Wynona gave her a sympathetic pat.“Cramps?”
“Yes.”
“Have you taken anything?”
“Over-the-counter stuff.It’s not working.”
“I have some painkillers in my purse.”
“What kind?”
“What kind do you want?”Wynona replied.
Meredith named the prescription she’d been taking sparingly for the past few years.Wynona snapped open her purse to check her personal pharmacy.Nodding, she removed a generic-looking white pill from a container.Meredith accepted it gratefully.She suspected that Wynona took pills to dull her grief, rather than to manage physical pain.Although Meredith was concerned about the habit, she was in no condition to start a serious conversation.Wynona wouldn’t listen, regardless.
“Do you want to wait a few minutes and give it a chance to work?”Wynona asked.
“No.I can’t sit here anymore.”
Wynona helped Meredith rise from the barstool.“Lean on me.I’ve got you.”
Together, they stumbled out of the bar.
Chapter Eleven
Wade didn’t expectanother day of reprieve from Sheriff Nava, and he didn’t get one.
As soon as Wade entered his office, the sheriff was hot on his heels.Wade settled behind his desk and waited for the boss to speak.Nava loomed large in the open doorway, his face devoid of expression.
“Solve any murders yesterday?”Nava asked.
“No, sir.”
“What’s the status on the coroner’s report?”
Wade drummed his fingertips on the desk.“Undetermined, but with suspicious circumstances.”
“Uh-huh.”
“I’m in the process of eliminating names from missing person lists.”
“Statewide?”
“Yes.”
“Good luck with that,” Nava said in a flat voice.“In the meantime, we have active cases to investigate.Actual crimes.Not suspected.”
“I understand that.”
“Have you reviewed the files?”
“I have not.”
Nava forged ahead with a rapid-fire set of demands that required Wade’s immediate attention.There had been an armed robbery overnight, someone needed to supervise the water tower removal in Rocksprings, and Wade had to attend an interagency meeting about criminal activity during a disaster response.
Wade opened a blank document to type dictation notes.He didn’t want to be accused of shirking any duties.
“You got all that?”
