Page 14 of Deathtoll
“How long is Emma staying?”
“Just a week.”
If they hadn’t run into each other at the grocery store that morning, when would Kate have told him that her sister was visiting? Never?
Kate stared straight ahead, out the window, studiously keeping her eyes away from him. “Why does the stone carving on Broslin library say Broslin Creek Library?”
“It’s the original name. Mayor…” Murph clicked his tongue. “Can’t remember his name. My grandfather used to talk about him… Mayor Campbell. Held office in the thirties. Biggest tightwad you’d ever seen, according to Gramps. He proposed to have the town’s name changed from Broslin Creek to Broslin to save money on signage. Also, we had a couple of factories in town back then, and the creek was a travesty, the water polluted to a sludge. Apparently, Mayor Campbell didn’t want to draw attention to it.”
Murph tried to think what else he might remember about the guy, but couldn’t come up with anything. He wanted to keep talking to distract Kate from the terrible news she’d just received, but all he could think to say wascome back, come back, come back. The words pulsed through his heart with every beat.
“Maybe it’s inevitable,” she said after a stretch of silence, her tone pensive. “Rebirth requires paring back, cutting away parts that don’t work.”
Like hell,he thought, if she meant cutting him away.
She lifted her phone. “I’d better let people know we’ll be rescheduling.”
She took care of business with her usual efficiency, calling five patients by the time Murph reached her street.
The neatly lined-up sixties-style ranchers were nearly identical, differing only in the color of their front doors—red, green, or blue—and the siding—white, blue, or brown—set back about thirty feet from the sidewalk. Murph had gone to school with kids whose parents had lived in the neighborhood.
It was a nice area. Good value. He’d actually thought about buying something here once he and Kate were ready to move out of their apartment at Hope Hill.
An ambulance was pulling away from the curb in front of Betty’s house, so he parked in the spot it vacated, between two police cruisers. “Is Emma home?”
Kate scanned the street. “I don’t see her rental. She was going to drive to the Philly Art Museum today.”
“Too bad. I would have liked to say hi to her. There’s Bing.” Murph nodded toward the captain out front, but Kate was no longer paying attention.
Her stricken gaze followed the ambulance, tears rolling down her face. “Do you think Betty is in there?”
Murph almost reached for her, but then caught himself and dropped his hand onto his lap. “I can catch up on paperwork tomorrow. I’m going to stay here with you. All right?”
She slipped out of the car without responding, in a haze of shock and grief.
Hehatedseeing her upset like this, especially when he couldn’t do a damn thing about it.
He caught up to her and nodded at Ethan Bing by the pair of weather-beaten rocking chairs on Betty’s front stoop. “Captain.” Then he nodded to the policewoman who stood next to the man. “Gabi.”
He got twin nods in turn.
Gabriella Maria Flores had been hired from Philly while Murph and Kate had been away, so Murph didn’t know her as well as he knew the rest of the PD. From what he’d heard, she was a damn good cop, tough but fair, knew how to get the job done, a credit to the PD. The best shot on the team, according to Bing. And Bing was a fair enough guy not to say that just because she was family to him now, married to his brother, Hunter.
Kate stopped in front of the captain and visibly shored herself up, straightening, stiffening. “What happened? When did she fall? How long was she out here in the cold?” Her voice broke. “I told her a million times to keep her cell phone in her pocket.”
“Let’s go inside your place where you can sit down. I’ll give you a full update.” Bing took her elbow and walked her across the lawn.
Murph followed them over.
Gabi headed for her cruiser. “I’ll start entering the report into the system.”
“I wouldn’t mind a few more pictures,” Bing told her, waiting for Kate to find her key. “And check on Tony Mauro, would you please? He looked shook up earlier.”
Kate stopped with the key in the lock, paling another shade as her gaze snapped to the house on her other side. “Betty and Mr. Mauro were close friends. I need to make sure he’s okay.”
“Why don’t we sit down in your kitchen for a second first?” the captain suggested.
Murph caught up with them, noting every detail about Kate’s new place. The freshly mulched foundation planting was neat and trimmed, the front stoop clean swept. Kate had painted the front door a cheery green and decorated it with a fall wreath of yellow leaves and orange mini pumpkins. Below that stood the house number, carefully painted in black.
