Page 93 of Another Girl Lost

“Nothing extraordinary. Divorced. I live to work.” She sipped her wine.

“Why do you do it?” I asked. “The police work, I mean?”

Margo shrugged. “That karmic wheel. Like you, I keep it tilted toward the positive.”

“You get what you want?”

“Always.”

Her unswerving gaze propelled tension through me. “And what do you want now?”

“To solve this case.” She raised her glass. “To get a big promotion. Rule the world, basically.”

“Keeping it simple?”

She laughed. “Exactly.”

I sensed I was a small, expendable obstacle on Della’s and Margo’s paths. I set my cup down. “Thanks for the wine, Margo. I better get going.”

That smile faded. “No need to rush off. This is just a friendly chat, Scarlett.”

“No such thing with a cop during an investigation.”

“That might be true. But I’d like to have your help. I’d really like to know what happened to Sandra Taylor.”

“So would I. I hope you find her killer.” I started toward the door.

“Do you think Tanner killed her?”

I stopped. “I don’t know. Seems possible.”

“You never saw her when you were in his house?”

The air grew thick, dense, and I could almost imagine thedrip,dripof the pipes in Tanner’s basement. “No.”

“Why did you call in the location of the body to the cops?” Margo asked.

The comment rattled warnings. I faced her immediately. “I didn’t.”

“You were at Jeremy’s on July 2, right?”

“I was looking for Tiffany in early July. I don’t remember the exact date.”

“The call came into dispatch July 2, and Jeremy remembers you that night because it was his birthday. And you were fighting with Tiffany.”

“There were a lot of people there that night.”

She sipped and then set her cup down beside mine. “You and Sandra went to the same high school at the same time.”

“If you check my school records, you’ll realize I wasn’t the best student. I missed a lot and didn’t mix much with the other kids.”

“You had to know Sandra.”

“How many kids do you remember from high school?”

Again, the lopsided grin. “Point taken.”

“I can’t help you.”

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