Page 62 of Shadow of Hope
“Then I’ll leave some things.” She got up.
He stood, too. “I’ll grab my backpack. Let me know if you need any help.”
She nodded, but wouldn’t ask for more help from him when he was already blessing her so much. She hurried to her room and threw items into her suitcase, leaving behind the things she didn’t care as much about. She tossed an assortment of toiletries into the bag, leaving basics behind, too and laid it on top of the clothing. She had to sit on the case to start the zipper. She should have packed carefully, and she would have room to spare, but she wanted to be ready to go when Micha called to say they’d departed her home.
She got the bag closed and onto the floor when she heard Dev’s phone ring. Grabbing the handle, she raced back to the family room where he’d already answered on speaker.
“Go ahead, Micha,” Dev said. “Ava’s here now.”
“I’m sending over the photos I took of the drawers in your music room like you asked. We can review them when we next see each other.”
“Thank you,” she said, wishing he’d called on video so she could see his face. “Is there any sign of a break-in?”
“None,” he said. “We didn’t find anyone watching the house either, but Colin is keeping an eye out.”
“Are you leaving now, then?” Dev asked.
“We are. Will call when we’re free to do so. Take care.”
“You too.” Oh, how she wanted to see him and communicate her concern for him again. “I’m praying for you both.”
“Later, man.” Dev ended the call and looked at her. “Ready to hit the road?”
She wanted to lie but would answer honestly. “As ready as someone who’s running from the law can ever be.”
13
Detective Stanley’s skeptical look told Micha all he needed to know. The fifty-something guy, with thinning hair, creases between his eyebrows, and a seriously bad case of chapped and peeling lips, didn’t buy Micha and Colin’s story. At least not completely. He’d already questioned Colin and left him sitting on a stump near the driveway, getting wet like Micha. The rain had finally started and was pelting them all while the moon tried to shine above them.
Stanley had separated them right off the bat. Standard procedure so they didn’t compare stories and make changes. At times witness-story changes occurred on purpose, but mostly it was accidental. In the shock of finding a dead body, the one person could share erroneous details with the other and soon they were taking on the other person’s details in addition to their own or replacing what they actually witnessed.
Stanley rubbed his forehead. “And this Ava Weston is at the apartment you’re borrowing from a friend?”
“That’s right,” Micha said but didn’t want to. Although she knew he would share this information, he felt like he was betraying her.
“I’ll need that address.”
“Of course.” Micha rattled it off.
Stanley jotted it in his little notebook. “As a former investigator, you know I can’t have you calling to warn her that we’re coming. Not with the warrant out for her arrest.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.”
Stanley rolled his eyes. “You know I’ll send officers right over there to make sure she stays put until I’m ready to talk to her. If she’s not there, we’ll check your phone log.”
“I know.”
“We’ll probably check it anyway.”
“I would expect as much,” Micha said but didn’t worry. He’d used the company SAT phone to call her from her house, so there would be no record of that call on his personal phone, and he didn’t plan to call her now. “I hope you’ll reconsider those charges and investigate until you find the actual killer and prove Ms. Weston is innocent.”
Stanley’s eyebrows rose. “The evidence does not agree with you, Mr. Nichols.”
The opening Micha had been waiting for to advance his investigation. “Care to share details on the evidence in your possession?”
Stanley widened his stance. “You know I’m not at liberty to do that.”
Oh, man, this guy continued to be super evasive and had Micha’s simmering anger dangerously close to boiling over. He wanted to lay into the guy, but why? This was not new in their conversation. Stanley had been so vague this far. Micha could just chalk it up to the guy being a good detective, and wasn’t that what they wanted? To have someone who was capable of solving Jamal’s murder in charge of the investigation.
