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“It’s about Isaac—the guy from the USGS,” Prescott said, finally. He paused and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them again he looked sad. Completely different from just a few minutes earlier. “He died this morning.”
“Oh, my God,” I gasped, sitting back in my seat. I didn’t know the guy at all, but I’d heard Cole and Prescott talk about him enough to feel like I still knew a lot about him. “That’s horrible. Did the doctor say what happened?”
“They’d been trying to alleviate the swelling on his brain from his injury.” Prescott shook his head. “The doc said it had seemed to be stable for the past couple of days, but… I guess he took a turn for the worse.”
“Jesus,” Cole muttered. “That’s some serious shit. Do we know if he has any family? Anyone to notify?”
“The doc is gonna get back to me later. But I feel like we should probably tell Nora. I don’t want her hearing about it from anyone else.”
Cole nodded. “Well… if Noradidhave anything to do with Isaac’s injury, she’s going to shit a brick. Because now? This case just went from assault to—”
Prescott cut him off with one quick word that took my breath away all over again.
“Murder.”
* * *
I had a knot in the pit of my stomach from the moment we left Prescott’s house, and that knot only grew larger as we got closer to Nora’s. Once the three of us were finally standing in front of her door, I was pretty sure I might throw up at any moment.
I didn’t even want to think of how she might take the news, but I knew it wouldn’t be good. Prescott and Cole had offered to drop me off at Janessa’s house first, but I insisted on going along with them.
The moment she answered the door, her face fell. “Good afternoon, sheriff. I hope you’ll forgive me, but I’m expecting some friends over soon, and I really don’t have time to chat. So unless you have something—”
“Nora, I need to tell you something, and I need you to listen.” Prescott’s voice was quiet but firm, and Nora’s mouth closed with an audible snap. “May we step inside for just a moment? I won’t take up much of your time. You have my word.”
For a second, she looked as if she might refuse. She finally sighed and opened the door wider for us. “I plan on holding you to your promise, sheriff, so whatever it is, please say it quickly.”
The three of us stood awkwardly in Nora’s foyer as she gave Prescott an impatient look. He took a deep breath and then nodded, as if steeling himself for the task in front of him.
“Have you spoken to anyone from the hospital today?” he asked.
Nora’s face clouded. “No. They’ve been refusing to tell me anything lately. After all the money my late husband gave them, they really should be ashamed of the way they’ve been treating me. I actually planned on filing a complaint with the hospital administrator today, but—”
“Nora, I’m afraid you might want to sit down,” Prescott said, interrupting her again with his too-quiet, too-calm tone. “I have some unfortunate news, and I wanted to tell you before you heard it from anyone else.”
“Oh, I see…” She looked from Prescott to me, then to Cole, as if she was noticing the two of us for the first time. “News about… about Isaac?”
The last word came out as just a whisper, but it seemed to echo in the grand foyer.
Prescott nodded. “I’m sorry, Nora. Isaac passed away this morning at the hospital.”
She swayed on her feet, and I rushed around Prescott to stand next to her, steadying her with my hand on her back. Every time I’d seen her before, Nora had been larger than life and fully in charge. In this moment, though, she felt thin and frail. Broken. I could feel her heart beating—so fast it made me think of a hummingbird.
“I can’t believe it,” she whispered. “Are you… are you sure? There might have been some sort of mistake, or–or a mix-up or…”
Her voice trailed off, and I wanted to hug her as the reality sank in, but I felt frozen in place. The best I could offer was to lightly rub her back and hope that she stayed upright.
“I’m sorry,” Prescott repeated. He reached out to her, but she flinched away, then pulled away from me as well. “I know that he meant a lot to you and that this must be difficult, but if you have any other information about that morning—anything you might have seen or heard, something he might have said in conversation, anything that—”
“No.” She shook her head and took a step back. “No. I won’t do this right now. I can’t. You don’t know anything about Isaac—how gentle and sweet he was. He didn’t deserve this, and I refuse to talk about him like he’s just some sort ofstatisticor, or…” She took a ragged breath and pointed toward the door. “Just leave. Now. Please, just go. If you have anything else to say to me about this matter, you can contact my lawyer.”
Prescott looked at me and then over to Cole. I held my breath, not knowing what was going to happen. They wouldn’t arrest her over this, would they? Not without more evidence, right? Not rightnow, at least… right?
I could tell that Cole and Prescott were doing that thing again—that thing where they could communicate with just a look between them. Whatever the question was, they must have agreed on the answer. Cole gave a curt nod and then motioned for me to follow them as we walked outside without another word to Nora. I looked back over my shoulder just in time to see the first tears spilling down her cheeks as she slammed the door behind us.
“Wow,” was all I could say. “That was… intense. I think I might throw up.”
My nerves had thankfully taken a back seat to all of the drama in the foyer, but they were back with a vengeance now that we were outside in the fresh morning air again.
