CHAPTER 20
Tracy sensed a car slowing as it approached and instinctively reached for the Glock in her purse. The car pulled up beside her and came to a stop. Roy Calloway sat with his elbow bent out the window. “Tracy.”
She took her hand off the gun. “Are you following me, Sheriff?”
“I understood you were leaving town.”
Tracy looked about the motel parking lot. “I did leave town. I’m in Silver Spurs. What are you doing here?”
Calloway threw the car into park and slid out, leaving the engine running and the door open. Chatter spilled from the radio mounted to his dash. “A little bird tells me you’ve been talking to people around town.”
“Seems like the polite thing to do after being away so long. What business is it of yours?”
“I’d like to know what you’ve been talking to them about.”
Part of her wanted to stand up to Calloway and let him know she wasn’t the little girl buying his line of bullshit anymore. But that would likely cause a prolonged confrontation and she was mentally and physically drained. She just wanted to get inside her room for the night. “I don’t think that’s any of your business, unless you’re going to tell me it’s a crime in Cedar Grove to talk to people.” She started up the staircase. “I’m tired and I’d like to take a hot shower.”
“What did you and Dan O’Leary have to talk about?”
“Old times. It was a regular stroll down memory lane.”
“Is that it?”
“It’s all you’re going to get.”
“Goddamn it, Tracy. Don’t be so damned stubborn.”
The adamancy with which he spoke caused her to stop and face him. Calloway had grown red in the face, which was unlike the man she remembered, but maybe that was because the man she remembered had always gotten his way. Seemingly regaining his composure, Calloway said, “Do you think you’re the only one who’s suffered? Look at all the people who came out to the service to pay their respects yesterday.”
She stepped down. “Did you have something to do with that, Roy?”
“People are looking for closure. They need this to be over.”
“They need it, or you need it?”
He pointed a finger at her. “I did my job. You of all people should understand that. I followed the evidence, Tracy.”
“Not to the grave.”
“We didn’t have a grave.”
“Now we do.”
“Exactly. We found Sarah. So let the dead bury the dead.”
“You said that to me once before. Do you remember? But here’s the thing I’ve learned, Roy. The dead don’t bury the dead. Only the living can do that.”
“And now you’ve buried Sarah and put her to rest. She’s at peace. She’s with your parents. Let it go, Tracy. Just let it go.”
“Are you giving me an order, Chief?”
“Let me make this clear to you. You may be a big-time homicide detective in Seattle, but here you have no jurisdiction. Here, you’re just a citizen. I’m the law. I suggest you remember that and don’t go running around chasing ghosts.”
Tracy tempered her anger with the knowledge that there was nothing Calloway could do to her. It was bluster. Calloway was fishing for information, trying to make her angry enough to slip and say something about what she’d been doing and why.
“I have no intention of chasing ghosts,” she said.
He seemed to study her. “So I can assume you’ll be going back to Seattle?”
“Yeah, I’ll be going back to Seattle.”
“Good.” He gave her a nod, slid back into the Suburban, and shut the door. “Then you have a safe drive home.”
She watched the SUV drive off, the taillights illuminate as Calloway slowed to make the turn, and the car disappear around the corner. “Not ghosts, Roy. Not chasing ghosts. I’m chasing a killer,” she said.
As she made her way up the outdoor stairs another thought struck her, and she fumbled in her purse, retrieving her cell phone and Dan’s business card. She hurried into her room and called his number. Dan answered on the third ring.
“Dan? It’s Tracy.”
“You’re not going to be one of those clients who calls all the time, are you? Because if you are, it’s okay. I was just about to call you.”
“Do you still have my file?”
“Right here on my kitchen table. We spent the afternoon together. Why, what’s wrong?”
She breathed a sigh of relief. “Roy Calloway’s been following me. He knows I came to talk to you and wanted to know what about.”
“What do you mean he’s been following you?”
“I mean he just accosted me outside my hotel room in Silver Spurs and wanted to know why I went to see you. Has he tried to talk to you?”
“No, but I left the office early. He hasn’t been here. Why are you staying in Silver Spurs?”
“I just didn’t want to stay in Cedar Grove. After the service, it was just too much.”
“No, I mean, why didn’t you go back to Seattle?” When she didn’t immediately answer, Dan said. “You knew I’d call, didn’t you. You knew I’d call about the file.”
“I suspected you might.”
“Where are you staying in Silver Spurs?”
She checked her key ring, the old-fashioned kind that was actually a key and not an activation card. “The Evergreen Inn.”
“Check out. You can stay here. I have an extra room.”
“It’s fine, Dan.”
“It probably is, but I’ve been through the materials you gave me, Tracy. Not in detail, but enough to have a lot of questions.”
She felt a familiar rush of adrenaline. “What kind of questions?”
“I’m going to need to review whatever else you have.”
“I can get it to you.”
“That’s for another time. For tonight, check out of wherever you’re staying and come here. There’s no reason for you to stay in a motel.”
She wasn’t quite sure what to make of his invitation. Was he worried about her because of Calloway, or because of something he’d discovered in her file? Was it just a childhood friend being hospitable, or was there something else motivating him, like the attraction Tracy had felt when Dan had first stepped to her side during Sarah’s service and kissed her cheek? She pulled back the drapes and peeked out the window at the dirt-and-gravel parking lot and to the grove of trees on its far side. The shadows had begun to creep around the trunks.
“Besides, you owe me a dinner,” Dan said.
“Where should I meet you?”
“Do you remember how to get to my parents’ house?”
“Like the back of my hand.”
“Meet me here. I have the best alarm system in town.”