Page 13 of Going Once

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you, thank you both.”

“You’re welcome,” Cameron replied, and then followed Laura back to the office. “Thanks for the help,” he said.

She shrugged. “It’s what I do. Just give me a shout if you need anything else, okay?”

He nodded, started to leave and then stopped.

“So I’m sure I’ll see you around, right?”

She smiled. “I’m not going anywhere.”

He was smiling, too, as he crawled back into his cot and closed his eyes, and he was still thinking about the way Laura Doyle chewed her lower lip as he fell back asleep.

CHAPTER THREE

Beaudry showed up at the gym the next morning carrying a sack of doughnuts and a copy of the report his office had just received from the Tidewater P.D.

Tate had made an early visit to the boys’ dressing room at the gym, and was already shaved, showered and wearing his last set of clean clothes. He distinctly remembered playing basketball in this gym and kissing Nola out behind the building when they were in high school, and now he was back in the same place, but investigating murders. Life was crazy. He’d known coming home on work-related business wouldn’t be easy, but he’d had no idea how many memories it would evoke. He was sitting on the cot putting on his shoes when he saw the chief approach.

“Hey, guys, we’ve got company,” Tate said.

Wade got off the phone and Cameron closed his laptop.

Beaudry was all smiles as he handed over the doughnuts. “Call it a mini-celebration.”

“Thanks,” Tate said as he took out a doughnut and then handed the sack to Wade. “What are we celebrating?”

“You have a witness to the shootings.”

“You are kidding!” Cameron said. “Where? Who?”

“A flood victim rescued by the National Guard witnessed three murders. They took her to the hospital in Tidewater, and when she finally woke up from the fever she came in with, the first thing she asked for was the police. She gave her statement to the Tidewater P.D. that she’d seen her neighbors murdered, and they notified us.”

“Where’s Tidewater?” Wade asked.

“About forty miles south of here—and that’s where we’re heading next,” Tate said.

“I’m coming with you,” Beaudry said. “I know this is your case, but they were murdered on my turf, and I want justice as much as you do, maybe more. These people were my friends.”

Tate nodded. “We’ll be leaving in a few minutes.”

“I’ll take the cruiser back to the station. Pick me up there.”

“Oh, hey…wait a minute,” Tate said. “What’s the witness’s name?”

Beaudry paused. “Nola Landry. I believe you know her, right?”

Tate’s stomach rolled the same way it had right before he’d walked into the morgue yesterday, and for the very same reason. Everything bad that had happened between them was tied to what was wrong between him and his dad.

“Yes, I know her,” Tate said. “See you in a few.”

Cameron and Wade were waiting for an explanation, but when it appeared Tate wasn’t going to volunteer any info, Cameron took the initiative.

“So, you know the witness. What’s the big secret?” he asked.

Tate knew they would find out soon enough when Nola caught sight of him.

“She’s why I don’t date,” he muttered.

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