Page 141 of Another Girl Lost

“Does she make you feel special?” I asked.

Dawson closed his file folder and stood. “I’ll let you know when your attorney calls, if he does.”

When the door closed behind him, I stared at the four walls. My breath caught in my chest and constricted into a hard ball. I had survived Tanner. I would survive this.

Another two hours passed before I was moved to a larger room. This one was split in two by a glass wall, and the halves were linked by phone receivers. The door on the other side opened and Luke stepped inside. He was dressed in a dark suit, white shirt, and red tie. His face was stern, with no hint of the familiarity that I’d seen last night. He took the seat across from me and raised the phone to his ear. I did the same.

“Luke, thank you for coming. I know this is a lot to ask.”

He shook his head, as if trying to wrap his head around all this. “Tell me what happened.”

This meeting was all business, and as much as that stung, I had to suck it up. I needed him. He pulled out a yellow legal pad, and I explained everything I knew about Della/Margo, Sandra, Tiffany, and Lynn.

“Dawson is saying my DNA is on Tiffany’s body. I drove her to her car and hugged her before I left. But I haven’t seen her since that moment.”

His stoic expression was impossible to read. “I doubt he has results yet. What about Lynn Yeats?”

“I looked her up online. I found out where she lived. Followed her to a coffee shop.”

His jaw pulsed. “Why did you follow her?”

“I wanted to know what she knew about Tanner. I wanted to know if she knew I was in that basement.”

“Do you believe she knew?”

I shoved out a sigh. “She knows more than she’s admitted to the police. I don’t think Tanner’s secrets were that secret from her.” I flexed my fingers. “Tiffany thought she heard the two of them arguing at the diner. Lynn said she was tired of helping Tanner with his ‘shit.’”

“Tiffany is dead, and anything she told you about something she overheard ten years ago will be torn apart in court. She was an addict, and right now you have every reason to lie.”

I shook my head. “I didn’t hurt Lynn or Tiffany.”

Luke’s gaze narrowed into a hawkish glare. “This won’t work if you lie to me. The first sniff I have of a lie, I’m leaving.”

I raised my chin. “I’m not lying.”

He stared through the glass for a long moment, the silence interrupted only by the closing of a hallway door and the tapping of my foot. As physically close as Luke was, the glass, coupled with his cool demeanor, wedged miles between us.

“Margo is Della,” I said. “Della was smart, cunning. And not above shattering the rules to get what she wanted.”

“Margo is a decorated police officer.”

“Who specialized in human trafficking and assaults. Going after criminals like Tanner must have helped her get some sense of revenge against the man who hurt her. Go back and look at her cases. She told me how much she enjoyed watching a human trafficker suffer. There could be complaints against her buried under the arrest records.”

“I’ll dig into her file. But you understand how this all sounds, right?”

“Her mannerisms, her sense of humor, and her lack of boundaries—it’s all Della. I know I’m right.”

“Why is she back?”

“Unfinished business. What business, I don’t know exactly.”

His gaze held mine for a long moment. “I’ll arrange bail. It might take time.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

His gaze lingered, and I could see the scrutiny. He was wondering if he’d been played. He was wise to worry. I’d learned so many tricks from Della.

Luke shook his head slowly before he rose and left.

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