Page 106 of Everything She Feared

Issaquah, Washington

They found GilbertCroft’s house in a terraced section of the neighborhood known as Montreux, on the slope of Cougar Mountain.

A blue Toyota Camry stood in the driveway. Its plate matched the plate of the Camry recorded at Sparrow Song Park, a thirty-minute drive away.

Pierce and Benton went to the door and rang the bell.

No one answered.

Pierce rang it again.

Nothing.

She checked the time.

Benton nodded to the pathway leading around the house. Following it to the backyard, they saw an older man working at a flower bed, next to a wheelbarrow with precast gray-white bricks. Grunting, he hefted one and, with the slowness of age, placed it on the grass.

“Mr. Croft?” Pierce said.

He turned. “Yes.”

“Detectives Kim Pierce and Carl Benton, King County Sheriff’s Office.”

“Oh, yes.” He brushed his brow. “Let’s go inside.”

Croft’s living room had a cultured stone fireplace, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and comfortable chairs.

“Can I get you anything? Coffee?”

“No, thank you,” Benton said.

“I lost track of time. My wife wanted me to finish the garden edging.” Croft sighed as he sat in a sofa rocker. “So, you want to talk about that girl who fell in the park?”

“Yes. A few things we’d like to go over with you.” Pierce reached into her bag for her laptop. After relating another summary, she cued up the video showing Croft at the park. He slid on his glasses and then she passed her laptop to him. Holding it, he watched the video carefully.

“Yes, that’s me, alright. These days we seem to see cameras everywhere.”

He passed the computer back; she closed it. Then, sitting back down, Pierce said: “Did you know Anna Shaw?”

“Anna who?”

“Anna Shaw, the girl who was killed.”

“No, I’m afraid not.”

“Do you know her parents, Lynora and Chuck Shaw?”

“No, I don’t know them.”

“The video shows you were at Sparrow Song Park the day of Anna’s death, walking to your Camry at the time of Anna’s death.”

“Yes, such a terrible thing, her falling.”

“What time did you arrive at the park?”

“Oh, gosh, let me think. I usually get up at six a.m. or so. Not sure exactly, sometime after that.”

“Why were you at the park that day, Mr. Croft?” Pierce asked.

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