Page 80 of A Forgotten Mistake

“Well… can’t help but wonder what was on there.” Gabriel uses his sleeve so he doesn’t smudge any evidence and turns off the water that’s currently overflowing onto the floor. But the room is blood free. Did she run up here and destroy the computer before she was stabbed?

He picks up the plunger and uses it to push the laptop up onto the edge of the tub, but at this point, I can’t imagine it’s not ruined.

I pull out my phone and call Michaels.

“I heard you have a bit of a mess. A body and the killer got away,” he says.

“Two bodies,” I correct. “But if you send Donna—” Gabriel’s look makes my three bodies joke die before I even get it out. What the hell is he doing trying to make me a better person? “Anyway. Do me a favor? Get Liz’s daughter and that dog of hers over here.”

“Why?”

“Because we need to find Liz. I’m convinced now more than ever that Cameron had her. But he has a hundred acres out here. I can’t fathom he’d have chosen to keep her in one of the barns when he knew we were looking into him, though he probablywouldn’t have chanced moving her far. That comes with its own risks. But I want the dog and the daughter to help us find Liz.”

“That’s rather unorthodox, don’t you think?” Michaels asks. “You’re thinking the dog’s going to find her? Is it trained or something?”

“A bloodhound’s sense of smell is one thousand times better than a human’s. And if he likes her well enough, he’s going to find her well before we would.”

“This is ridiculous, Paige.”

“Fine, let her die out there. When you find her body all shriveled up from dehydration, I want another ‘I told you so’ cake.”

“You shouldn’t ask for cake when talking about bodies, or people might think you’re strange,” Gabriel says.

“I’ve worked here long enough that I can,” I assure him.

“Listen to your partner. But… I’ll see what I can do.”

“I knew you were good for something,” I say before hanging up on him again. I kind of enjoy it.

“Something made her panic and throw the laptop in the water…” Gabriel muses. “I noticed one plate was barely touched. The other was half eaten. Did Cameron’s wife know he was abducting women? So with us questioning his involvement, she threw it in the tub? Or was it thrown in the tub in response to the person who came here?”

I hesitate as I think that through. “It looks like Cameron was shot downstairs. There was no blood that I noticed leading upstairs or in the bathroom. But if her husband had been shot and the killer could be coming for her next, would Jessica have worried about the laptop in that instance? If you’re dead, you have literally nothing to worry about… I’d go for a weapon or a gun instead of a laptop.”

“Right,” Gabriel agrees. “If the killer was fixated on the laptop, they would have at least pulled it out of the water. Atub takes quite a bit to fill. They would have come up and pulled it out, even if they knew it was damaged beyond repair. Could Cameron and Jessica have known who the killer was? The person was invited in before they said something that spooked Jessica into trying to destroy evidence. And that’s when the person attacked them.”

“It’s an interesting theory,” I say as I slip past the door and head back down to the kitchen. And that’s where I see a glass sitting on the counter. A third glass.

“I think you’re right,” I tell Gabriel. “Why pour a third cup when the other two are already full?”

“So… they were civil with them enough to welcome them in.”

“Seems so,” I say. I wander back outside in time to see Matthew having a stare-off with the loose horse.

“He likes me as much as you do, Liam,” Matthew says as the horse swishes its tail.

“Oh joy, you’re here. Why did they call you?” I ask. “Don’t they have people on the clock they could call instead?”

“Michaels called me because he said I’m the only one besides Gabriel that you tolerate working with.”

“That’s not at all correct, but since you’re here, will you do me a solid and shoot me just a little so I don’t have to go to Gabriel’s Thanksgiving?”

“What are friends for if we can’t shoot each other a little? Go on now. Which limb? Or do you want me to pick?”

“Hmm… left arm, maybe?”

Gabriel gives me a light smack. “Knock it off. Even with a bullet wound, you’re going. It would change nothing.”

I grumble, unsure how my one true love could be so vicious.

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