32

By the time Tess got back to the station, she felt her headache turning into a nasty one. Anna Macpherson was in a coma in intensive care at a hospital in Medford. She was dehydrated, battered and bruised, and barely hanging on.

Tilly was nowhere to be found. How did that girl disappear so completely?

“She’s used to staying off the radar,” Bender said. He’d stayed on to help after the medics rushed away. Tess made a command decision. Instead of digging in the bushes and trying to figure out where Anna was dragged from, she asked Bender and Del to look for Tilly. That girl seemed to be the key to a lot.

That Anna had survived going over both falls boggled everyone’s mind, but how had Tilly pulled her from the water and taken care of her? The drug addict apparently thought clearly enough to change Anna’s clothes and dress her wounds.

Before leaving with the medics, Oliver had told Tess he recognized the blanket covering Anna.

“That’s from Anna’s sewing room. It was draped over the back of her chair. In the winter it’s her favorite blanket to curl up under.”

Was that what the burglary was about? Stealing things to help Anna?

Del was adamant he’d searched everywhere that Thursday when Glen was found, and Tess tried to console him.

“Tilly must have moved her. That’s the only explanation. How and why are the questions we need to find answers to. Beating yourself up isn’t going to help with that.”

Late that afternoon, Tess revisited the scene of Glen’s murder and had help when Steve Logan arrived.

“Think you missed something?” he asked.

She sighed, thinking before answering. His presence did a lot for Tess on many levels. Since he wasn’t her employee, he was more a peer, an ear to bounce ideas and questions off. Tess wasn’t responsible for him, so she felt freer to express her frustration. For better or worse, she was comfortable with Logan now, and she hoped he’d be around often.

“Not exactly,” she said. “Well, maybe.” She pounded a fist into her palm. “I just wish I had a better picture in my mind of what happened that morning.”

“Well, let’s walk through it. I’ll be the killer; you be Glen.” He waved a hand toward where Glen had lain.

“Okay.” She stepped toward the creek, faced Logan, back to the water.

Logan pointed at her with his index finger. “Now, we believe Anna was here also, and the dog . . .”

“But where was Tilly?” Tess held his gaze in the waning daylight. “If she was with Glen, she’d have been shot as well. I truly doubt she was with the killer.”

Steve put his hands on hips and surveyed the area. “She could have been behind a tree or—” He looked over Tess’s shoulder.

She turned. “She was on the other side of the creek.”

Logan stepped to her side. “If she was in dark clothing, she might have seen everything without being seen.”

“There’s not enough light right now to do a thorough search. I’ll get to it first thing in the morning.” She turned toward him and smiled, thankful for his presence and for the new insight. His eyes were so intense, so blue, she almost lost her place. The crackle of the radio calling to tell her there was a news crew on scene broke the spell.

“I really hate TV cameras.”

They started back to their cars.

Logan chuckled. “I don’t mind them. I’ve got this.”

When they reached the news crew, he was as good as his word. Logan had a charm about him and he knew all the newspeople. Tess had never liked being on air and had delegated that chore whenever possible. But Logan was a natural in front of the camera, and he, with the permission of the sheriff, gave a great interview.

Later, they joined Bender and Del in her office to go over all the information they had up to that point.

“I can’t believe she’s even barely alive,” Logan said after he read Del’s report.

“I stood there at the bottom of the Stairsteps and tried to imagine going over.” Tess shook her head. “Did Anna pull herself out, or did Tilly do it? You guys have dealt with Tilly before; I haven’t. We know now she probably viewed the murder from the other side of the creek. Is she capable of doing something like this, pulling Anna out of the creek and taking care of her for two days?”

“I’d have said no,” Bender said, casting a glance at Logan. “But I don’t have any other explanation.”

“The only other option is that the guy responsible for killing Glen and putting Anna in the creek is the one who helped her,” Logan said. “And that makes no sense.”

Tess chewed on a knuckle and said nothing for a moment while she studied the board. Still more questions than answers.

Logan raised an eyebrow. “Penny for your thoughts.”

“Well, if we’re moving with the idea that the motive for Glen’s murder was the money—whoever Glen stole the money from wanted it back—and they kidnapped Anna as leverage, maybe to force Glen into returning the money, only Glen couldn’t give it back because he no longer has it . . .”

“Then the killer must still want it back,” Logan finished for her. “He commits murder, attempts to get rid of the two people who know his connection to the money.”

“He must know now that the money is here in the station.”

“Maybe he figures he can break in here and get it back,” Bender said. “This place would be a piece of cake to break into.”

Tess nodded. “Acosta keeps trying to get me to push for a new PSS alarm here.”

“Interesting,” Logan said. “How come the place isn’t alarmed?”

Bender shrugged. “If you’d ever met Chief Bailey, you’d know.” He hooked his thumbs in his belt and puffed his chest out. “Son,” he said, adopting a pronounced drawl, “miscreants break out of the police station, not into it.”

Tess and Logan laughed, and Tess was thankful for the break in tension.

“Chief Bailey was more Andy Griffith than Agent Gibbs,” Bender said.

But the levity couldn’t last; they had to get back to the murder.

“This guy has killed at least one person. It’s a no-brainer he’d risk burglarizing the station,” Logan observed.

“Maybe we can use that to our advantage.” Tess stood and walked to the door of her office, where she could see the door to the evidence room. “Set a trap, put up cameras—something like that.”

Logan nodded. “You’d have to make sure only—”

They heard voices in the outer office.

“Hello? Hello, is anyone here?”

Bender stepped out and a minute later stepped back in.

“Sorry to add this to the list, Chief, but Delia Peabody is here. She’s demanding to talk to you.”

Tess’s protest died in her throat. Maybe she needed a distraction, something else to think about for a minute or two. A break might help.

“Do you want me to send her in?”

“No, I’ll come out there.” Tess walked to the outer office and saw a distraught Delia Peabody pacing.

“Mrs. Peabody, what’s the problem?”

“Oh, please help. It’s Duncan; he’s run away. I can’t find him anywhere.”