“Testing was different back then. Not to mention contamination on top of it,” Clay said.
“There would be nothing left to test now. And it wouldn’t make sense to do it for me. I guess I just hate that I never thought of that before.”
“I’m glad I gave you all something to look at. See, you don’t have to exclude me.”
“No one is excluding you,” Ford said. “If we were, you wouldn’t be here now.”
“So what is the next step?” she asked after she rolled her eyes.
“I’m going to talk to Detective Denning tomorrow,” Rory said. “He’s in a nursing home in Albany. Whether or not I’m able to get in, I don’t know, but it’s worth a shot. I got permission from his son.”
“Seriously?” she asked. “I didn’t know you were even trying to do that.”
“I told him who I was and what I’ve told everyone else. The guy doesn’t live around here and didn’t care all that much but warned that his father doesn’t have a memory of much.”
“Nothing hurts. When are you going? I’d like to rearrange my schedule and go with you.”
“I’m leaving at eight tomorrow. The nursing home said mornings were best.”
She snarled. “I can’t. I’ve got two early meetings scheduled I can’t put off.”
“And you shouldn’t,” Ford said. “You need to keep doing what you are. Let Rory work his end of things.”
“I want to say we are getting close, but are we really?” she asked.
“It’s more than I had three weeks ago,” he said.
“And you’ve only got a week left, or are you staying longer?”
Everyone turned their attention to Rory when she asked that question.
“I’m going to extend it another month, but I’m debating if I want to stay where I am or not. If I change locations, they’ve got to find me and would that give them away?” he asked.
“If you go to a hotel it could put other people at risk,” Ford said.
“I’ve thought of that. I won’t stay with Gale, don’t worry.”
He was staring at her when he said it. He might as well have just announced it to her brothers she’d slept with him.
Neither Ford nor Clay was looking too pleased, but she didn’t give a crap about it. It was her life and she was living it the way she wanted.
“I didn’t ask,” she said smartly. “But if I want you there, I know I’d be safe. My brothers need to get a grip on shit.”
“It’s not the time, Gale,” Ford said. “Just keep doing what we are. Clay will have more information tomorrow about the letter. The more you do, Rory, the messier this person might get.”
“That’s what I’m banking on. But it hasn’t happened yet.”
“Oh, yes it has,” she said. “Because for fifteen years no one else has got this reaction, but you come back to town and they are scared. Your presence alone is making someone nervous.”
“What the fuck?”
He stalked the living room with each turn sharper than the last on his heel, his carpet wearing under his restless pacing. His pulse hammered with his breath coming in short bursts, his fingers in his hair and yanking it harder than he’d done before.
When was Rory going to get that he meant business?
And then going to Detective Miller. Talking about things that should never have been said. What the hell had Rory told him? What secrets had he dug up?
Not that Logan Miller ever had much to go on. The guy had chased endless ridiculous clues for years and come up empty.
