Part 34 (2/2)
”Photos. Memorabilia. A diary. Anything that might tell us who the father of my sister is. We should do this now, before you get taken off the case.”
”Okay. Then Byers's office. I told him you would be there this morning.”
Her mind sorted through what she needed to do today. ”I'll make some calls on the way.” She paused. ”What about Nicky?”
”I can take him home with me. Beast likes other dogs.”
”In what way?” she asked suspiciously.
He grinned. ”Not for dinner, if that worries you. I feed him well. And there's a kid next door who feeds him when I'm gone.”
”Just until I go home,” she said. She wanted someone with her tonight. She couldn't expect Gage to hang around. He had been kind last night, but...
She nodded. ”Thank you.”
”We'll go by my house first to drop off Nicky, then Mrs. Starnes's home.”
Anything to delay visiting the morgue. Anything to delay reality. She had never considered herself a coward but now she felt like one. Only Gage kept her from falling apart and she wouldn't crumple in front of him.
'Lulu Starnes. Concentrate on Lulu Starnes.'
She waited while he fetched a leash and attached it to Nicky's collar. Though the dog had eaten the slice of toast, his tail was between his legs. Well, he had lost someone he loved. And so had she.
At Gage's home, Beast greeted Nicky with enthusiasm. The dog wagged his tail for the first time since she had taken him from the crime scene. Then the two dogs did what dogs do. Sniffed each other as they continued to wag tails. She decided he would be fine with Beast.
Five minutes later, Gage and Meredith reached Mrs. Starnes's home. The crime lab people had obviously left. Yellow tape indicated a crime scene. A police car sat in front.
A chill invaded her. She really didn't want to go inside again.
”Are you sure you want to go in?” he asked gently.
Once again he'd read her mind. ”Yes,” she said. ”How?”
”It's my case and my crime scene until I'm officially relieved,” he said.
There was quiet anger in his voice. She got out of the car and waited until he went over and talked to the officers, then returned.
He led the way to the door and stepped aside for her to enter.
She couldn't move for a moment. She remembered yesterday--or was it an eon ago?--when she'd walked in.
She felt Gage's hand at her back, bracing her.
She took a deep breath and went inside. She avoided the kitchen and started her search in a small room obviously used as an office. Bookcases stuffed with books lined three walls.
Meredith checked the desk. She knew that Wagner and Gage had probably already checked it. But she knew what to look for and they hadn't. A large calendar filled the surface of the desk, and she saw her name written neatly on it. A pile of what looked like bills were on one side. There was no computer.
Strange. She would have expected one.
'Photos. Lulu Starnes must have photos somewhere.'
Meredith went through the drawers but found nothing. Gage joined her, shaking his head to her unasked question.
Had the person who killed Mrs. Starnes already searched the house?
She forced herself to return to the kitchen. A tea kettle sat on a burner of the stove. Two cups were on the counter, along with tea bags. Had Mrs. Starnes started to prepare for her visitor? For Meredith? In her horror over finding the body, she hadn't noticed yesterday.
The breakfast nook was furnished with a small oak table. Two places had been set; a creamer was filled with soured milk. Was this where Mrs. Starnes had planned to talk to her?
If she had anything to show Meredith, perhaps it would be in this same area.
Meredith spied a pile of cookbooks on a baker's rack, along with some flowering plants. She went over to them. As she picked up the top volume, several photos fell out.
She sat down and studied them.
Her mother was in two of them. So was a younger Lulu Starnes.
Meredith gazed at the girl who had become her mother. Marguerite Thibadeau smiled through the decades, a mischievous grin spread across her face. She looked as if she owned the world.
Lulu Starnes, on the other hand, looked out of place. Only a forced shadow of a smile crossed her face. A young man stood between the two young girls, his arm draped lazily across her mother's shoulders. His face was turned toward her mother, and she saw only his profile.
It was not her father. The man was tall, lanky, with his dark hair in a ponytail.
Meredith stared at the photo for a moment. She had never seen that particular expression on her mother's face. Nor that consequences-be-d.a.m.ned set of her chin.
There was no question that the young man would never have met Meredith's grandfather's standards.
She looked at other elements of the photo. The three young people were standing in front of what looked like a tavern. The sign said PAULE'S.
She knew she had never seen it before. It looked as if it were located in some rural area.
”Find something?” Gage's voice broke her concentration.
”I don't know. Did you?”
”No. I called my partner. We're still on the Starnes case, although they are trying to take it away. They are talking about your father's death as an accidental hit-and-run.”
”No!”
”The detectives aren't happy about it, either.”
”After what happened to me?”
”Someone is pulling strings, and whoever it is has to be powerful. I trust the chief--it's not him.”
”Then how ...?”
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