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Kara stood, stretched. “If we’re done, I’m meeting Marcy at the Fish & Brew.”
After she walked out, Catherine glanced at Matt. “Matt, we can’t risk exposing our thoughts in this case. I think you need to end this little side investigation of Kara’s.”
“I’ll talk to her,” he said and followed Kara.
Ryder took a picture of the whiteboard before wiping it down.
“I’d like to stay here and go over the ME’s reports again, talk to him,” Jim said. “I have a good relationship with the doc on the mainland. We might come up with a theory.”
“Lock up when you leave,” Catherine said and handed him a key. “The sheriff also has a key but agreed that he wouldn’t let anyone else in here.”
After Catherine and Ryder walked out together from the building, she asked him, “What do you think of Detective Quinn?” She really wanted to hear his opinion. Ryder was quiet, smart, and he seemed to observe everything.
“She’s a good cop. Dedicated. Hardworking.”
She should have known Ryder wouldn’t say anything against her. They’d worked several cases together. So Catherine didn’t push.
Michael, on the other hand, was more like her. He believed in order, rules, and a chain of command. She would definitely talk to him about Kara later. Because if she couldn’t get through to Matt about the need to let Kara go, Michael might be able to.
Someone had to convince Matt that Kara was bad news, because she really didn’t want to go over his head to their boss, Tony Greer.
But she would.
“Hold up,” Matt said to Kara.
She turned, irritated. Then her posture straightened, and from a slight shift in her expression, he saw her consciously shut down her emotions. He would have missed it if he didn’t know her.
“What’s your plan?” he asked.
“I told you. I want to get a better read on Marcy. I made a few calls, I’m going to follow up on her background. I know her better than anyone else here.”
“You’ve known her for three days.”
“Last night you told me that you trusted my judgment. Do you change your mind depending on the last person who spoke to you?”
His temper flared. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”
“Do I? You want me off this case, take me off. You want me on this case, you need to let me do my fucking job. Something is going on with Marcy. Is it related to our investigation? I don’t know. It might just be personal, a fucking love triangle. Or maybe she has a sense about Damon Avila—she works out with him, she knows him, she might have some intuition there that she’s not ready to address because they’re friends. Maybe she asked him questions off the record, accidentally tipped him off, I don’t know. I need to sit with her, assess her, figure out what’s been nagging me about her.”
Kara was right. If he looked at the situation objectively, he would have done exactly what she was doing.
“All right.”
She stared at him as if she didn’t believe him.
“Go. If you get the wrong vibe, if you have any trepidation, alert me, I’ll be there. Do you want backup?”
“No, we’re going to the Fish & Brew. If I think I need a ride back, I’ll call, okay?” She stepped toward him but didn’t touch him. “Thank you, Matt,” she said, her voice quiet. She’d lost some of her edge, but it was still simmering under her skin, he could feel it rolling off her. “I know this is an unusual situation for you, and I’m cutting you slack because of that. But I’m a cop before I’m your friend; I’m a cop before I’m your lover. Never forget that.”
She turned and walked away.
27
“Thanks for reaching out to me,” Marcy said after sitting down next to Kara at the bar of the Fish & Brew. “It’s been a long week and it’s only Wednesday.”
Damon came over after serving a couple on the far end of the bar. “Usual, Marcy?” the bartender asked.
“Actually, that looks good,” she said, gesturing to Kara’s stout.
