Laurel angled her head to look inside. “Where is Mrs. Bearing?”
“I sent her home.”
Huck frowned. “You did what?”
The sheriff straightened to his full five foot ten, which was still about six inches shorter than Huck. “She was understandably upset, so I had a uniformed officer take her home after interviewing her. She didn’t know anything except that her sister was up here for a couple of weeks working and should’ve been home earlier this afternoon. That’s all.”
What an imbecile. Laurel kept her voice level. “Working on what?”
“I don’t know. She’s some sort of hobby writer.” The sheriff flipped open his small notebook. “Name was Dr. Sharon Lamber. She was a published author and apparently had a doctorate in botany, which she taught at the Genesis Valley Community College. Also guest lectured across the country, according to her sister. Right now, she was taking a semester off to work on her writing.”
Wait a minute. Dr. Sharon Lamber? “The poet?” Laurel asked.
York shrugged.
“You’ve heard of her?” Huck asked.
She nodded. “Yes. If this is the same woman, she’s won several poetry awards. I’ve read her. She was incredibly insightful and often wrote about the earth and flowers. Makes sense with her botany background.” The poems had been beautiful and intelligent at the same time. They’d been striking to a person who normally missed subtext. Such was Lamber’s talent. Was Lamber up here hiding from a stalker? Or had she just been working? “We’ll need to talk to her sister. Was Dr. Lamber married? Did she have any other relatives?”
The sheriff rolled his eyes. “Yes, she’s married, but supposedly she and her husband are separated. Mrs. Bearing didn’t know why.”
More likely the sheriff hadn’t pushed for answers. Laurel didn’t want to work with this man again, but she also didn’t see a way out at the moment, unless she wanted to pull rank. She did not as of yet. “I assume the luxury SUV out front is hers?” At the sheriff’s nod, she glanced back at Huck. “Let’s get warrants for her vehicle, home, and office at the college. We can speak with her sister first thing in the morning, and we need to find the husband.”
Huck nodded, already texting on his phone. “If we’re awake, might as well get everyone else up. Except Monty. He needs sleep.”
The sheriff shoved his notebook back into his jacket. “Don’t tell me. You want to create another task force and get your face in the newspaper again?”
“That’s not necessary,” Laurel said smoothly. “We’ll just keep everybody in the loop this time.” She liked that particular colloquium.
“This is my case,” he said.
Laurel sighed. “I would like to work with you on this, Sheriff.”
“That’s fantastic, so long as you realize I take the lead. I will loopyouin when I think you need to be involved. As of right now, you don’t have a reason to be here, except that Ortega wouldn’t take the body until you saw everything firsthand. For some reason.” His eyebrows rose.
For some reason? “I assume it’s because I caught the first case and saw the other victim.” Laurel tilted her head. “What other reason could there be?”
The sheriff met her gaze, his chin lowering. “You tell me. In my years of working this city, I’ve never had the county ME insist we call in the feds. What’s so special about you?”
Was he being literal? “This is exactly the kind of case the Pacific Northwest Violent Crimes Unit was created to handle.” Surely he knew that fact.
“Uh huh.” His gaze traveled from her face down her body and then back up.
“Oh,” she said, finally catching on. “You’re making a sexual innuendo that Dr. Ortega called me because he finds me attractive.” At least now she understood what he was trying to say. “Are you serious about that or are you just trying to be insulting?” She really didn’t know.
His mouth opened partially and his eyes squinted.
Huck coughed and almost covered a laugh.
She cleared her throat. “If you’re serious that there has been a breach of protocol, then you should file a report through proper channels. If you’re merely trying to insult me, you failed. I care nothing about your opinion.” Perhaps now that they had that out of the way, they could get back to the case. She glanced toward Dr. Ortega. “Why did you call me?”
“For professional reasons only,” the doctor said, a small smile playing beneath his goatee.
“That’s what I thought.” She looked again at the frozen body. “Let’s focus on the poor woman who was brutally murdered.”
The sheriff took a step toward her. “Listen, you—”
“I wouldn’t.” Huck moved toward him, his voice holding such a strong threat of harm that even Laurel caught it.
