Page 165 of Forever Dead
“We found a stitched fragment at Nora’s house,” Selena said. “It may be part of what Connor saw.”
Cheryl was quiet for a moment.
“Chuck cleared you to visit the scene,” she said. “That doesn’t tell me what he wants you doing here.”
“Ask him.”
This time Cheryl picked up the phone.
Selena waited while she explained the request. There was a pause, then Cheryl reached for her pad.
“Copies in the briefing room,” she said after hanging up. “Public records on the computer. If you need anything from our system, ask me. Chuck wants your notes before you leave.”
“That’s fine.”
“He also said reviewing paperwork doesn’t put you back on duty.”
“I heard you.”
Cheryl wrote the time beside her note and set down the pen.
Selena headed down the corridor.
“Selena.”
She turned.
Cheryl’s earlier defensiveness had gone.
“If you go back to the hospital later, will you tell him I asked about him?”
Selena nodded. “Of course.”
“Thanks.”
The briefing room was empty.
That felt stranger than Selena expected.
The murder board covered most of the far wall. Eleanor Marsh remained in the upper left, Patricia Vanes beside her. Someone had already added Nora Ellison’s photograph and a printed image of the farmhouse. Beneath them sat the suspects and theories accumulated over the investigation.
Deacon Blair.
Curtis Halle.
Ray Cutler.
The old property connection.
Patricia’s recruitment emails.
Curtis had worked with hides and carcasses. Patricia had worked shifts at the facility where he had been a patient. Neither fact proved they had met, but together they warranted more than accepting Ginnie Williams’s account and moving on.
Ray’s denials still needed checking against the trucking-yard records and the people who worked for him. Even a verified alibi would answer where he had been, not whether he had involved somebody else.
Deacon’s threat and his account of the dark vehicle needed a documented conclusion.
Chuck had assigned the follow-up. Until those answers came back, Selena had no reason to erase anyone.
