Page 78 of Silent Ridge

“I’ll take care of sending the photos off, Sheriff,” I say. Ronnie will be busy with paperwork.

Detective Mike Felson shows up early and takes us, one at a time, into the interrogation room to get our statements. He takes Sheriff Gray’s first and they’re in there with the door closed for half an hour. I can’t help but wonder what they had to talk about all that time. All Sheriff Gray knows about the shooting is that he saw Ronnie shoot the crazy bitch.

The door opens, Tony comes out and Felson motions me inside. I go in and sit in a chair across from him. I try not to show how nervous I am. I know I shouldn’t be nervous. The questions will be about the two killings. If he were here to arrest me, he would be reading me my Miranda warning.

Felson’s first question is: “How are you feeling this morning? Are you up for this?”

I relax. I answer his questions and don’t add anything. The trick is to answer the questions fully enough but not too elaborately. I’m good at that. He taped my statement and we were done in fifteen minutes.

“Detective Carpenter, I know this is stressful for you. I’ve been in the same spot as you before and I can tell you, it’s not easy. The only criticism I have, and you can tell me to go to hell if you want, is that you should never have gone there alone. Sheriff Gray swears by you and that’s good enough for me. And that’s why I don’t want to see you get yourself killed. I’m honored to meet you.”

He says this and stands to shake my hand. I don’t want to tell him to go to hell. He didn’t say anything that I don’t already know.

“I’m ready for Detective Marsh, if you want to send her my way,” Felson says.

I meet Ronnie at the door. She looks composed and confident. She should be. It was a righteous shooting. I hope she sticks to simple answers and doesn’t get into what the killer was saying to me before she fired the shot.

Ronnie goes in and shuts the door.

Sixty-Three

I know there will be a press conference this morning. I’m hoping Sheriff Gray will take care of that. I don’t talk to reporters. Sheriff Gray suggested holding off on showing any photos to the press until I send them to other law enforcement agencies. That’s what I was going to do, but it makes him feel in charge to make the decisions.

I settle for giving the profile shot of the unknown killer to law enforcement for the time being, since one side of her face had been blown off.

Good shooting, Ronnie.

I also have her prints and DNA sent to the FBI and Interpol. She was a stone cold killer and I find it hard to believe she hasn’t done this before. I also gave them Marley’s information about the drug she was using. How the Raders hooked up with her I’ll probably never know, but she was definitely in love with Alex.

It’s no use wondering what she might have told me if she hadn’t lost her mind—literally. To do that, I might have had to take her into custody. That wasn’t going to happen. She was dead the moment she stuck the needle in my leg.

We finish off our coffees and the McDonald’s apple pies. Ronnie takes frequent breaks to make coffee or refill some mugs. She doesn’t complain about doing it, and her coffee is extra-strong, the way most of us like it.

She still opts for bottled water.

Finally, we’re done with what paperwork we can do. I’m so spent from yesterday’s drugging and this morning’s activities that I want to sleep on my desk. Sheriff Gray comes in carrying a double-layer chocolate cake with one birthday candle on top. Nan finds paper plates, napkins, plastic plates and a cooler of bottled water. All I want is black coffee. Lots of it. Just to get me through another half hour.

Nan lights the candle and Tony gathers everyone around for his announcement. He is holding a document and reads it out loud. It’s the oath that Ronnie will take to uphold the Constitution and the laws of the state of Washington. I have it memorized. I take these things seriously.

She raises her hand, repeats the oath and signs the paper, then Tony digs in his shirt pocket. He takes out a six-pointed silver deputy sheriff’s star with a picture of George Washington on the seal. Instead of pinning it to her shirt, he hands it to me.

“Megan, I thought you’d like to do the honors.”

I agree. She saved my life. I take the badge and pin it to Ronnie’s shirt over her heart. Before I realize what I’m doing, I hug her and say in her ear, “Congratulations, Red.”

Ronnie squeezes me until I can’t breathe and I can feel her vibrating with excitement. Sheshouldbe excited. She’s made deputy a heck of a lot faster than most reserve deputies. Plus I think she’s on the fast track for detective. Worse things could happen.

Sheriff Gray invites everyone for a drink after work but I beg off. I’m going to check on Dan at the hospital. He is being kept at the hospital for observation because of breathing difficulty. I call the hospital and hear that he’s going to be hospitalized for another night. He’s a lightweight. I ask Sheriff Gray if I can take off. He reminds me I have an appointment with the shrink tomorrow. He’s made the appointments for me and for Ronnie. It’s okay. I want to get back to work as soon as possible.

* * *

I go to the hospital and enter through the ER. The security guard gives me directions to the floor. I get to the door of Dan’s room and hear laughing and a female voice. I peek around the door, thinking I’ll see a nurse, but it’s Jess Moonbeam. His perky little high schooler from work. She’s bent over the bed, hugging him. Her face is against his. I’m not jealous but I feel my face go red. I turn to leave but I don’t. I have to at least apologize for getting him into this. Also, I want to know what he’s going to do about what he heard last night. What he might say and who he might say it to. Ronnie and Sheriff Gray may not grill me with questions now, but my future is still on the line. I may have to leave town. The country. I don’t want to go. But I know how to disappear at the drop of a hat.

I step into the room and Jess straightens up guiltily. A light of recognition comes on behind her dark eyes and she points at me.

“She’s the one that pointed a gun at me.”

I want to point a gun at her now.

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