“It shouldn’t be too long from now. A handful of hours. Less?” She ballooned the timeframe. Liam made it sound like unwrapping the tarp would be their priority upon returning to the morgue. “We hoped you might help us with something.”
“Name it.” Spencer dropped back onto the couch.
“It could help the investigation if we could log into her phone,” she told him.
“The investigation,” he parroted, his voice cracking.
The clinical phrasing helped her with objectivity, but coming back to her, she heard how insensitive it sounded. “We were wondering if you know her PIN or pattern to unlock her phone.”
“And possibly the code for her voicemail?” Trent wedged in.
“Her phone is a pattern.” He traced it in the air, and Trent recorded a diagram on his notepad. “The code is thirty-six twenty-three.”
“Thank you, Spencer.” For him to know this, they must have been close, which made Amanda feel more empathy for him. “Have you and Christine been seeing each other for a long time?”
He bobbed his head. “About a year.”
“Pretty serious then,” Trent commented.
“I’d like to think so.”
Amanda bristled. “Christine didn’t feel the same?”
“I believe she did. She was just hesitant about giving her heart away. She’d been burned before, married for ten years before it blew up.”
“When did it blow up?” Trent asked.
“Five years ago. Though they have a decent relationship now. I hoped that one day I’d convince her to take a chance on me.”
Amanda’s heart constricted. This wasn’t just a casual affair for her half-brother. “You were thinking of proposing?”
Spencer pressed his lips and nodded. “At some point.”
Again, another spike of empathy shot through her chest. If she wasn’t careful, her emotions would derail her. “Do you know of anyone who might have reason to kill her?”And wrap her in a tarp?The thought flashed through her mind and, like a drive-by shooting, inflicted damage.
“No, everyone loved her.” Spencer’s voice cracked, but he pushed out, “Riley might know of someone. Dear Lord, Riley. Should I call her?”
“Please leave that to me, okay? I’ve already left her a voicemail.”
Tears rolled down Spencer’s cheeks as she locked eyes with her half-sibling. If she were standing, her legs may have given out on her. Her empathy, her human compassion, was both a strength and a curse.
TEN
Amanda slammed the car door shut, rocking the vehicle. Life had its glorious moments, but this one blew. There was no such thing as fairness. It was a concept, a scale of measuring things by some perceived standards, which made most things appear to fall short. The key may be expecting less.
“You okay?” Trent asked, slipping behind the wheel.
“Nope. But I’m going to find out what happened to Christine Lane. For her, her daughter, and Spencer.”
“We will. Together. You’ve always got me, Amanda.”
She dared to look over at him, but his gaze was on the road as he merged into traffic. “Yes, of course, I know that.”
“Good.” He glanced at her, before turning down a street that would take them in the direction of Charmed Court. The unspoken plan was to return there to access Christine’s phone.
Amanda’s phone rang, and Officer Cochran’s name flashed on the screen. “Traci?” Amanda answered using the officer’s first name.
“Hi, Amanda. So I’m here at the house on Charmed Court, and this woman has shown up claiming she’s the homeowner. She’s making quite a scene and?—”
