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"Not at all. And is this how you great the man who adores you?" Murdoch lowered his sunglasses and looked at her. She had on jeans and a T-shirt. Her feet were bare. The cat was weaving in and out of her ankles. "I figured you might want to go on a romantic drive out to Coleson Hollow with the man who adores you. But we're going steady. You'll have to leave your little chaperone behind. He's eyeing me kind of funny. I have the entire day to spend with you. So what do you say? I'll buy you food at the diner. We can hold hands and start rumors all over town that we're on our honeymoon or something. I can kiss you in the middle of the diner. Shake things up around here. Cause a disturbance for Neilie boy to deal with."
Her cheeks turned as red as her T-shirt. "Stop. I need shoes."
"So what are you doing in here today?"
"Just packing a few more things." A sad look crossed her face. "I'm getting closer to being finished. I'll be living in robo-house full time, then."
"I heard some house up in St. Louie has a robo-cleaner more sophisticated than what's on the market now. That true?"
"Yes. It's the prototype of the one we have now. Luc is tinkering with the design. He'll eventually launch it, he said. But it's just ahobby.He likestinkering,in his spare time, apparently."
"He's such a nerd. Grab your shoes, let's go country cruising."
An hour later and they were right there. Just outside the gates of Coleson Hospital.
"There's a no trespassing sign,” she said.
"And a fence. Just stretched right across there." And that meant they couldn't just walk right up. Not without a warrant. He knew how it worked, of course. As long as it was fencedandposted, they had to be good.
Even the coppers couldn’ttrespass,after all. As long as it was fencedandposted. At least in Texas, anyway. For now.
"Think there is a fence across the back? Doesn't Old Coleson Hollow Road run behind here?"
She'd been quiet. He'd told her what Gladys had said. About the woman in the photo. The one Zoey looked so much like. He suspectedthatwas the photo she'd most connected with. How could she not? The resemblance was uncanny.And thanks to Gladys, they had a tentative ID. Information Zoey had already texted her merry little pair of redheaded ferrets at Blessed Reunions.
Sydney hadn’t texted back. Zoey had acted worried. He…was concerned. No denying that.
"Let's go for a drive." Murdoch took a good look at what they could see now. The manor house was up on a small rise. Looming over the estate. It wasn't as big as the old hospital. But it was an impressive home. Shouted the family’s one-time wealth. Now it shouted decay. Or abandonment, rather.
Shame, really.
There was a lot of history right there.
The hospital had had thirty to forty rooms, he thought. The hospital and the manor were both made of limestone and spoke of when the Coleson family was financially solvent.
He could see the bones of the old hospital from where they were parked. It sat a good two, two-and-a-half football field lengths away from the main house. Kept separate from the family, the life rather, the Doctors Coleson had wanted for their families.
Nurse Bonita had probably been born in that hospital right there. Ran and played in the field he could see just beyond the fence.
"Let's drive around the back. Take a peek. See what we can see. Then I'll track down the owners when I get a chance. See if they won't mind giving two former sheriffs of Garrity a tour. Like our last hoorah." It was about as good as Murdoch could make it get.
At least, without breaking the law, anyway.
* * *
She'd been almostninety when she’d died. Francisca Coleson. Ten years ago. That was what stuck in Zoey's mind as Murdoch maneuvered the incredibly rough and broken Old Coleson Hollow Road.
She'd known the woman was most likely dead. Justtimewould have almost made that a guarantee. And Gladys's ID wasn't conclusive, by any means. But it was the next step. Zoey knew how it all worked.She just wished she had found the woman’s name, photo, years ago.
So she could have met the woman in that photo at least once.
If Zoey was a Coleson, they still had to figure outhow.
"What did Gladys say about the murder?" she asked a few minutes after he'd turned on to Old Coleson Hollow Road. She googled the addresses on Coleson Hollow Road. Checking aerials. The road wound through the rear of the hollow before twisting back around to run along the back of the original Coleson property.
It was a large property. It had originally made up almost an eighth of the entire Garrity county area. It had been whittled down parcel by parcel. Now just the land surrounding the manor house and the hospital were on the same parcel. There was another building in the distance. Behind the original manor house. Where it wouldn't be seen. An L-shaped building with a porch connecting both legs of the L.The old carriage house that had been turned into a rehab facility, most likely.
In the google map view everything looked grown over, from what she could see. Except... "There's a vehicle parked in front of the back building in the map. The L-shaped building."
