Page 8 of Over the Edge

The lock clicked, and a moment later the door swung open. Officer Meyers leaned down. “Ma’am? You’re free to claim your car and leave.”

“Thank you.” She slid from the cruiser, bracing as a bitter gust buffeted her.

“Steady.” His hand shot out as she wavered.

“I’m fine.”

Not really.

But she would be, later. After she finished her work for the day, went home, locked her doors, took a hot bath—and prayed the nightmares she’d at last vanquished didn’t return to disrupt her sleep.

If they did, though, she had Dr. Oliver’s card and his personal cell number. She’d get through this, just like she’d gotten through the last trauma.

As she thanked the officer again, Heidi’s red Tesla was waved through the police barricade on the street.

While it rolled down the drive, a man in clerical garb appeared at the front door, as if he’d been alerted to her arrival or had been watching for her.

Lindsey’s throat tightened.

Heidi might not be her favorite client, but she wouldn’t wish the woman’s next few minutes on her worst enemy. Traumatic as her own day had been, she hadn’t lost someone she loved.

The woman passed her and the officer, continued toward the main entrance, and alighted from the car. She glanced toward them, then let the cleric usher her inside.

Not until she disappeared through the door did Lindsey circle toward the back of the house to claim her car.

Unfortunately, Jack Tucker was between her and it.

She slowed ... but when it became apparent he was waiting for her, she picked up her pace. The faster she got this encounter over with, the faster she could get out of here and try to forget the whole nightmare.

Including her upsetting encounter with a certain St. Louis County detective.

“Officer Meyers told me I was free to leave.” She stopped several feet away from the clean-cut, sandy-haired man, whose toned physique and summer-sky-blue eyes would have been attractive under other circumstances.

“Yes. We’re finished.”

“I assume you didn’t find anything incriminating.”

“Only the remains of that candy bar.” One side of his mouth rose a hair.

She dug out her keys, keeping her lips flat. “I have work to do.” She attempted to walk past him, but he stepped in front of her.

“Are you certain you’re up to driving?” He sent a pointed glance toward her white-knuckle grip on the keys.

“Yes. Please let me by.”

After a couple of seconds, he extracted a card and held it out. “If you think of anything else that may be helpful, please give me a call.” He waited until she took it before moving aside.

Card in hand, she continued to her car, past Chad’s truck. His grilling either hadn’t taken place yet or was in progress.

But neither of them were the culprits in the crime that had been committed in this house today. And it shouldn’t take Detective Tucker long to figure that out, if he knew how to do his job.

As for the real killer?

Unless he or she had left clues behind, finding them could be a challenge.

That was Jack Tucker’s problem, however. Not hers. She intended to put the past few hours out of her mind as soon as she drove off the property.

And pray today’s ordeal didn’t cause a major setback in her recovery from the other nightmare that had upended her life twenty-one long and stressful months ago.

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