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He smiled at her. “And I think you just answered that.”
That’s what scared her.
Chapter Fifty-One
THE WORLD DIDN’T LOOK ANY CLEARER TO GINNY THE NEXTmorning. She’d spent a sleepless night mentally running through the evidence, trying to find the hole she’d missed. More importantly, making sure she didn’t drop an obvious lead because it didn’t fit with what she thought should happen to Lila in the end.
She had a lot of time to think because she’d been called back out to the cabin in the middle of nowhere. Driving there meant stopping for coffee. She’d need the caffeine to get through the ongoing search. The search Charles had told her she needed to attend because heaven forbid her face and their office not be all over the news one night this week.
Pete rolled in at his usual time, acting like this was a normal day. He wasn’t the guy who voluntarily put in extra time. He always would if she asked, but she had to ask.
He joined her on the drive, running through various theories until she started humming to shut him out of her head. Hours later they arrived and now he leaned against the frontof her car. “After this, shouldn’t we bring Lila in again for questioning?”
She eyed him while she sipped on the last of her now-cold coffee. “What do you plan to ask her?”
His expression went blank. “I don’t understand.”
“You want to ask her if she killed her husband. We’ve asked that already.” She’d tried it head-on and going at it from an angle. She done it with Lila alone, before Tobias arrived, then again with him there. Pete had witnessed most of it and knew how futile it had been.
“Yeah, but things have changed.” He glanced around at the cars and people carefully walking the wooded property and taking in every detail.
“Not for her. If she killed her husband, she still goes to jail. The stakes are as high as ever.”
His expression morphed into a frown. “You saw the news. Public opinion has changed. Hell, that podcast is pushing the theory of Lila as vigilante hero. Karen Blue’s father came out and offered to testify on Lila’s behalf if the prosecutor wasdumb enoughto charge her. The office is getting calls making us out to be the bad guys for going after her.”
“And all of that suggests to you that we should press her harder?” They would keep at it, but his unrealistic comments had her mentally sighing. The naïve belief that politics and public opinion didn’t play a role in prosecutions would be burned out of him over time. She’d learned that early. He still hadn’t.
A member of the forensic team stuck her head out of the open front door and looked at Ginny. “We found something.”
Their focus immediately switched to the lure of potential new evidence. They stepped into the small bedroom. The bed had been shoved aside, and the boards underneath it had been removed to expose an open space. A metal box about half the size of a shoebox balanced on the edge of the opening.
“Should we wait for—”
“No.” She wasn’t in the mood for Pete and his suggestions right now. “Open it.”
The forensic analyst who alerted them opened the box. For a second all Ginny could see was her blue gloves as her fingers worked on the small hook before she peeked inside. A necklace. A hair tie. Socks. A bracelet. Other personal items that generally belonged to women.
Pete squatted down next to Ginny. “What is it?”
She’d seen this before when she’d worked on one of her first cases. A nurse who liked to “help” his older patients into the afterlife. So she knew. “Possibly trophies from his kills.”
“I don’t know much about jewelry but is that from three women?” Pete asked.
“It doesn’t look like just one.” A heaviness grew in Ginny’s chest. “Which means there probably are more bodies out here.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
LILA WASN’T IN THE MOOD FOR MORE COMPANY. SHE AND TOBIASsat on opposite ends of the couch, not speaking. When the doorbell rang, Lila ignored it. When it rang a second time, Tobias grumbled and stood up.
“I’m not expecting anyone.” She thought that was good enough reason not to move.
“You’re a murder suspect. I’d rather not have SWAT knock a hole through your wall.” Tobias delivered the dramatic reasoning to match his dramatic sigh as he headed for the door.
Lila recognized the other voice. She didn’t run to welcome the unwanted visitor because a visit from Ginny was never good news.
“More questions?” Lila asked as soon as Ginny came into the room.
Ginny glanced back toward the now-closed front door. “You have quite a crowd of admirers out there.”
