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Since Lilyand Sheldon had taken the Suburban when they’d transported the body, Jack and I were left with his Tahoe. As soon as we got in the vehicle Jack called Cole.
“Cole,” Jack said. “Do you have a Bobby Pickering on your list of statements that were given?”
“Hang on a sec and let me check,” Cole said.
I could hear the shuffling of papers along with the squeaky desk chair Cole refused to get rid of. He said the chair fit him like a glove and annoyed his desk mate at the same time, so it was a win all around.
“I don’t have a Pickering on the list,” Cole said.
“Thanks,” Jack said. “Can you send someone out to do a welfare check? He’s one of the valets at the Purple Pig. His co-workers said the last time they saw him was before the shooting started, and then he disappeared. He’s got military training. I’ve got his personnel file from Denaro, but let’s go ahead and run a full background check.”
“I’ll take care of it,” Cole said. “We’re a little thin right now, and we got a call for an armed robbery over at the Shell station in King George.”
“Anyone hurt?” Jack asked.
“Shots were fired at officers, but everyone is okay,” Cole said. “They’re bringing the suspects in now.”
Jack looked at me. “Things are going to be crowded at the station tonight.”
“Makes things more interesting,” Cole said. “Beats the heck out of a slow night.”
“I’ll be in as soon as I drop Jaye off,” Jack said and disconnected.
“No need to take me all the way home,” I said. “Just drop me at the lab. I’m itching to get started on Sowers. I can drive myself home when I’m finished with the autopsy.”
“You just don’t like going to bed without me,” Jack said, giving me a wink.
“That’s true too,” I said. “Who else am I going to put my cold feet on?”
“Ahh,” he said. “Marriage is the gift that keeps on giving. Single men don’t know what they’re missing.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Consider yourself lucky you came to your senses when you did. What are your thoughts on Bobby Pickering? You think he could’ve been the shooter?”
Jack shrugged. “I’ve never believed in coincidences. The fact that he’s missing and has a military record definitely makes him a person of interest. We just have to find him first.”
It was a short ride to the funeral home since it was only a couple of blocks from the Towne Square, and we turned onto Catherine of Aragon, which was one of the oldest streets in Bloody Mary. There was a mix of small brick shotgun houses that were a couple of hundred years old, a few craftsman-style houses built during an architectural revival at the turn of the twentieth century, and then there was the funeral home, which was a three-story Colonial that didn’t really fit in with anything and took up two full lots. Across the street from the funeral home was a strip mall built in the eighties that was an eyesore and everyone hated, but someone had recently bought the space and updated it so it looked like Chip and Joanna Gaines had waved their Magnolia wands at it. Somehow that was enough to get businesses in there that were actually turning a profit.
“How you doing?” Jack asked. “You never got your dessert. You gonna make it?”
“I’ll make do,” I said, already thinking about the Hostess snacks I had hidden in the pantry at the funeral home. “Thanks for loving me. I know I can be extra.”
“It’s the extra parts I love the most,” Jack said. “You’re extra generous even though you don’t want people to think you are. And you’re extra kind to those who are hurting. And you’ve loved me extra since we were kids. I love the extra.”
I cleared my throat uncomfortably and blinked the tears away. “Wow,” I said, my voice husky. “I was not expecting that. You are so going to get lucky the next chance I have.”
Jack pulled the Tahoe up under the covered portico and gave me a kiss. “If I didn’t need to be at the station half an hour ago you’d already be naked.”
I snorted a laugh and opened the door to hop out of the Tahoe. I could tell his mind was already on what was waiting for him at the station. I didn’t take it personally. My mind was already on David Sowers.
“Text me before you head home,” he said.
“Will do. Love you.”
Jack waited until I was safely inside and had the door locked behind me and the alarm set, and then I saw his headlights disappear down the driveway. Most people might be put off by being in a funeral home with a dead body in the middle of the night. It had never bothered me. In fact, I’d always welcomed the quiet that came with being completely alone.
My grandparents had built the Colonial and had lived on the top two floors while running the business on the ground floor. Unfortunately, my grandmother had died under mysterious circumstances when she’d fallen from a third-story window. Supposedly, she and my grandfather had been having some issues—most notably the mistress he’d been sneaking into their bed and the money he’d been stealing from the funeral home to run away with her.
The scandal hadn’t destroyed the business, but it was decided the best course of action was for my parents to take over after Grandmother’s funeral and Grandfather’s elopement to the new Grandma Graves. But my parents had their own scandal to deal with, and it almost had been too much for the business to survive. I’d spent a lot of time researching the Graves family tree, and it seemed anyone with Graves blood coursing through their veins had a proclivity for criminal activity. You can’t imagine how thrilled I was to find out that Graves blood didn’t actually course through my veins.
