Page 26 of Lost Hours
Mina eyed her. “You’re to talk to no one about this. Are my instructions clear?”
“Crystal,” Harmony said and stomped down the hallway. “So much for sleeping.”
Mina tracked her departure.
Nolan kept his focus on her too. “Nice woman. Unless she just behaves this way when questioned by law enforcement.”
“She’s known for her attitude.” Mina shifted to look at him. “Which doesn’t make her a good match for this job. She must really have snowed Cody Palmer in the interview.”
Nolan turned. “Do you think she’s telling the truth?”
“I do. She might be a character and often times an unpleasant person, but she’s more known for being straightforward than lying. Besides, I can’t see a motive for her to want the mayor dead.”
“You’ll still keep her on a suspect list, though, right?” Nolan asked.
“Absolutely, and I’ll have my team check her out to see if there’s a connection to the mayor that I’m missing.” Mina stowed her notebook and pen in a cargo pocket. “I need to get to Becca’s house before Harmony blabs.”
“You think she’ll tell someone even though you told her not to.”
“I know she will.”
“Before we go, I’d like to check the building to see if I can find a place of entry,” Nolan said.
She appreciated him telling her of his plans instead of just demanding to do it. “You should have time to do that while I give my deputies instructions. Don’t get sidetracked because we still need you to do the description of Smythe with my digital artist. Meet me at the door.”
As he walked away, Mina tugged the escape room door closed, then did just as she’d told Nolan she would do. She gave all three of her deputies instructions, ending with the guy outside, finishing before Nolan arrived. She texted her sergeant to let him know that these deputies would be assigned at this location for the foreseeable future, which took almost half the force away. He would have to figure out a schedule without them. They would have to pay overtime to handle this incident, but protecting the scene was top priority right now in finding the murderer.
Nolan stepped outside, and they hurried to her patrol car. She got them on the road. Neither spoke. She actually preferred that so she could think about what had occurred.
If someone had told her she would be on her way to notify the mayor’s daughter that he’d been killed and that Nolan Orr would be sitting in the passenger seat next to her, she would’ve laughed. But here she was, the bearer of horrendous news, driving at midnight down the quaint streets of Lost Lake, heading for Becca’s secluded house near the harbor. She could only hope Becca was still awake and she wouldn’t have to pull her from sleep to deliver the news.
“Have you done this before?” Nolan asked. “I mean a death notification call.”
“For traffic fatalities, yes. Not for a murder. This is my first murder investigation as a sheriff.”
He glanced at her. “But you were involved in murder investigations when you served in Portland, right?”
“Right, but not as a detective, just as a patrol officer arriving first on the scene and taking statements, then running down a few leads for the detectives.”
“It’s not the same,” he said, his tone somber. “The notification. At least that’s what I’ve heard. I’ve never handled traffic fatalities like you, but when I was on the governor’s detail before I moved up to D.C., I did have to notify a good friend’s family that their son had been killed protecting him.”
“Oh, I remember that assassination. That was your friend, huh? The guy who threw himself in front of the governor to save his life?”
“It was. Great guy. We served together on the governor’s detail for a few years and had a lot in common.”
She could only imagine how hard a notification like that might be. “Why did you have to make the call instead of the lead detective?”
“I didn’t have to. I asked to.” Nolan drew in a deep breath. “For some reason, I thought it might be better if they heard it from me. From someone who was there when he died. A friend who held his hand and told him things were going to be okay when they’d gone horribly wrong. To be able to tell them how brave he was. What an amazing person and true patriot he was. The detective didn’t know him. He couldn’t share those things.”
“Do you think it helped?”
He shrugged. “I think so, or at least I hope so. When someone is suddenly taken from you, like in a car fatality, that’s one thing, but to have someone actually be a victim of violence? To be gunned down? That’s a whole other thing, and I’m not sure anything can make it easier.”
“Yeah, I could see that,” she said, thinking ahead to her upcoming task. “Becca’s mom died a few years ago. She’s bound to take this hard.”
He sat silently for a moment. “You sure you don’t want me to come in with you? You know. For moral support.”
“I appreciate the offer,” she said, and despite their differences she did think having him at her side would help. “But I think it might be harder on her with a stranger in the room.”
