Page 34 of Deathmarch
Harper’s sleep-heavy “Hey,” made her look up.
He was blinking awake, no confusion about where he was, no chagrin, no panic. Easy for him. He was on the other side of the bars.
He pushed to his feet, stretched, rolled his neck. “Did you sleep?”
“A little.” She reached up to run her fingers through her hair. Then she busied herself with the drab blanket so she wouldn’t have to look at him.
“How about I bring you some coffee and breakfast?” he asked even as he yawned, and then he walked away on stiff legs.
While he was gone, she quickly slipped from her bed and took advantage of the privacy to use the in-cell toilet.
She needn’t have hurried. Over an hour passed before Harper returned—hair damp from a shower, clothes clean—carrying a steaming mug of coffee in one hand, a plastic plate of eggs, bacon, and toast in the other. He slid them onto the little metal shelf that had been built into the bars for just that purpose. “I stopped by Mom’s.”
Allie stood awkwardly where she was. No table in the cell. “So, probably poisoned?”
A smile ghosted over his lips. “She doesn’t hate you.”
“Right. We’re besties,” she said as she backed away with her food so she could set the plate on the bed. “She’ll probably stop by later so we can braid each other’s hair. And then we’ll swap recipes.”
Harper’s smile grew a notch closer to real. As Allie swallowed her first mouthful of hot coffee, he reached into his back pocket and produced a plastic bag like a magician pulling a white rabbit from a hat. He passed the bag and its contents through, into her cell. “Comb, toothbrush, and toothpaste. Dollar Store stuff, so don’t get too excited.”
The small act of unexpected kindness made Allie’s eyes burn.
“Thank you,” she said, hating that she was grateful to the man who’d put her in this position in the first place. She wasnotgoing to forgive him for arresting her.Ever.
He gave a small nod. “Your bail hearing is set for two p.m. I’ll be taking you. Right now, I have to get to work.”
And then he left her all alone again.
* * *
That he had to leave Allie in a cell just about killed Harper, but he grabbed the keys to Lamm’s place and drove over. He wanted to walk through the house one more time, without Chase and Mike being there.
He called Suntown Elementary on his way and confirmed that Allie had been there on the day of the murder, the time she’d left. Everything was as she’d said.
When he reached Lamm’s rancher, instinct drew him to the basement, so he spent most of his time there: walking through, mentally cataloguing, and then just standing in the middle.
The open safe kept drawing his eyes.
Ephemeral half thoughts floated on the stale air like dust motes, swirling around him. When he finally managed to solidify them into a question, he called Chase.
“Where’s the silver?”
“Lost something already?” Chase yawned into the phone. “What silver?”
He’d probably slept in. Lucky bastard.
“Lamm told my father to invest in silver coins for small daily purchases once the dollar crashed. So where is his own stash? He had to have some silver hidden somewhere, right?”
Chase’s voice sounded a notch more awake as he said, “Judging by the volume of goods stockpiled at his house, I’d say he had to have more thansome. Doesn’t seem like he skimped on anything.”
“The gold bullion I found in Allie’s car wouldn’t have taken up more than a fifth of the safe. Rest could have been filled with silver coins. How carefully did you check the house?”
“What the hell kind of question is that?” Chase bristled.
“Pull up vent covers?”
“Not my first rodeo, bro. Tapped the hardwood floors too. No secret compartments. Checked the chimney. Attic. Garage.”
