Sam smiled at the woman behind the front desk, informed her she had a meeting with Detective Hayes.After a while, they were led to a cramped room.Jake wasn’t here yet, so Sam took a seat on one side of the table.After a few moments of hesitation, Cal took the one next to her.
He must have sensed her curious glance.“This is where I told him,” he said gruffly.“About remembering.”
Sam didn’t respond to that.There was nothing to say.This was where Cal had laid it out for law enforcement that he’d witnessed his father kill his mother.That somehow his own brain had blocked that information from him for years.
Yeah, that was no doubt as traumatic as anything else.“You can always—” But before she could tell him he didn’t have to be here, Jake strode in.
“Got a new Bennet guard dog I see.”He smiled.Meanly.
Sam smiled right back, with some mean of her own.A year ago, the idea of feeling protective of Cal Bennet would have made her laugh and laugh.Now, it was just second nature.“Didn’t Mathews fill you in on what happened at Honor’s Edge last night?”
That must have surprised him because his face went carefully blank.“He must not have submitted the report yet.”He glanced from Sam to Cal, then finally took the seat across from them.“Why don’t you tell me what happened?”
Cal recounted it from his point of view, and Sam added hers about getting the notification that her silent alarm had gone off.But, according to Cal and Mathews, nothing had been observed.
Except the threat.
Jake made some notes, and he didn’t interrupt.Once she and Cal were both done, he sat back in his chair and studied them both.
“Honor’s Edge is looking into this,” Jake said.“So why tell me?”
“I want a police report,” Sam told him.“For legal reasons.”
Jake drummed his fingers on the table between them, then studied Cal.“And you don’t know who’d want to kill you?”
Cal snorted.“The list is long and varied, but no.No clue as to which one.I’m looking through old cases, but nothing is sticking out.”
“Usually a threat is meant to scare more than it’s actually meant to… be a warning.If someone really wanted to kill you, they’d do it without warning.All nice and planned out, so they can get away with it.”
“If they’re sane, sure,” Sam agreed.“Doesn’t mean we don’t go looking into the source.”
Jake sighed.“All right.I’ll make sure Mathews submits the report, and if you send me pictures of the threats, I’ll add them to the file.Now, is that all?”
“No.That was a new addition.Nate told me they found your father’s remains.”
Jake’s expression was blank, but it flicked to Cal briefly.Sam half wondered if he’d refuse to discuss it in front of Cal, but eventually, Jake nodded.“Yes.Gallatin County sent me a report.”
“And their findings match up with everything you know about the accident?”
“They do.”
Sam wanted to get up and pace.She’d been hoping for something… more.And that was silly, because what would be more or different?
These were all loose ends, sure, but they were likely dead ends, and she’d felt she’d owed it to Jill to figure that all out before Jake, but now… with a body?Maybe she’d been wrong.Maybe she needed to use him.
Use Cal.
Use everyone.
“Can you give us a minute, Bennet?”Jake asked Cal,almostsounding equitable.
“Actually, if you don’t mind, I want Cal here.I’m going to use him.”The idea snowballed quickly and easily.More hands, less work and all that.Even though Cal looked surprised, he didn’t voice it.“Cal was tight with Daryl Everly back in the day,” Sam told Jake.“I want him to use that to talk to him eventually.”
“Tight how?”Jake asked suspiciously.
“Mr.Everly was a mentor to me, from an academic standpoint,” Cal replied.“We kept in some touch for a while after I left for school—an email here or there.At one point he invited me to come speak at the high school, but I wasn’t coming home much at the time, so I declined.It’s been a few years, but I think he’d be happy to hear from me.Or at least, open to having a conversation.”
Jake took his sweet time considering that information.Sam didn’t know what he thought about it, but he turned his attention back to her.
