Page 110 of Another Girl Lost

“I trusted him.”

“What did she look like?” I pressed.

“I didn’t get a great look at her.” She glanced around the shop, afraid someone might be watching us.

“Don’t freak out. We’re just two women having a conversation. Nothing unusual.”

“It’s weird, you and I talking.”

Slowly I shook my head. “I stopped worrying about weird a long time ago. Tell me about the cousin.”

“She had brown curly hair and a full face. She didn’t say anything to me beyondhi. Tanner said she was passing through town and he was taking her to dinner before she left that evening.”

The description matched Della’s. “When was this?”

“Sometime in May.”

“2014?”

“Yes.”

“Did you tell Dawson about her?”

“He showed me a picture of a blond girl. She didn’t look like the cousin.”

I wasn’t in the basement then. Sandra and Della were in the house, but only Della came close to fitting this description. “Did she look like she was in distress?”

“She smiled a lot. I thought that was weird, but whatever.”

“Did Tanner ever mention Della’s name?”

“No.” She shook her head. “I read about you. You insisted there was another girl named Della. I never saw her.”

“You read about me.” Of course she had.

“I couldn’t believe what had happened. I was trying to wrap my head around his secret life.”

Or she was worried about her own public exposure? “What did the papers miss about Tanner?”

She held up a hand. “Are you trying to prove something now?”

“Lynn, I want to know who killed Sandra Taylor.”

She shook her head. “I can’t help you.”

“You were in Tanner’s house so many times. Was there any sign of other women there?”

“No! And like I told that cop today, I didn’t hear or see anything weird beyond rattling pipes. I’m so sick of telling this story.”

“You heard pipes rattling.”

She dropped her voice to a low hiss. “Rattling pipes isn’t hard evidence.”

“The pipes in the basement room were newly wrapped when I was there. Maybe to mute the sound if anyone beat on them again.”

Lynn paled. “You didn’t know that.”

“I had plenty of time to stare at them.”

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