Page 105 of Another Girl Lost

“It had to have been horrible.” The comment was rote, but he managed to make it sound sincere. “And I appreciate your help. This can’t be easy.”

She flexed her fingers. “What do you want to know?”

“How did you meet?”

“We met at Mike’s Diner. I ate there every morning before my shift at the hospital. We were always the first two in the diner most mornings, and it got to be a regular thing. Then one day he invited me to join him. I was charmed.”

“That’s the same diner where Sandra Taylor and Tiffany Patterson worked.”

“I don’t remember Sandra at all, but I remember the waitress with red hair.”

“Tiffany Patterson?”

“Yes. She was my waitress. She served me and went about her job. We didn’t chat beyond ‘Is there anything else I can get you’ to ‘No, thank you.’ I do remember Tanner joked with her. She smiled at him like so many women did.”

“What did he talk to her about?”

“The regular flirty-guy stuff. Said he appreciated her. Asked her what she would order even though he always ordered the eggs over easy. Asked her if all redheads had a temper. He left her a good tip. When I asked why he was flirty with her, he told me once she reminded him of his sister.”

“Tanner had distant cousins but no siblings.”

“I didn’t know that at the time.”

“Did he talk about his past?”

“Beyond the ex, not much. Said his parents were dead. I never pushed.”

“You ever go into the basement?” Dawson asked.

“I never, ever went to the basement,” Lynn insisted.

“You weren’t curious about the basement?”

“Maybe a little. But the door to it was locked. He said the stairway was steep and he was afraid someone would open the door, not realize the steps were there, and fall.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Dawson said.

“That’s what I thought,” Lynn said.

“Mind if I double back for a second?” When a witness relaxed a fraction, he often returned to touchier topics.

“Sure.”

“I apologize, but I must be direct again,” Dawson said.

Lynn stiffened. “Okay, sure.”

“You said you tried to spice things up. Was there any kind of aggressive play when you two were romantic?”

Lynn shook her head. “Nothing weird happened. He wasn’t interested in that kind of thing. I kind of wanted him to be more aggressive.”

“It’s been ten years,” Dawson coaxed. “Tanner’s dead, and honestly the Sandra Taylor homicide isn’t high profile. I got a day or two more to work it, and then I’m going to have to move on to a new case. My point is, you’re not getting dragged into anything.”

Lynn drew in a breath. “Why does our sex life matter?”

“Because guys like Tanner do their best to keep their worlds separate, but the darkness often leaks into the light.”

She shook her head. “I just made suggestions I’d read about in novels. Nothing super violent.”

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