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“She called you last night. What did you talk about?”
“She left a message on my cell phone. We were going to meet for coffee at nine.”
“Did she tell you that?”
“Yes—no. Actually. She asked to meet, and I texted her, but she didn’t confirm. I didn’t think twice about it—I should have. I should have called her back. Talked to her.”
“Do you still have the message?”
“Yeah, I think so.” He pulled out his phone, unlocked it, and handed it to her.
She played the message. Then she played it again and recorded it on her phone.
Rena had something to tell Cal. What was it?
“Did she sound odd to you on the message?”
“I didn’t listen—I just read the transcription and texted her back. I thought she might want to talk about the wedding or the baby—Jamie’s pregnant. Due late December. We just found out. Oh, God, this is going to hurt so much... Rena and Jamie are close. How do I tell her?”
“Where’s Jamie now?”
“At her dad’s. She left early to pick up some things, including her grandmother’s wedding dress. We’re getting married on Sunday... But now, I don’t know. I don’t know if Jamie... I need to tell her. But not over the phone. Is she going to hear about it on the news? Because I can drive out there right now and tell her.”
“The information won’t be released by us until Rena’s next of kin is notified, but this is a small town. Pete knows, the sheriff’s office, ambulance, medical—I can’t say she won’t hear about it.”
“She said she’d be back by noon—I’ll call and see if she can come home sooner. I just don’t want her to worry—she’s pregnant.”
So Kara had heard. Several times.
She asked the same questions she asked Pete. Ex-boyfriends, anyone showing undue interest.
“Rena didn’t date much. I don’t even know if she had someone when she lived in Seattle, but she’s always happy. She, um, had a crush on Pete. I don’t think he knew, he doesn’t date. He told Neil and me once over beers that Wendy was the love of his life. He and Neil used to talk a lot about their wives, they both missed them a lot. And Pete’s devoted to his daughters.”
That pretty much confirmed what Pete said about Rena. She was a nice girl, happy, no trouble, no violent exes. Who would kill her?
Cal looked around at the West End pier. “Ted is doing everything to keep people safe. More security. He put in new cameras. Even the protesters are backing off this week, finally. But he’s shutting down the charters at least for the weekend, and that’s going to hurt, a lot.”
“I don’t expect that to last,” Kara said.
“Excuse me?”
She probably shouldn’t have said anything. “IP is planning something for Saturday. At least, that’s what I heard.” She didn’t need to go into details about how she went to their meeting on Monday. “Maybe they’re going to back off because West End is shutting down operations, but I wouldn’t count on it.”
“Does Ted know?”
Kara didn’t know what Matt had told him. “I don’t know. It’s not a secret.”
“Did they do this? IP? The bombs, killing Rena? Why would they kill Rena?”
Kara didn’t think so, but no one knew for certain. “Doubtful, but we’re looking at all possibilities. Don’t spread rumors, okay? And keep your wits about you, Cal. I don’t know what’s going on here, but we will find out.”
Kara looked at her phone and saw that Marcy Anderson had been trying to call her for the last thirty minutes. Kara called her back.
“You got my text about canceling the run?”
“Yes. I heard about Rena. But that’s not why I need to talk to you.”
“What happened?”
