Leaving Sutton to her own devices, I returned to Johns, briefly bypassing the living room for the kitchen to collect my rudimentary evidence bag off the island. I walked back into the living room and passed it to him.
“What’s this?”
“Sutton received this package at the firehouse the other day. We’re not sure who sent it, but it’s obviously someone fucking with her. I want a full forensic profile run on it.”
He studied the bag intently, as if he had x-ray vision that would reveal all its secrets. Despite being in one of those opaque grocery bags, it was easy to make out the rectangular shape.
“What was in the box?”
“The contents aren’t important,” I told him.
“I disagree,” he pressed. “If there was something nefarious in there, we need to be made aware of it.”
“As thesheriff,” I reminded him, “I have been made aware. And I’m tellingyouas myundersheriff, to run the tests and not worry about what the box once held.”
Johns sighed and opened his mouth like he was about to say something else but snapped it shut when Sutton entered the room. Her long hair left wet streaks on the shoulders and chest of my grey hoodie, and her feet were bare. Clearly, she’d rushed out here. Normally, she took the time to dry her hair. Because itwas so long, the ends had a tendency to get knotted if she let it air dry.
Wordlessly, we all sat—Johns in a chair across the room, Sutton and I side by side on the couch.
“What’s going on?” she asked Johns. “Is this about the break-ins?”
“Actually, yes,” he said. “A few weeks ago, we received an anonymous tip regarding the responsible party.”
I blinked in surprise. “Why is this the first I’m hearing about this?”
Johns’ attention remained on Sutton. “It took some time, of course, to corroborate these claims, but we have reason to believe the anonymous tipster provided a solid lead.”
“What the fuck, Johns? Get to the goddamn point.”
“Sutton is a person of interest.”
His voice was calm, measured, like he was relaying the menu options at a restaurant, not dropping a bomb in the center of my and Sutton’s world.
“I’m sorry…what?” Sutton sputtered.
“You are entirely out of line, Johns. There’s no fucking way she did this. She’s avictim! Or are you forgetting the night you sat in this very room and took her fucking statement?”
I got to my feet as my ire rose. How fuckingdarehe?
Yet again, he ignored me, instead digging into his coat pocket and withdrawing a folded piece of paper, which he passed to Sutton.
“Recognize any of these names?”
Sutton opened it and began to read, and I walked around the couch, bracing my hands on the back and studying it over her shoulder.
Dusk Valley was a small town. Asking Sutton if she recognized any of the names was silly when we all knew pretty much everyone who lived here. Hell,Irecognized all of them.
But Sutton said, “These are all former patients of mine.”
Johns nodded. “According to this anonymous tip, each break-in took place in the home of a recent patient of yours. This tipster believes you used your calls to stake the place out before returning later.”
“I did no such thing!” Sutton exploded, getting to her feet.
“You’re on thin fucking ice, Johns,” I warned.
Unperturbed, he continued. “Of course, we looked into it and, well…you just admitted yourself that each of these people was a patient, and I don’t believe in coincidences.”
“So you think I trashed my own house?”
