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Hale wasn’t telling Savannah anything new, but she was writing notes to herself, and he supposed it always helped to have a fresh look.

“He didn’t mention anything about meeting his wife there later that night?”

“No.” He gazed at her directly. “I understand you rousted a vagrant out of one of the homes yesterday.”

She seemed surprised by his information. “Did Detective Clausen call you?”

“Stone. He wanted to know if we had any information on what happened to Marcus’s office girl, Hillary, and he told me that you and Clausen got some guy out of the Pemberton house before he could start a fire.”

“Do the Pembertons still own the house?”

“It reverted to Bancroft Development. The Pembertons sold it to us, and they stayed out of the lawsuit. The dune’s been temporarily stabilized, and we’re looking for a long-term solution for the houses that remain.” He lifted his shoulders. “We’ll see.”

“You think that’s a serious possibility?”

“Maybe. Hopefully.” He hesitated, then admitted, “It’s a long shot.”

“Do you have an updated list of home owners that are suing you?” She moved around in her seat a bit and said, “Braxton Hicks contractions,” to Hale’s questioning look. “They’re going away now.”

He turned to the filing cabinets that lined the east wall. “There’s a ton of paperwork here. You want a copy of something, Ella will get it for you. What did you say to her that shook her up, by the way?”

“I asked her about Hillary Enders after Detective Stone already had. She and Hillary are apparently friends, and Detective Stone is following up on that angle, but when I saw the name Blessert on her desk nameplate, I mentioned Hillary and said I wanted to talk to her after our meeting. I think she feels double-teamed.”

“Maybe it’ll give her something else to think about and get her to stop overcaring,” he said dryly. He told her the story of the lavender umbrella, and Savvy, who’d seemed awfully tense, relaxed a bit. “Shouldn’t you be giving this up soon?” he asked, nodding toward her protruding belly.

“That’s the song everyone’s singing,” she said, expelling a breath.

“Don’t like being the alien?”

“I just want to make some progress on this investigation before I go on maternity leave.”

She was being so formal with him. So official. A far cry from the Savvy of last night, even. “What’s going to happen after the baby’s here?” he asked her. “Have you and Kristina talked about it? Because I haven’t got a clue. Are you . . . just turning the baby over at the hospital? Or are you . . . breast-feeding?” he asked, feeling uncomfortable even asking, but hell, Kristina wasn’t telling him anything and he had a right to know.

“We haven’t talked about it,” she admitted, dropping eye contact. “I’m not sure what Kristina wants.”

“What do you want?”

“I’m not sure about that, either.” She looked up briefly, then back down at her notes. “What do you want?”

“I guess none of us have a clue.”

A long silence passed; neither of them seemed to know what to say. Eventually, Savvy drew a breath and said, “I think I’ll look through those files now. . . .”

Hale showed her which drawers held the files that pertained to Bancroft Bluff, and then he left the office, feeling slightly disturbed. He was going to have to pin Kristina down and soon. She clearly wasn’t going to come to him, so he was going to have to go to her.

He returned a few moments later with two bottles of water. Savvy had several files spread out on the small conference table in the corner and was examining the newest papers on the lawsuit. Technically, without a court order, the company didn’t have to show her anything more than what they’d already given, but Bancroft Development had nothing to hide, and Hale wanted to find Marcus and Chandra’s killer as much as anyone, and, well, Savvy was his sister-in-law and was pregnant with his baby.

“Thanks,” she said when he handed her the water.

“Think any of this is going to really help?” he asked, gesturing to the spread-out papers.

“I hope so.”

“You want those photocopies?”

“That would be great, actually.”

He walked to the door and called, “Sylvie?”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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