Page 139 of Timid (Lark Cove 2)

After breakfast, we’d dropped Ryder off at school, then made a quick call to our attorney.

The lawyer Logan had found was incredible. The night she’d come to Lark Cove, she’d spent two hours with us. I’d left the bar with a deeper understanding of the criminal justice system than I’d ever cared to know. But she’d given Jackson some great pointers on what and what not to do or say.

We talked to her daily, keeping her fully briefed on whatever we learned at our sheriff’s station visits, even if it wasn’t much.

This morning, she’d given Jackson some advice on what to do if he was officially charged with murder. Call me. Say nothing. But otherwise, she told him to be smart and saw no reason not to meet with Sheriff Magee informally just to hear him out.

I had a feeling she was waiting by the phone, ready to hop in her car and drive down from Kalispell at a moment’s notice.

So here we were, walking back into the sheriff’s station.

Let this be the last time. I looked to the light-blue sky and made my wish on all the sleeping stars.

As we came inside, the deputy at the front desk didn’t say anything other than good morning before immediately buzzing us into the back.

Jackson and I went right through the door, finding Sheriff Magee waiting for us. He was wearing his signature Stetson today, making him look more like the man I’d known since childhood.

“Thanks for coming down.” He shook Jackson’s hand. “Willa, would you like to wait in the lobby?”

“No sirree,” I chimed, inching closer to Jackson as I held up my chin. I’d never spoken to an officer of the law like that before—with cheekiness—but he was going to have to physically remove me from this discussion because I wasn’t leaving Jackson’s side.

“I had a feeling you’d say that.” Sheriff Magee grinned. “Come on back.”

As the sheriff turned, Jackson bent down and whispered, “‘No sirree’?”

“Shh. I’m nervous,” I whispered back.

He chuckled quietly, then took my hand. We followed the sheriff through the station to the same interrogation room he’d put me in before. Jackson and I each took one of the chairs on one side of the table while Sheriff Magee closed the door and sat on the opposite.

There was a file folder on the table already and it captivated me.

If only X-ray vision were a thing.

Jackson chuckled again. So did Magee.

So I’d said that out loud. “Whoopsie.”

“Willa’s nervous,” Jackson explained. “So am I. Should I call my lawyer?”

“I don’t think that will be necessary. I’ve got good news for you today.”

Relief washed over Jackson’s face and the air whooshed out of my lungs so fast I had to clutch my heart to keep it from blowing out too. His hand squeezed mine tight.

It’ll be okay.

I nodded, not needing him to say the words because I was thinking them too.

Sheriff Magee opened the file folder and pulled out a small stack of papers. The writing was small, but with the stencil of a body on one quarter of the page and annotations in various spaces, I knew it was Melissa’s autopsy.

“The medical examiner was extremely thorough with his report. He took into account everything he could, but with the body being found so long after death and in the cold conditions, all we have is a 24-hour estimate.”

I held my breath as he picked up the report to read from the second page.

“Melissa Page died sometime on November seventeenth.”

“The day after she saw me?” Jackson asked.

Sheriff Magee nodded. “She was killed during the time when your whereabouts are accounted for, meaning I have sufficient evidence to rule you out as a suspect.”