Page 53 of Forever Gone

Outside, the midday heat had strengthened. Connor and Selena followed the path back toward the SUV.

At the passenger door, Selena stopped.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

Connor unlocked the vehicle. “Yes. A milkshake at Hank’s Red Hot Diner would be lovely about now.”

Selena shook her head. “The high school connection.”

“Karen Sloane went there, too.”

“Exactly.”

“So did half the area, Selena.”

“You love being a fly in the ointment, don’t you, Connor?”

“I’m here to keep your feet on the ground.”

Connor’s radio sounded at his shoulder. He could feel the weight of it as he answered, as though he instinctively knew what was about to be said.

He pressed the transmit button. “Go ahead.”

A moment passed. And it felt longer than it should have. Arnold finally answered through a wash of static. Five words delivered in a somber tone.

“Sheriff, we’ve found another body.”

CHAPTER NINE

Connor turned onto a residential street on the eastern side of Eagleton and slowed beside a line of county vehicles.

The neighborhood had been built in the late eighties when the town expected the mines to keep expanding. Single-story houses stood behind short lawns, each separated by a narrow drive. Several had enclosed porches and patched roofs. A basketball hoop leaned over one driveway, its net torn away. Across the road, two women watched from behind a screen door while a boy in a school uniform held a bicycle between his knees.

Yellow tape crossed the path of a beige ranch house near the end of the street.

Connor parked behind Arnold’s cruiser.

Selena reached for the door, then noticed a dark blue sedan turning in behind them. Kelly Voss pulled to the curb and switched off the engine.

“What the hell is she doing here?” Selena asked.

Connor glanced in the rear-view mirror. "Go easy. We don't need any drama."

Selena released the door handle and turned toward him. “Unlike the drama you caused with Morimer last time?”

His jaw tightened. “That was personal.”

“Well, so is this.”

Connor opened his door before the discussion could deepen. Selena got out on the passenger side and adjusted the badge clipped to her belt.

Kelly crossed the road toward them, carrying a small field bag. Her gray suit from that morning had been replaced by dark slacks and a fitted jacket, though the same careful makeup remained in place.

Selena waited at the bottom of the path.

“Aren’t you supposed to be working Karen Sloane’s social accounts?”

“I was,” Kelly said. “Cheryl told me Arnold had called in another suspicious death. I thought you could use backup and a fresh perspective.”