More loss. Another friend gone. Not an event to salivate over, the way a dog did a juicy bone.
Several times she’d had to stop herself from reprimanding a particularly animated gossip. Faye would’ve been pissed. And she’d have been right. It wasn’t her job to correct her customers’ manners or reset their moral compasses.
Serve pancakes, deliver eggs and smile. That summed up her job.
It didn’t help that she hadn’t slept well and was to-the-bone tired. Faye had offered her the week off; like an idiot she’d refused. She’d laid Uncle Henry to rest, she’d wanted to move forward. That didn’t happen by taking time off work, no matter how kind the offer.
However, she hadn’t anticipated her little run-in with Billy Ray. Something wasn’t right about his having been there. She didn’t buy his stated reason—taking down the crime scene tape—or his assertion that the sheriff’s office detectives were the bad guys. Poor Billy Ray had to do what they said. What a crock.
When he’d talked about Logan she’d seen a kind of glee in his eyes. He loved this. He loved that finally his wild accusations were being taken seriously. A serial killer? Logan? And to blame him for his mother’s death as well? The man had lost his grip on reality.
“Y’all come back,” Stephanie said, delivering the check to her second-to-last table. She refilled coffee for the other, then started collecting sugar caddies from the tables to refill them in anticipation of the lunch rush.
Her thoughts returned to her encounter with Billy Ray the previous evening. He’d been inside Henry’s cabin. She hadn’t seen him, but she didn’t need to. The missing pictures of True were all the evidence she needed. What else had he been looking for? She trusted him about as far as she could throw him.
Her last table stood to leave. She called out thanks, collected her tip and cleared it.
“Faye, you mind if I take a break? I’m beat.”
“You do that, sugar. Me and Rayanne got this.”
Stephanie grabbed an apple, her phone and water bottle and headed outside. She saw she had missed a call from the sheriff’s office. Detective Rumsfeld, asking her to call.
She took a bite of the apple and dialed him back. He answered immediately. “Rumsfeld.”
“Detective, this is Stephanie Rodriquez, returning your call.”
“Ms. Rodriquez, I have some good news. We have a strong suspect in your uncle’s murder.”
“Oh, my God, who is it?”
“I’m sorry I’m unable to tell you that yet. But I anticipate it won’t be long.”
“Thank you.” She blinked against tears. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Really.”
“It means a lot to us, too, Ms. Rodriquez. I’ll be in touch soon.”
She thought of Billy Ray. “Wait! There’s one more thing, I was wondering if it would be okay for me to remove the crime scene tape from my uncle’s cabin?”
“We’ve taken care of that, Ms. Rodriquez.”
“Are you certain? The last time I was there, it was still up.”
“Let me just glance at my calendar.” He returned a moment later. “Deputies removed it Tuesday afternoon.”
More than twenty-four hours before she’d run into Billy Ray out there.
Stephanie thanked the detective and ended the call. She’d been right to be suspicious. Lying snake. He’d been putting something in his trunk when she drove up. What? More than a couple of framed photos of True. And not crime tape.
What could he have wanted from her uncle’s so much that he had lied to her about it?
At the toot of a horn, Stephanie turned around. Bailey, turning into the parking lot.
Stephanie met her at her car and gave her a hug. “How’re you holding up?”
“About as well as you’d expected.”
“Have you … heard about August?”
“I was the one who found him. It was awful.”
“Oh, my God.”
“He’d called me—” She bit the last back. “I need your help, Steph. It has to do with Logan.”
“What have you heard? Is it … bad?”
“It’s not good. That’s why I need your help.”
“Name it.”
“Remember that room at Billy Ray’s house that you told me about, the one with the board and diagrams?”
“Sure.”
“You were right about what it was.”
“How do you know?”
“He showed it to me.”
Stephanie frowned, obviously confused. “When? Why?”
“He thought seeing it would convince me that Logan killed True. And abducted Amanda LaPier and Trista Hook.”
“But it didn’t convince you?”
Bailey shook her head. “It actually had the opposite effect. It proved to me how personal it all is to Billy Ray. He … On the board he had other women’s names, women I’d never heard of. He even suggested Logan might have had something to do with—”
“His mother’s drowning.”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“He said the same thing to me last night.”
Tears flooded Bailey’s eyes. “I’m so afraid.”
Stephanie’s heart went out to her. “It’s bullshit, Bailey. I’ve known Logan all my life, and he didn’t do what they’re saying he did.”
“I know.” She stuffed her hands into her jacket pockets. “He couldn’t.”
“How can I help?”
“I need to get into Billy Ray’s house. I need to look at the board again.”
“Why?”
“I have questions I need answered.”
“Why not just ask him?”
“I don’t want him to know what I’m thinking. I don’t want him to see how scared I am.”
Stephanie understood. A guy like Billy Ray was dangerous when he knew he had the upper hand. As she knew from experience, he wouldn’t hesitate to use it.
Stephanie glanced at her watch. Any minute Faye was going to bellow for her, so she would have to be quick.
“I have to tell you something. Last night, I went out to Henry’s, I can’t really explain why, but—”
“I know why, Steph.”
Stephanie squeezed her hand in gratitude and went on. “Billy Ray was there. I caught him putting something in his trunk.”
Bailey paled. “What?”