Part 8 (1/2)

Sam showered quickly, then grabbed fresh jeans, a T-s.h.i.+rt, and his phone to call Paige. Again, he thought of her as he'd last seen her. He rubbed a hand down his face, then called her.

”h.e.l.lo?”

She sounded as wide awake as he was. ”Paige, it's Sam.” He could all but feel her stiffen across the airwaves. She was closed up tight. Again, he felt at a loss about how to reach her, but he had to put that aside for now. That wasn't why he'd called her. ”We've been called in to investigate a suspicious death in Kirk County Park. I'll tell you what I know when I see you. I can be at your place in twenty minutes.”

There was a pause, then she said, ”I'll be waiting.”

He made his way to Jonah's room. Sam called his son's name softly and placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder, but Jonah didn't stir. In Sam's experience, once Jonah was asleep, he slept deeply. Sam watched Jonah, just watched his son sleeping. The simple act of watching Jonah sleep was particularly comforting tonight when Sam was on his way to a crime scene.

He didn't try to wake Jonah again. Sam wrapped his son in the blue comforter with the race car pattern that Jonah had kicked to the end of the bed, then scooped the boy into his arms. Jonah was still asleep, buckled in the backseat, when Sam pulled into Ginny's driveway. A sedan was parked there. The sedan didn't belong to Ginny, who had a compact she parked in the single-car garage. Sam figured the sedan was Herb's.

An instant later, Sam's suspicion was confirmed. With Jonah in his arms, Sam left the truck and headed for the house. As he did, a man came out of the back door, taking careful steps that minimized the sound of his shoes on the walkway. In the back porch light, Sam recognized Herb.

Herb drew back. ”Sam.”

”Herb.”

”I'd planned to be gone before you got here.” Herb rubbed his hand across his mouth. ”This is awkward.”

”Not for me.”

Herb moved his stooped shoulders in a show of discomfort. ”Well, I'd better skedaddle.”

As Herb scooted by Sam, he reached out and gave Jonah a soft pat on the shoulder. Sam gritted his teeth at the gesture. Herb's affection for Jonah grated.

As promised, Ginny was standing at the back door in a cinched blue robe. She held the door open while Sam entered the house. ”I'll take him up,” Sam said.

With Ginny trailing him, Sam set Jonah in his bed. Jonah mumbled something but didn't move. Sam kissed the top of Jonah's tousled, dark head, then, with a nod to Ginny, left the house.

Paige was waiting by the door when Sam pulled up in front of her apartment building. After being in his arms yesterday, she'd gone through all manner of emotions. The most upsetting of all was the sense of rightness that she felt being there.

But that was yesterday. In the cold light of a new day, Thames was still part of her life. After Sam's phone call, the words she'd said to him about having nothing to give him were never as true.

Since he'd told her a woman had died a ”suspicious” death in Kirk County Park, Paige's nerves had spiked. Her mind was whirling like a hamster on a wheel, the thought racing through her brain that the person responsible for this woman's death might be Thames.

Since Thames's release, Paige had expanded her search of the databases to include new cases. She continued to come up empty. Was that because Thames had chosen to start a new trail of bread crumbs in Kirk County?

If Thames had chosen Kirk, Paige did not believe it was a coincidence. That of all places, he'd chosen this one. No, just as he'd revealed to her at his murder trial that he knew her New York address, murdering this woman would be his way of letting Paige know that he was here. A woman would have died because of Paige, just so Thames could leave Paige his calling card. A coldness seeped through Paige right down to her bones.

Paige climbed into Sam's truck. The overhead light flashed on, then off, and she caught Sam's grim expression. Fearing her own expression was too readable just now, for so many reasons, she looked away from him. ”What do we know so far?”

Across the dark interior, she could feel his gaze burning into her, but all he said was, ”The woman is Janet Glaxton Lambert, a prominent figure in Kirk. Her husband, Hugh Lambert, owns several companies across the United States. She was the sister of Georgia senator Richard Glaxton and was found on a trail.”

It was clear Sam did not yet have answers for the other questions that had Paige's nerves vibrating like tuning forks, and she said nothing more.

Due to the lateness of the hour, traffic was largely nonexistent. They reached Kirk County Park quickly. The park hadn't fully recovered from the sunny spring weekend, when families flocked there, or the fund raiser the previous weekend. Gra.s.s was trampled, and trashcans were overfilled and in some cases had spilled over. Paper cups, napkins, and other a.s.sorted debris littered the ground.

Lights had been set up, and the park was as bright as day. Sam parked the truck, and Paige was out of the vehicle before it had fully stopped. She scanned the area. The crime scene unit van was parked in the lot. A squad of male and female agents wearing vests emblazoned with FBI pulled up in another van. Sam acknowledged the agents. Paige tuned him out as he had a word with them.

Harry, Dom, Mike, and Riley were also on the scene. Sam went to speak with them next. Paige did not accompany him but continued to take in her surroundings. Yellow crime scene tape fluttered in the slight breeze. Strung from tree to tree, it cordoned off the body that had been found at the head of one of the jogging trails. Located close to the entrance of the park, the trail was impossible to miss. It was the one Paige had been on herself.

Sam came up beside her. ”Whoever left the body wasn't looking to hide it.”

Paige had been thinking the same thing. Tight-lipped, she walked by Sam's side. She could feel her posture stiffen as they got closer to the body.

Cops in uniform and in plainclothes stood against trees, some sipping from paper cups, some gathered in pairs or in groups. Others blocked the path to the crime scene. Even dressed casually, as she and Sam were, Paige saw a couple of the officers straighten their posture as she and Sam approached. Paige's ID was in a back pocket of her jeans. She reached for it, but her hands felt as useless as catchers' mitts. Sam held up his own ID and cleared the way for Paige as well.

Sam clipped his ID to his belt, then said, ”That's Harmon by the cop car with the roof light flas.h.i.+ng.”

Paige followed his gaze to a tall man, beanpole thin, his face as lined and cracked as old leather.

”Pete,” Sam said when he reached him.

”Sam.” Harmon swatted at a mosquito at his temple.

Sam turned to include Paige. ”This is Special Agent Carson. Paige, Kirk County Chief of Police Harmon.”

Harmon nodded to Paige. She could feel waves of hostility coming off him but didn't spare a thought about the reasons for his chilly reception. She returned his nod absently and honed her gaze on the crime scene unit grouped around what was presumably the body. They'd arrived quickly, and judging by the progress they'd made, they'd been here awhile and would be here longer still. In addition to the crime scene, Paige knew the team would widen their scope to include a good portion of the park.

While Sam spoke with Harmon, Paige separated herself from the men, intent on reaching the body. Her hands were shaking as she dug out her ID. She held it up and, without waiting to see if anyone even glanced at it, made a path for herself through the group until she was standing directly over the dead woman.

The first thing that struck Paige was that Janet Glaxton Lambert was fully clothed-right down to her designer sling-back sandals.

Paige cataloged other characteristics, like the deceased woman's toned figure; her age-roughly early fifties; that she was lying on her side-by chance or design would be determined; and that Janet Glaxton Lambert was a redhead.

Paige hadn't realized she'd been holding her breath until it whooshed out. Not Thames. Not Thames.

Then she saw it-a postcard by the body.

Sam claimed a spot over the body beside Paige. His meeting with Harmon had been short. He didn't have time to turn this into a p.i.s.sing contest over jurisdiction. A woman had lost her life.

The photographers were packing up their gear. The crime scene agents had moved in. Sam knew these agents and left his ID on his belt. ”Bob,” Sam said to one, ”what can you tell us?”

Bob squinted at Sam over the blue lenses of rimless gla.s.ses. ”Hey, Sam. Pending autopsy, so far it looks like cause of death was a cervical fracture.”

A broken neck, Sam thought.

”We won't know how many of the vertebrae were broken until we get her on the table,” Bob added. ”I'd loosely peg time of death between five and ten hours ago.”

”Could a fall or another accident have caused the fracture?”

Bob shook his head. ”No way. The bruising on her neck indicates she was grabbed, and grabbed hard. Someone did this to her.”

”Walk us through what else we know so far,” Sam said.

Bob crouched over the body and began to point with his gloved hand. Nicotine stains on his fingers showed through the transparent gloves. ”She was found like this, on her side. Fully dressed as you can see, right down to her shoes. And she's wearing those.” He made a gesture with his hand. ”What do you call 'em? Those shoes women wear that don't have any straps or anything but that stay on their feet anyway?”