Page 106 of Water's Edge

“No,” she says. “Let’s get my car. My wrist may not be good for a while, but I can drive with one hand. I’m just thankful that I’m alive. If it wasn’t for you…” She trails off and the waterworks turn on again. I’m starting to think the knock on her head did more than knock her out no matter what the X-ray showed. She hugs me with her good arm, and I let her. I clumsily hug her back. We shared a traumatic experience. Normal people bond after something like that.

Maybe Iamnormal . . .

When Ronnie dries up, I help her into the Taurus, buckle her up, and off we go.

I turn onto SR-19 and head home. I’m tired, sore, and sick inside that Ronnie almost got killed thanks to me, but I’m not satisfied that this is really over. Jimmy Polito bragged about the murders of the three women but not about Karynn, and not about Boyd or Qassim. It is probably nothing. He killed the captain but didn’t admit to that.

Maybe Ronnie just didn’t remember everything he’d said.

I think about all the assholes in this case: Jim Truitt, Joe Bohleber the Bobbsey twin. But there are good people, like Cass, whom I still owed; Lonigan, whom I’ve come to respect; Marley Wang, who has been a real trouper. My thoughts circle back to Hayden and my mother.

Good and evil.

Maybe it was her betrayal of me and Hayden—and my own betrayal of Hayden—that isn’t allowing me to put this to rest? My mother lied, and then lied about the lies, and on and on. She was a supremely talented liar. She could teach politicians and lawyers a thing or two and pick their pockets at the same time.

Hayden still loved her.

He doesn’t know what I know.

The road is fairly clear, and I drive on autopilot, my mind recalling everything I saw at Ronnie’s; Jimmy standing in the doorway, holding Ronnie by the hair, shooting me; everything at the pier; everything on the boat. And then it hits me. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before. I was too focused on taking the asshole out. I didn’t consider everything.

“We need to make a stop,” I say.

“The Tides? Honestly, I don’t think I can drink anything, Megan. They gave me some pain meds at the hospital and I’m not very hungry.”

“Did they find your cell phone?”

She felt her pockets. “Yeah.” She took the phone out and showed me.

I tell her who to call. To her credit, she doesn’t ask questions. She dials and hands me the phone. The questions will come after the calls.

Fifty-Three

The Kingston substation of the Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office has exactly three parking spaces in front. I have my pick. The front of Clay’s motorcycle peeks out from behind the building. Larry Gray pulls in beside us in a brand-spanking-new Ford 500 sedan, not his assigned late-’90s-model Chevy Caprice. The Caprice is a beast. A land whale. It handles turns about as well as an ocean liner. He’s in full uniform instead of civvies. We get out of our vehicles, and Larry stands in front of his new car, arms spread wide, an equally wide smile on his face.

“Thanks to you two the sheriff gave me a new car,” he says. “I’m somewhat of a celebrity now that I cleared the Benton case.”

Youcleared the case?

“I’m happy for you, Larry.”

But we’re not quite done yet.

“What are you here for?”

Larry thinks he has solved the biggest case in his county, but he doesn’t have a clue why we’re here. Typical. He got a new car and I’m still driving the Taurus. Actually, I prefer the Taurus because I don’t have to worry about wrecking it. It’s already a wreck.

“I haven’t told Clay we’re coming yet,” I say. I only called Larry because I knew it would take him longer to get there.

“Is this a surprise celebration? Well, now, I guess we deserve it for closing all these murders. You little gals did one hell of a job. Of course, us old timers helped.”

Us little gals did everything.

I am a little ticked off that Larry got a new car for what Ronnie and I went through. But Larry is the kind of guy who can fall in a pile of manure and come up smelling like roses.

“Can I talk to you for a second, Megan?” Larry says.

Ronnie goes inside ahead of us and Larry speaks to me in a confidential tone.

---