came back this morning, and Riley had enough in her system to knock her out. The cops didn’t find any in her possession, so they think Kroll brought it to the house and dropped it into Riley’s coffee, just as you suspected. Apparently, her partner has a prescription for it. Not a slam-dunk piece of evidence, but it’s one more thing to put on the list, helping it all add up.”
“But nothing yet connecting her to Mel’s death?”
“Not yet, but Halligan thinks that might come in time. Alison will be brought in for questioning, of course.”
I sigh. We might never have absolute proof, but we’llknow. And though I still want her burned at the stake, I sense that, this time, my hatred of Melanie’s killer won’t be able to eat me alive.
“Thanks for telling me ... Everything okay on the home front?”
Though I never told him about Lisa’s call, she’s surely confronted him.
“Depends on who you ask. I told Lisa it wasn’t working and that we needed to split.”
“Oh, Logan. I was a fly in the ointment, but can’t you put that behind you?”
“It’s not just about you and me. It’s about her.”
“Did you view her in a different light once the week was over?”
“Yeah. And that damn designer duffel bag of hers started to get on my nerves. I kept thinking she could kill me and stuff my body inside it without anyone being the wiser.”
The comment makes me laugh.
“Well, that’s probably better than a wood chipper,” I say. “And look, I know you’ll find someone else.”
Someone better,I think, because I do want him to be happy. Maybe the right partner and an aging libido will even keep him faithful.
“I’m not looking that far ahead at the moment.”
“I should let you go,” I say, and then realize how strange the words are in the context of everything. I need to stay in contact with Logan about the case, especially if it goes to trial, which is highly likely, but at the same time, I have to keep the right distance. It won’t be hard this go-around.
“Okay. And, oh, thanks for sending me the links to that other stuff of Mel’s.”
