Page 57 of Cold as Hell

I startle awake to Dalton lifting me from my chair. When I scramble, confused, he sets me back down.

“I tried,” he says. “Can I carry you home? Or you gonna insist on walking?”

I rub my bleary eyes and give my head a shake. The baby kicks twice, as if in annoyance at the sudden flurry of activity.I rub my belly, and my nerves calm at this reminder that all is well. Our baby is kicking, and I feel fine.

I roll my shoulders. Then I remember where I am and what I’d been doing, and I snatch up my notebook like a student caught sleeping during class.

“I have a timeline,” I say.

“Can it wait until we’re home?”

I shake my head. “I’d rather go over it now, in case you see anything I need to follow up on.”

He makes a show of checking his watch. “It’s almost ten, Butler.”

I peer at the window and see only darkness. “Let’s just get through this.”

He sighs and dramatically flops into a chair. “Go on.”

“The period in question starts after Thierry allegedly left Lynn in the store, before the storm hit. You and Will made a list of everyone who spoke to her before that time, in case any of it is relevant.”

“We did, and I doubt any of it is, but we have the list.”

“Okay, so Thierry leaves the store at about noon. Then we have three people who went in before the blizzard struck. Carson was picking up things for his mother while Thierry was working with Max. He didn’t speak to Lynn beyond asking for the items. He says she may have asked some questions, but he can’t remember. It was just ‘normal stuff.’”

“The annoying mundane questions grown-ups ask thirteen-year-olds, and the kids forget the conversation two seconds after it ends.”

“Yep,” I say. “Carson leaves as Yolanda is coming in. That’s from Yolanda—Carson didn’t remember it.”

“Being thirteen and trying very hard to ignore the grown-ups.”

“Yolanda is looking for a new shirt. Lynn helps with that. They talk a bit about Kendra—Lynn is still freaked out and eager to help in any way she can. That’s the entirety of the conversation. No mention of Thierry, Grant, or any other man.”

“Huh,” Dalton says. “Weird. I definitely see Yolanda as the boy-talk type. A missed opportunity.”

Yeah, I can’t imagine anyone engaging Yolanda in that sort of chatter. That doesn’t mean she wouldn’t be up for it, but the vibes she gives off say she expects serious conversation only, and that isnotserious.

I continue, “Up next is Mathias.”

“Who lied and said he didn’t go in the store.”

I lift a finger. “Uh-uh. Mathias never mentioned the store. Will asked whether he saw Lynn yesterday, and he said he didn’t. A technicality, and yes, I still gave him shit for that, because I don’t appreciate having someone else need to tell us they saw him go in the store. But, according to him, Lynn was gone.”

“Gone? With the door left unlocked?”

I lean back in my chair. “When it comes to Mathias, ‘gone’ is open to interpretation. He went in to get bootlaces, didn’t see her, and grabbed a pair from the shelf. He made no attempt to find her. She might have been in the storeroom or stepped out for a moment. Or she may have actually left before the storm and didn’t lock up.”

“Which she could have done by accident—being in a rush to beat the storm—or intentionally—in case anyone needed anything after she left.”

“Yes. And I really wish it had been anyone other than Mathias, someone who would have at least made some attempt to find Lynn.”

Dalton snorts. “I’m guessing he didn’t even leave a note saying he took the bootlaces, for inventory.”

“Of course not. But that isn’t why he wouldn’t have tried finding her. He just counted himself lucky he could get his laces without interacting with humans.”

“Some days, I get that.” Dalton stretches his legs out. “But it’s fucking inconvenient for us when he’s the last person in the store. And after that? No one on my list saw her once the storm started. Can I hope Will’s interviewees did?”

I shake my head. “Yolanda was the last person to see Lynn at the shop, and the only other person to see her after that was Marlon.”

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