Page 22 of Silent Ridge

Ronnie comes into the kitchen. “There’s nothing in any of the bathrooms. If she has a brush, she took it with her. Same for any kind of medicine. I can tell you that she touched up her own roots but that’s about it. No toothbrush, either. Except for one in the packaging in the drawer. Did you find anything in here?”

I don’t tell her I’ve been lost in the past.

“Nothing yet. You go through the cabinets in here and check again. I’ll go to the bathroom and double-check. Then we’ll check the other rooms. If she left something telling us why she went to Port Townsend, it’s likely to be in the kitchen, bathroom or great room, and I didn’t see anything in there.”

“Me either,” Ronnie says. She begins checking the drawers I haven’t looked in. “Look at this,” she announces, holding a pink sheet of paper. It’s a carbon copy of a car rental agreement.

“I guess I know why we didn’t find a car at the scene now,” I say, and call Mindy’s phone.

Ronnie hands me the rental papers. I put the call on speakerphone so Ronnie can listen.

“Hi, Megan,” Mindy says. “How are you? Oh, you ask how I am. I’m fine. It’s nice to know you still call even when you don’t need something.”

“I called with business if you don’t mind. Then we can have drinks later and you can criticize me for being a bad friend.”

“So, what can I do for you?”

“You didn’t identify a car belonging to the victim at the scene, did you?”

“No. We got her license plate number from DOL but we haven’t found the car yet. It’s a new Cadillac. Do you need the number or have you found the car?”

“We’re at Mrs. Delmont’s house in Tacoma. Her car is in her garage. But I can tell you what you should be looking for.”

“I’ve left the scene but I can go back.”

“That would be great.” I don’t trust the crime scene guys that were there to let me see what’s in the car. Mindy will FaceTime me and show me everything. “We might be a while here.” I read the plate number and vehicle description off to Mindy.

“Got it. I don’t remember seeing a car like that near there. So don’t get your hopes up.”

“Mindy, if you find it, can you get me on FaceTime and—”

“I’ll show you everything before I call Humpty and Dumpty to collect the car.”

“Is that what you’re calling our fabulous crime scene guys?” I ask.

“They were actually rude to me,” Mindy says, and she sounds miffed. “I’ve never had anyone not share a crime scene with me.”

“Be sure you tell the sheriff. He’ll tie a knot in their tails. Besides, one of them was rude to me as well,” I say. “Let’s cut their tires.” This gets a giggle out of Mindy. “Also, I need you to look for the victim’s cell phone.” It feels strange referring to Monique as “the victim.” But that’s what she is. Another victim I would have to avenge.

Mindy is very sharp. “You know we didn’t find her cell phone, or any other phone, for that matter. So you must have a different phone in mind. I’m guessing she had two phones or someone else’s phone.”

“You should have been a detective,” I say, and give her the phone number for the burner. “I think she called her daughter from it a day or so before she was murdered. The victim had been getting crank calls, or at least that’s what she told her daughter. If you can find the phone, it might give me some clue to who else she was calling recently. She only had the new phone about three weeks.”

“Any idea why she was up our way?” Mindy asks.

“Not yet. We’re in her home in Tacoma trying to find something for a DNA comparison.”

“Got it,” Ronnie says. She’s holding a coffee mug up and pointing to lipstick smears on the rim of the cup.

It’s the same color I remember Monique being fond of. Now we have two ways of identifying the body.

Twenty

Before we leave the enormous house, I go through the upstairs rooms. Ronnie has searched the bathrooms already, but I go back through those like I’m trying to see if she missed something. I know she hasn’t but it keeps her in her place as my assistant. Then I feel bad about thinking that. I’m her teacher.

In the bedroom I find Monique’s address book containing the members of her advocacy group. I can hear Ronnie in another bedroom, so I go into the hall as if I just came from the bathroom. I call to her. She comes out in the hall with a look of disappointment on her face. “Can you check this room with me?”

“There’s nothing in the bedroom. I even searched under the mattress.”

---