Page 68 of Lost Lake
Talia winced. “Oh, the poor sweet thing. Natalie will miss her Pop Pop, but she’ll miss Spotty just as much.” She clutched her arms around her stomach. “What in the world is going on? Are we in danger, too?”
“Highly doubtful. But until we can learn more about the man in the van, I can’t give you one hundred percent assurance.” El wasn’t about to tell her how they’d struck out with Ryker and were back at square one. “Did your father carry a Zippo lighter?”
“Dad? No, he didn’t want to get lung cancer and was anti-smoking all the way. Besides, he said he only had room in his pocket for the knife his granddad gave him. It really wasn’t much more than a penknife but he carried it all the same. If you find it in his pocket, can you make sure I get it?”
El nodded, but couldn’t agree to hand it to her. Especially when her father had been stabbed, and they didn’t have the murder weapon. “Once the investigation is over. Do you know if your father loaned his boat to someone?”
She inhaled deeply. “Not that I know of, but he really didn’t talk about his lake property much. Ever since I was a little girl, he always hoped I would love going fishing with him, but honestly, it bored me to death.” She looked up at the ceiling. “Now I wish I’d cared about what he wanted and spent as much time with him as possible.”
An emotion that so many people who lost a loved one expressed, but one that El wouldn’t linger on.
“I’d like to have a look around your father’s place. Do you have a key you could give me?”
“I’ll get it for you.” Talia hurried away.
For the first time, El noticed the sound of Natalie playing in the other room. “I’m guessing it won’t be easy to tell her daughter about her grandfather.”
“Letting someone know a loved one died is never easy, is it?”
“The hardest part of the job.”
As if reinforcing the difficulty of learning a loved one had died, Talia returned to the room, tears once again rolling down her cheeks. She held out the key, but didn’t speak, and grabbed her tissue from her pocket to dab at her eyes.
“Is there anyone we can call to be with you?” El asked.
Talia shook her head. “I just texted my husband to come home. He’ll help me tell Natalie. Since Dad retired, they got to spend a lot of time together. Maybe he hoped she would go fishing with him.”
“Thank you for your time, Talia. You have my card. Call me if you think of anything that might help.”
“I’ll see you to the door.”
She rushed ahead and had the door open and waiting by the time they reached it as if by getting rid of them, the news they’d brought would go with them.
“Oh, before I go.” El stalled Gabe’s progress at the front door. “When you take your daughter to daycare, it would be great if you asked other parents if they recognized the man in the van.”
Talia lifted her hand from the doorknob to wipe away tears. “Of course, but I don’t know when we’ll be going back. Not with funeral arrangements and things to settle.”
“I understand, but if you learn anything, you have my card.” El didn’t linger, but went straight to her vehicle, before she let her emotions for this family get to her.
Gabe followed and slid in. “You look uneasy.”
She glanced at her watch. “We don’t have enough time to search Mason’s place before the update meeting. But a sick feeling in my gut says when we get there, we’ll find something his daughter won’t like and neither will we.”
16
Gabe wanted to punch the wall outside the meeting room. He wasn’t eager to go inside and tell them they hadn’t come up with anything helpful this morning, but he had to. Even if El had gone to the restroom and wasn’t at his side.
He stepped inside the large conference room and searched for an open spot at the table. Mina sat at the head, Ulrich on her left, her admin on her right, and Jude next to her, his hands on the table, twiddling his thumbs. Deputy Ewing and Massey from the crime scene had taken places at the other end of the table. Everyone had helped themselves to the box lunches and water bottles on a long table at the head of the room.
El marched in. “Grab some lunch before we sit.”
He followed her to the table, where they both picked up a box and a drink. She took the open seat by Ulrich and pointed for Gabe to take the chair next to her. He’d planned to sit by Jude, but leaned across the table and bumped fists with him, and then sat next to Deputy Ewing on his other side.
“Hey, man,” Gabe greeted, and nodded at Massey.
He gave him an agreeable nod while chewing. Gabe had expected them not to like an outsider, a PI nonetheless,attending a law enforcement meeting, but maybe it didn’t bother them.
Sierra breezed into the room. She held a tall cup of coffee in one hand and a laptop along with papers under her arm. “Sorry I’m late. All-nighter, and I had to stop for coffee.”
