Page 52 of Forever Dead

“He won’t.”

“That confidence is not helping.”

“Relax. You found a lead. That’s what matters.”

“Like I said, if he asks me directly, I’m not lying to him,” Arnold said. “He’ll find out and then make me clean the station bins for a month.”

Selena smiled. “You’ll be fine.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“I’ll send the file now.”

“All right.”

They ended the call.

The email took less than a minute to forward.

Once it had gone, Selena stared at the screen a moment longer.

Curtis Halle.

Six weeks out of a psychiatric facility.

A violent history beginning with troubling behavior toward a teacher.

It might be coincidence.

She had learned long ago that coincidences became dangerous when investigators decided too early that they were evidence.

Still, the name deserved attention.

Selena closed the laptop.

Her knee had stiffened while she sat. The walk was now several hours overdue, and her physical therapist would have plenty to say if she learned why.

She reached for the cane.

Getting upright required a slow push from the bed. Pain traveled through the joint, then eased once her weight settled.

“All right.”

The room had become too warm. Selena opened the door and stepped onto the motel walkway.

Eric stood near reception with a plastic skeleton tucked under one arm while he tried to fasten a strand of orange lights along the gutter.

A cardboard box sat at his feet, overflowing with fake cobwebs, plastic spiders and two rubber bats.

Selena stopped. “Subtle.”

Eric looked down from the short ladder. “Halloween deserves commitment.”

“You’ve got a skeleton hanging from the drainpipe.”

“That’s Gerald.”

“Only you would name your decorations, Eric.”