Page 70 of Girl, Fractured

‘Me too,’ Ripley said.She positioned herself slightly behind Ella’s right shoulder.Their standard interviewing formation.The arrangement came natural, like an old married couple who’d forgotten they were two separate people.

‘He was making dinner.’Sarah breathed.Tears had cut trenches beneath her eyes.‘He makes...made...chicken every Tuesday.’

‘We’re going to find who did this to Thomas, but to do that, we need to ask you some son-of-a-bitch questions.Is that okay?’

‘Now?I don’t think…’

Ella subtly glanced at her partner.Ripley radiated such skepticism that you could bottle it and sell it.Eu de Doubt.

‘We’ve only got one question,’ Ripley said.‘It concerns…’

The screech of tires severed Ripley’s sentence.A beaten-up, black Toyota slammed to a halt at the curb, parking half on grass in flagrant disregard of the crime scene perimeter.The engine cut off abruptly.The driver’s door flew open before the car had fully settled, and a man scrambled out.He looked to be in his late thirties, maybe early forties, dressed in casual clothes that looked hastily thrown on – jeans, untucked button-down shirt.

‘Sarah!’He spotted her right away.Without a word to Ella or Ripley, he rushed past them, and dropped to his knees beside the open cruiser door.

‘Rob.’Less a word than an exhale.

‘Jesus Christ, Sarah.There’s blood on your hand.What the f-’

‘It’s Dad.He’s… they… someone killed…’

Ella stepped back to give them space but surrendered none of her vantage point.She turned to her partner, who was eyeballing the new arrival like he’d just landed here from another planet.

‘Killed?What?Your dad?’

Sarah nodded frantically.The tears came again.

‘Jesus Christ.But why… who…?’

Ella studied the protective curl of his body around Sarah’s.The man was decently built, with a buzzcut and a chiseled jaw.Not what Ella expected from an apparent literary publisher.‘That’s what we’re trying to figure out.You’re Sarah’s partner?’

He rose to his feet and turned to Ella for the first time.‘Yeah.I’m Robert.What happened in there?Can I go in?’

‘Why would you want to go in?’

‘To see what the hell happened here.’

‘Off limits,’ Ella said.‘Did Sarah call you?’

‘Yeah.I’ve been working late.Got here as fast as I could.’

Ella had burning questions, and the longer they left them unanswered, the more chance this killer had of claiming their next victim.

And now that Ella thought about it, that was the exact issue that was tormenting her.

‘Were you close with Thomas Webb?’

‘Me?I guess so.I mean, what’sclose, really?’

‘Did you know him well?Know his habits, his lifestyle, his hobbies?Were you friends?’

Robert scratched his scalp, almost in frustration.‘Then yeah, we were close.’

‘Did Thomas Webb have a computer?’

Sarah and Robert exchanged a brief look.Less than a second of shared awareness.Ella caught it and filed it away.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ Sarah said.

---