Page 28 of All the Little Truths

Monday, November 20

Bauer Investigations

Church Street, Nashville, 10:00 a.m.

Louise sat in the chair facing Jerry Bauer’s desk. He scanned his notes, flipped through the pages.

There were things she should say. Questions she should ask. But her brain refused to send the proper messages to her lips.

She had buried her precious daughter just over a month ago. As if fate was determined to finish her off, she had buried her dear husband a mere seventeen days ago.

How was she supposed to go on?

Air filled her lungs unexpectedly. She wished it would stop. The idea that her body would continue to support her living was an utter betrayal.

Louise wanted to die.

However fierce the desire, she was too much of a coward to take her life.

How very sad was that?

She had lost her precious, beautiful Lucy. She closed her eyes, unable to even think her name without suffering the agony that crushed all the way to her bones. The horror was unsurvivable, and yet here she sat, still breathing.

It was no wonder Scott had suffered a massive heart attack. She’d tried CPR. But he was gone. Like her, he hadn’t wanted to stay in this life any longer. She prayed each night that an aneurysm or a heart attack would take her. But her damned heart continued to beat ... continued to pound out the perfect rhythm for survival.

It should have been her who died.

Her fingers tightened on the chair arms to prevent fisting and then pounding against her chest. She suspected Jerry wouldn’t know what to do if she fell apart in his office. The world expected certain things of the indomitable Lou Scott.

Only someone who had lost what she had would understand.

However strong a person was, there were some things they simply could not overcome.

Louise would not overcome this. She had no desire to. If she was brutally honest with herself, the only reason she accepted the idea of continuing to breathe was for the sole purpose of finding the person who had murdered her sweet Lucy.

She summoned her strength and asked, “Have you found anything at all?”

She should have said this a bit less sharply. After all, it was nearly Thanksgiving. Jerry had intended to take the whole week off but had come into his office today because she could not bear to wait another minute to speak with him. He had taken time away from his family to assuage her desperation.

Jerry stopped reviewing his notes and settled his gaze on hers. “I have great admiration for you and your work, Lou.” He took a breath. “That said, I don’t want to promise you something I cannot deliver.”

This was such bullshit. “I don’t need you to impress me,” she snapped. “What I need is for you to find something I’ve missed. I’m compromised.” She blinked back the burn of tears, damn it. “My emotions have betrayed me, causing me to be unreliable. I need details from someone unaffected. You have a stellar reputation, Jerry. Do not let me down.”

Jesus Christ, he’d been on the case now for three weeks. Surely he had found something.

He braced his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on the tops of his hands for a moment as he considered her words. He nodded then. “Were you aware your daughter was working on a secret project?”

Louise frowned. “What sort of secret project?”

“I interviewed a number of her fellow students from Harpeth and learned they were assigned a senior thesis as a major part of their semester grade. Had Lucy spoken to you about this project?”

Louise’s frown deepened as she tried to recall her most recent conversations with her precious daughter. “I don’t recall her mentioning a thesis, but that wouldn’t be unusual. Lucy is—” Louise moistened her lips. “Was an excellent student. She rarely asked her father or me for any help with assignments. So, I doubt she would have mentioned it.”

He scrubbed a hand over his jaw as if hesitant to go on with whatever it was he had to say. “Her theme or subject for her thesis was the missing. As in missing persons, younger ones more precisely.”

Uncertainty pricked at Louise. “I’m—was working on a story about the people who go missing in our own city. But she and I didn’t speak of it. Lucy was a very busy young woman. She didn’t have time to pay much attention to what I was doing.”

“There’s someone I think you should speak with.”

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