Page 41 of Silent Ridge

“You’re biting your nails again, Megan. What’s wrong?”

I take my finger away from my mouth and wipe it on my slacks. I grip my hands in my lap and take another deep breath. I don’t know how much I should tell him. I don’t knowwhatto tell him. I don’t know because I might walk out of here in handcuffs.

He beats me to the punch. “This is to do with the picture I gave you, isn’t it?”

I can feel my eyes water and I don’t want to cry. I really like this man. I love my job. I love that I’m making a difference. Helping victims. Getting justice. Maybe in the form of vengeance, but justice all the same.

I nod. “I need to tell you some things. I hope you don’t hate me when I’m through. The picture you gave me is me when I was sixteen. I was going to high school in Port Orchard.”

He doesn’t say anything. I notice some hamburger grease around his mouth and I know I’m deliberately distracting myself. I take another breath.

“I’m not going to quit this case,” I say.

He nods. He knows he’s not going to stop me.

“I’m being stalked by a man named Michael Rader.”

Having said it out loud feels like a weight taken off my chest.

He doesn’t ask why. He says, “What can I do to help? I assume this guy is part of your investigation.”

His offer knocks me down. I expected him to take me off the case a long time ago. But he knows what this means to me. I tell him about Michael Rader’s visit to Monique’s house several years ago. I tell him of the threat he made to kill her daughter, Gabrielle, and her grandson. He doesn’t ask how I know this but I’m sure he will someday.

“Are you sure it’s him?” he asks.

“I had a kind of date with Dan Anderson a couple nights ago. Dan had both pictures. The one of me leaving here and the older one from high school. He said someone left them in the mailbox at his cabin. They were the same pictures you have.”

“Do you think Dan is in danger?”

“I don’t know. Can we spare anyone to keep an eye on him?” I ask.

“And you don’t want Dan to know about it. Am I right?”

“He’s already pretty pissed at me because I wouldn’t tell him anything. If someone could just keep a loose watch on him, it would be great.”

“I’ll get a car out there.”

I can breathe again. This is going better than I thought.

“Dr. Andrade said he found a chemical substance in Monique’s system. A paralytic agent. He can’t identify it yet. He thinks she may have been drugged and was alive when they did that to her.” I can’t say the words. I don’t want the mental image again.

“Yang is working on it?” he asks.

“Right. And the coffee mug with lipstick we found in Monique’s house matches the DNA of the victim. The DNA sample we took from Gabrielle matches, too, so we can now say it’s definitely Monique Delmont.”

I feel myself tear up again. I wonder if I’m doing the right thing here. Maybe I should beg off the case and let someone not emotionally involved investigate. The answer is no. I can’t even if I wanted to.

“You think this Michael Rader is a good enough suspect to have him picked up?”

“Not yet,” I say. I don’t want him to know I’m coming for him. I don’t want anyone to know what I did to his family. I don’t want him found.

Ever.

“But there are some other things I didn’t tell you about Monique.”

“I’m listening,” he says, getting the bag of hamburgers out of the drawer. He offers me one. I gobble it down before continuing. It may be my last meal.

Thirty-Nine

---