Page 46 of The Killer She Knew

I didn’t know of another way to get you alone.

Her brain worked to match the cadence and tone of the voice in her head to the man in front of her. Ford had her alone now. Why would he have needed to incapacitate her to buy them a few minutes together? The answer was already there. Waiting for her to come around. He wouldn’t have. Someone else had.

Someone had drugged her.

She’d been in this room with them. Talked to them. Leigh’s grip loosened, and she took a clear step back. Had she come face to face with the killer and not even realized it? Air stalled in her chest.

“Leigh?” For the first time, panic tainted the marshal’s use of her name. His hands slid along her arms. “You just went white. Are you about to pass out again?”

“I’m fine.” No. No, she was not. He’d been right there. Within reach, and she’d done nothing to stop him. Leigh moved for the door. “I… You should get some rest while you can. I’ll interview the forensic techs again and check out Morrow’s office.”

“You sure you’re okay?” Ford asked.

“Yes.” Another lie. Seemed they were starting to pile up, but how the hell was she supposed to explain to Ford that she may or may not have been in the same room as the killer and let him get away? The shame she’d hidden behind alibiing Dean Groves eighteen years previously stabbed through her as hot as the bullet she’d taken seven months ago. “Get some rest.”

Leigh shoved into the corridor, attempting to get her bearings. She’d been brought to a classroom at the opposite end of where they’d detained Professor Morrow. She wasn’t sure, but she could almost see Ford wanting to keep her as far from the bustle of the lobby and the room where Morrow’s body would have to wait for the ME. That made three now. And no answers as to who had killed them.

The unsub had managed to get to Morrow with no intention of letting him live. But Ford had a point. How was the killer managing to poison these victims when they’d already submitted the arsenic and cyanide from the biomedical lab into evidence?

Unless they’d never lost access.

Interview the forensic techs. Search Morrow’s office. Her goal was simple, but she found herself navigating back into the lobby in search of Ava. She’d made a mistake in bringing her adopted daughter here—she’d put her in danger—but letting Ava face this storm alone in a hotel room hadn’t sat right either. This was what they had to work with, and Leigh wasn’t sure it would ever be good enough. If she would ever be good enough.

Approaching Ava’s circle of friends, she pulled up short. “Where’s Ava?”

Five sets of eyes landed on her but only one student answered. “She went to the bathroom about twenty minutes ago. I was about to go check on her.”

“Thanks. I’ll do it.” There was only one set of bathrooms on this floor. Broken glass crunched under her shoes as Leigh cut down the corridor. She’d have to have someone in maintenance come clean up the remnants of the fluorescent light before someone cut themselves. Pushing inside, she picked up the sound of one of the showers running. Steam slid underneath her clothing as she approached. “Ava, everything all right?”

No answer.

A pooling sense of dread puddled at the base of her spine as she approached the shower door. Locked from the inside. Leigh tried to get a look through the too-narrow crack. She knocked. “Ava, open the door.”

The dread festered into something feral and panicked. Water crept beneath the foot-high space between the bottom of the thick metal and white tile. It was the only way in. “I’m coming in.”

Leigh didn’t wait for an answer, getting down on her hands and belly, and pulled herself through the opening. Her clothing soaked up burning hot water, but she didn’t care as she took in the sight of her adopted daughter huddled in the corner of the stall. “Ava.”

Brown eyes cut to her. Glassy and empty at the same time. “I killed him.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

Durham, New Hampshire

Thursday, October 10

5:00 p.m.

She’d never meant for any of this.

Putting Ava in the middle of a homicide investigation. Letting her career take the lead in this new life they were supposed to be building together. Breaking her promise to try harder.

“Are you hurt?” Leigh shoved to stand in the too-small shower stall and turned off the spray. Her sweats were instantly heavy as they soaked up water, pulling at every tired and sore muscle in her body.

The fifteen-year-old shook her head, knees drawn to her chest. She looked so much smaller in this moment. Afraid and alone.

Leigh’s heart threatened to break apart right there in her chest. She took another step forward, careful, hesitant, as though Ava might run at the first sign of being spooked. Acornered animal ready to strike out to protect itself. No matter the damage left behind.

“Talk to me, Ava. Tell me what’s going on.”

---