Page 67 of Cougar Point

The morning after he got back from Cincinnati, Lucas woke early and drove down to Blake’s Diner on Main Street before he clocked in. He ordered black coffee and steak and eggs. He had a mandatory check-in with Dr. Wright at two, and before that he wanted to get a head start on some of his lines of inquiry. Since arriving back from his flying visit to Ohio, he had been chasing up new leads. “Mac” MacDonald might think he had worked it all out but Lucas wanted to tie up the loose ends closer to home. Something had gotten under his skin about this case. It didn’t take Dr. Wright to work out that it might have something to do with his own recent history.

As he was getting into his car, his phone buzzed. It was the sheriff. He was at a conference down in California, and had set off before Lucas had returned from Ohio.

“Morning, boss, how’s the Golden State?”

“Pleasantly warm,” Longbow said. “You get back okay?”

“Yeah, last night.”

“Worth the trip?”

Lucas considered. “I don’t know yet. I think MacDonald wants to put this on the husband, close it down. His partner isn’t so sure.”

“And what do you think?”

“It would probably make life easier if he was right, but I don’t know. I think if Greenwood did it, he had no reason to bring his wife all the way out here.”

Longbow said nothing, mulling it over.

Lucas leaned his arms on the roof of his car and watched the traffic blow past the lot.

“There’s no goddamn reason for her being dumped out here,” Lucas said. “Mrs. Greenwood didn’t have any connection with the area, and her husband didn’t either. That tells me a third party’s involved. I think Greenwood was telling the truth; it was a kidnap.”

“Then why did he off himself?”

Lucas thought about it. “It looked bad. No evidence anyone else was involved, some circumstantial evidence he was involved, like lying to the police and concealing his girlfriend. Or perhaps he was just that broken up about his wife.”

“If somebody else did snatch her, you think she was from around here?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. But it’s all I’ve got to go on.”

There was a pause, and Lucas was about to wind up the call when the sheriff made an unwelcome change of subject.

“You got a session with Dr. Wright this afternoon, right?”

Lucas was caught by surprise. He hadn’t added the appointment to his shared diary, so Longbow clearly had other ways of keeping an eye on his counseling schedule.

“Yeah. Two o’clock. I’ll be there.”

“Good. Don’t even think about telling me you were too busy with the case. This comes first, got it?”

With an effort, Lucas kept the irritation out of his voice. “You don’t need to tell me that, I’ll be there at two.” See? He had even managed not to say it from between his teeth.

Longbow’s voice softened. “Good. How you doing, anyway?”

Lucas rubbed the back of his head and wondered how much longer this was going to take. “I’m doing all right, thank you for asking. The work is helping.”

“Okay. But remember what I said, don’t push yourself.”

“Got it. Listen, if I’m gonna keep to my schedule, I need to make a move.”

“All right, talk soon.”

Lucas hung up and got behind the wheel, gripping it tightly. He closed his eyes and found himself back in the living room as usual. It was something he was almost getting used to: the images whenever he closed his eyes.

He opened them, turned the key in the ignition and pulled out onto the road, headed west.

His first port of call was the creek. This was his third visit in the last week, but the first on his own. He didn’t expect to find anything new, but sometimes it helped to visit the key scenes.

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