Page 34 of Retribution
‘I saw this earlier when Daisy asked me to look. It didn’t seem like anything important then, but...’
He presses play.
‘This is the night of the accident.’
I watch as my father lurches up, sitting at his desk and putting his head in his hands.
‘Was he just on the floor?’
‘Looks like. I thought he was drunk, but watch.’
I stare at the screen, eyes unblinking so I don’t miss anything. I watch my father sway in his chair a little and then cross his arms on the desk and put his head down.
‘He’s asleep,’ Mav says. ‘So what?’
‘He’staking a nap,’ Blake says.
I look at him sharply. ‘You think there’s a connection? That’s kind of a leap, isn’t it?’
‘Maybe.’ He shrugs. ‘Seems a little weird, though, don’t you think? Two people in your life who ‘took naps’ and couldn’t remember stuff afterward? They might be a decade apart but it sounds to me like they might have found something in a tox screen. Maybe they were drugged.’
‘By who? Why?’
‘Maybe Daisy never killed anyone at all. Maybe the same person killed Larson and April. Maybe the same one who got rid of Detective Black. I mean, if they set the fire in the lab at the Novelle Center, too, and Applegate is right about the connection with the fire that killed Mark Evans, then?—’
‘All this could be the same guy.’ I finish. ‘Over almost fifteen years. Four murders.’
‘More.’ Blake says, taking a breath. ‘What about the officer who was first on the scene after April’s accident? He was found in the river a few weeks later, remember? No way that was an accident. There are probably more we don’t even know about. He’s not just a stalker or a murderer. He’s a serial killer.’
‘And he’s obsessed with our girl,’ Mav mutters. ‘Jesus. We need to tell her. She’s been beating herself up for years. She was sent away from people she lovedforyears, and maybe she didn’t even do anything.’
‘Anyone recognize the name Winters?’ Blake asks, squinting at the file.
‘Nope. Why?’
‘Yeah,’ I say, trying to think of how I know it. ‘I’m sure they were one of the wealthier families in Richmond once, but there aren’t any here now. Why?’
‘Because Daisy’s file mentions them. Just one line. Like an afterthought. Called Winters regarding suspect. No knowledge.’
‘Why would they contact the Winters about Daisy?’ Iwonder aloud. ‘Did you find anything on them at all when you were looking at Daisy’s history?’
Blake shakes his head. ‘They never came up once.’
‘You’re sure? What about April’s history?’
‘Nada. I’d remember.’
I sit on the bed heavily and take out my phone, but my message still hasn’t been read. She’s not awake.
‘Tomorrow,’ I say. ‘Maybe she knows something about why the cops would have spoken to them. We’ll tell her all this stuff when we see her.’
4
DAISY
I’m woken at eight in the morning by the Nasty Nurse, as Lu calls her in her messages.
She comes in, ripping the drapes open with a shit-eating grin as I groan and put my head under the covers.
