Page 38 of Every Deadly Suspicion

CHAPTER 19

THE REST OFSATURDAY WASsomber and filled with shock. Hanna took Gizmo with her to the crisis pregnancy clinic to relinquish him to Mandy.

“I’m sorry, I’m not sure I can take him, at least not now.” She stroked the little dog’s head. “I’ll be planning Edda’s celebration of life and notifying people. Besides, I’ve got Grandma Betty with me. She’s still recuperating from hip surgery.”

Hanna remembered that Betty had had surgery right before Scott’s funeral. “Oh, I remember, how is she doing?”

“Good. She should be home on her own in a couple of days. I’m not sure it would be safe to have little Gizmo running around while she’s still using a walker.”

“I’ll have to stop by and say hi.” Hanna looked around the normally happy and welcoming clinic. It was open, but there was no joy. Everyone there was crying or wiping away tears. Hanna felt like crying herself. Edda was everyone’s sweet aunt.

“It’s hard to be here without Edda. I mean, she was always here for me, for us.” Tears started and Mandy grabbed a Kleenex. Hanna sat next to her friend, set Gizmo on the floor, and put an arm over her shoulder. It had hit her hard too. Mandy was right; Edda was family.

Hanna groaned.

“What, what is it?” Mandy asked, sniffling.

“I just thought about how horrible it will be at church tomorrow.”

Mandy started crying harder, and Hanna couldn’t stop her own tears.

“Sunday was hard for me,” Hanna said when she met Nathan Monday morning for coffee. “But it looks as if the whole weekend was hard for you.”

Dry Oaks Beanery was across the street from the PD. It was their go-to coffee spot. They both sat with steaming cups of coffee to share a few minutes together before they had to start their workdays. Nathan looked as if he’d never ended his from Saturday. Hanna knew how that was. A case like he had, well, you wanted to solve it. You wanted to get the bad people off the streets as soon as possible.

“You have no idea.” He yawned. “Maybe you do. I think I got four hours of sleep the whole weekend. Was everyone at church torn up about Edda?”

“Understatement. Everyone was in shock. Who could hurt the sweetest person in the world? You are chasing a monster.”

“I am, believe me. I consider that every minute.”

She reached over and put her hand over his. “You still need to take care of Nathan. Working yourself into the ground won’t help the investigation.”

He flashed a tired smile. “Yeah, Chief, I know. I’ll work on getting some rest.”

“Good.”

He sipped his coffee, and she gave him a minute before asking for an update.

“Where are you guys at right now?”

He shook his head. “The only edge we have is that he killed her shortly before he dumped her. That’s way earlier than with the others. If he was rushed, we might find evidence. The techies unlocked her computer, and they’re going over the contents.”

“You’re frowning. What’s wrong?”

“Edda’s case is different. Hers was not a romance scam. From what I’ve read so far, she truly wanted to help the guy calling himself Diego, at first. Mandy was right. Then something changed, and Edda began to doubt. She feared that he was pretending. Her last messages were almost threatening.”

“What do you mean?”

“She told him she didn’t believe his name was Diego. That she was certain he was local and not in a faraway place. Her last message to him was, ‘I think I know who you are.’”

Hanna stared, digesting this information.

“Out of three victims, it looks as if only Edda gave the guy good reason to get rid of her. He’d hooked her at first, but she was trying to wriggle off the line.”

“Did she say who she thought he was?”

“No.”

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