Page 53 of Out to Get Her
“Where do you think you’re going?” Her mother continued to stare her down, struggling to maintain her calm and her illusion of control. “We haven’t finished this discussion.”
Samantha drained the last of her wine and waved her phone in the air. “Excuse me, I need to take this outside.”
ChapterSeventeen
Once she shutthe French doors behind her and stood on the elaborate brick patio in her mother’s backyard, Samantha answered the call. Before she could say hello and relish the sound of that voice greeting her, she was met with a shrill, fast-paced string of phrases that made absolutely no sense.
“I don’t understand,” she said. “Slow down and tell me again.”
“We were looking for stamps,” Erin repeated, pausing to catch her breath. “And I just found a ton of prescriptions.”
Samantha had no idea why Erin was calling right now to tell her that her aging grandfather had a bunch of medicine. Or why panic shredded the edges of Erin’s voice.
“You were looking for stamps in the bathroom?” Samantha remembered the gentleman being a tad eccentric, but that sounded like an odd place to stash stamps, even for him. “I’m sure he was on a lot of medicines. Older body, more pills. That fun game.”
“No, in his bedroom, and not actual medicine,” Erin said firmly. “Written prescriptions. On paper.Tonsof them.”
“For what?” Samantha heard whispering in the background but figured it must be Zach. “I don’t understand why you’re so upset that he didn’t fill his prescriptions.”
Although she tried not to let on, Samantha grew more concerned by the second, thinking about a certain ex-husband’s pharmacy and the doctors they worked with. Everyone knew there was truth to the vague rumors of shady business goings on, but no one was ever willing to come forward with any proof.
What if Erin had stumbled on proof?
“Is this why Paul was in the house?” Erin asked. “Could he have been looking for these?”
A chill ran up Samantha’s back despite the hot August evening and lack of any breeze.
Samantha had already downed more wine than she should drive on, but this could be something big. Something that couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning.
Crap. Tomorrow morning.
“Erin, can you put those back where you found them? I’m going to send someone out there to collect the prescriptions and bring them to the station.” Dustin was on call. She’d have him take photos and bag them and put them on her desk. If that’s what Paul had been after, it seems he never found them. Which meant they wouldn’t find usable fingerprints or any other useful evidence on the papers themselves. But the prescriptions were still evidence. Maybe not in Paul’s murder, but in taking down a few other criminals they’d had their sights on for years.
“You aren’t coming yourself?”
Did she imagine the disappointment in Erin’s question?
“I can’t. I’m dealing with another thing. I’ll be in touch tomorrow, though.” Tomorrow. Crap, crap, crap. “But Erin, I need you to do something.”
“I’ll put them back in the book where I found them.”
“In the book?”
“Yeah, in a hardcover copy of Terry Pratchett’sThe Colour of Magic. Pratchett. ‘Pr’ for ‘prescriptions.’”
Samantha wasn’t following that at all. Too much for one night.
“Yes, put them back until someone gets there. Thank you.” She closed her eyes and refocused. “I need you to stay home tomorrow.”
Erin went silent on the other end. Samantha took that as a very bad sign.
Eventually, Erin asked, “Why?”
How could Samantha say this without giving away too much? Without putting more ideas in Erin’s head.
She admired Erin’s ability to get things done—with or without matches—but Samantha needed her out of this investigation. For Erin’s safety and to keep the whole thing uncomplicated. Or, at least, less complicated. She wasn’t sure what was going on yet, but she had a feeling Erin was tangled in the middle of it. She needed to untangle her and figure this out.
“I need you to stay away from Paul’s funeral.”
