“For safety, no one does, although I have left the locationwith Émilie, in case I should be incapacitated. And, before you ask, no one has been near those files.”
“He’s right about the intruder leaving prints leading there,” Isabel says as she bounces Rory. “But I think they were hoping the cabinet contained Phil’s secret booze stash.”
Again, that affronted look. “I do not have a secret booze stash. Why would I even need one, if I have the key to the stockroom?”
She squeezes his arm. “Teasing you. No, I think they were just hoping we were stashing booze in there in general. Or credits. Something of value. Nothing’s missing from there either.” She hands me back the baby and continues setting up the bar. “Now tell me about your real case.”
I sigh. “It’s just complicated, and it seems to be connected to the mine.”
“What a shock.”
“I know, I know. Émilie is investigating a few things, and until then, I’m stuck. Can I run another thing by you? One that probably isn’t even connected.”
“The doctor is in. Let me fix you a mocktail, and you can tell Dr. Iz all your troubles.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
I tell Isabel about Muriel. When I finish—both the story and my mocktail—she says, “Well, she’s lying, obviously.”
I adjust Rory, who has drifted off. “I know, but I feel like I got angry and overreacted. Her story checks out. If she’s meeting someone, he’s almost certainly a resident, and they’re having a fling. Her stonewalling and outright lying pissed me off, so I punished her.”
“You really think that’s why you did it? Because that doesn’t seem like you.”
I sigh. “I keep thinking that this could be the guy we’re looking for in the forest. The guy who staked out Lilith’s cabin. But why would he be meeting Muriel?”
“You said you found boot prints.”
I nod. “We also have prints for the person hanging around Lilith’s.”
“Do they match?”
“They don’tnotmatch. The ones at Muriel’s spot are partials, lacking a full tread. What we have is very roughly a match, which I think is why I’m going so hard on this. But, honestly,the partial print also matches our men’s standard boots. It’s not exactly unique.”
“If her guy is a resident, they broke curfew for sex, but there’s no reason for that. We aren’t telling residents they need to sleep in their own bed. The walls are soundproofed for a reason. They deliberately ignored curfew without cause. I can see Muriel refusing to name him and taking the fall for both of them, but she’s telling you thereisno man. Blatantly lying. I’d have locked her up, too.”
“For that? Or for actual cause?”
She takes my glass. “You have cause. If she won’t admit to it and give his name, then he could be your killer.” She studies my expression. “You don’t think that’s a possibility.”
“I’m not sure how it would be. He kills two people, stalks the wife of one victim… and he’s also sneaking around with Muriel?”
“Two people? I thought we hadonedead body.”
“Long story. The second seems to be a miner who was poisoned.”
“What?How does that connect to your hiker?”
I throw up my hands. “This is the problem. We have one poisoned miner. One strangled hiker who may have known the original prospector. And an unidentified man secretly meeting with a seemingly unconnected resident.”
“I’m very confused.”
I exhale. “Join the club. I think, for now, I need to leave Muriel under guard and not feel guilty about it.”
“Agreed.”
“Give her time to stew, while I pursue my murder cases.”
“And care for a baby, nurse your injured dog, and keep a town under curfew.”
