Читать книгу Forgotten Pieces - Tyler Anne Snell - Страница 13

Chapter Four

There were a lot of questions but not many answers. At least none that led Matt to a clear picture of what had happened at Dwayne’s house. Although Maggie had admitted to looking into Erin’s accident, she’d gone tight-lipped as they left the hospital. Then again, that might have had more to do with Cody being caught between them as they got into Matt’s off-duty, dark green Jimmy. The six-year-old had kept his eyes wide as Maggie talked to him in the back seat. She reminded him of a lesson she’d already taught him.

Don’t talk to strangers.

In the rearview mirror Matt could see the boy took the conversation seriously. He watched Maggie with concentration that furrowed his brow. When she was done that concentration turned to worry. He didn’t understand what had changed. From what they’d pieced together from Billy talking to Larissa before she left for the community college was that everything had been normal the day before.

Larissa lived near Cody’s school and often picked him up and watched him until Maggie was done with work between four and five. Around four thirty Maggie had texted and asked if she could watch the boy until eight. After that she’d called from the hospital. Larissa had offered to keep him for the night. She hadn’t told Cody why the impromptu sleepover had happened.

And now, sitting in the back seat, Matt could almost see the boy trying to figure out what had changed their normal routines to include a last-minute stay with his babysitter, a trip to the hospital and a talk about strangers.

Maggie must have sensed it, too. Matt glanced into the mirror in time to see her press her thumb between his eyebrows. She rubbed the crease gently and smiled.

“Wrinkles are for me, not you,” she said. “Don’t worry, little dude. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise.” Her voice had gone gentle, maternal strength backing up each word. It was such a contrast from the woman he knew that it surprised a smile out of him. Thankfully she didn’t see it. “And if you promise not to worry, I’ll see what I can do about taking you, Josh and Emily to the science museum in Kipsy sometime soon.”

Matt didn’t have to see the boy’s face to know Maggie had just hit negotiation gold. A quick intake of breath from him was followed by a bigger smile reflected on his mom.

“I can show Emily the tornado ride,” Cody exclaimed. “And we can play with the burp machine!”

“And don’t forget the puzzle room,” Maggie added on.

Cody squealed and launched into his favorite things he’d done the last time they’d been there. Along with the tornado ride, burp machine and puzzle room, he’d had fun in the music house where the floor was a keyboard. Judging by the quick sigh Maggie let out, she had not been a fan of the music house.

She caught Matt’s eye and shook her head.

“That place is the devil,” she supplied, in no way stopping the boy’s conversation. He stared out the window, still counting off the different rides, exhibits and interactive experiments the museum had. “Imagine a marching band forced into one room and each one is playing a different, horribly out-of-sync tune. I’d rather take another bat to the head.”

Despite himself, Matt almost smiled.

The pleasantries ended after they got to the school. Matt talked to the principal about keeping an eye out for anything or anyone suspicious, just in case, while Maggie sweet-talked the boy’s teacher into dropping the mark against him being late. Or intimidated the teacher. Matt didn’t know. The Maggie he’d met years ago was starting to look like a different Maggie now.

When they rendezvoused back at the Jimmy, however, it was all business. Another surprise, considering Maggie had been the one to start it.

“Okay, we need to retrace my steps from yesterday.” She jumped in and buckled her seat belt but gazed straight ahead. “Let’s start at my house and see what we can find there.”

“You may have been released into my custody but that doesn’t give you the right to issue orders,” he reminded her. Though he agreed with her idea. He navigated out of the parking lot and pointed the SUV in the same direction he’d headed the day before.

“Sorry, I just assumed you’d want to figure out what happened,” she said. The gentleness she’d used with her son had definitely gone to school with him. “I didn’t realize you had something better to do.”

Matt muttered some bad things beneath his breath. All of which Maggie didn’t comment on. She was a smart woman. She knew which buttons to press. And when to stop pressing them altogether.

Or, at least, he thought she had. The fact that she was still trying to make something of Erin’s death proved otherwise.

“So what do we know so far?” she said when he’d found a more peaceful state of mind. “Has CSU found anything helpful at Dwayne’s house yet?”

Matt didn’t like that he shook his head.

“Detective Ansler is supposed to update me when he gets more information on the prints found at the scene but I do know that a partial was found that didn’t belong to you or Dwayne. Other than that, nothing of interest has been reported so far. You could tell a struggle had taken place but other than that I didn’t have a chance to really investigate. I rode with Dwayne to the hospital when the EMTs got there. The sheriff and Ansler took over.”

“Then why don’t we go now?” Maggie asked, sitting up straighter.

“You want to go back to the scene of a crime where you’re one of the suspects?” he had to ask. “That definitely isn’t going to fly.”

“I’m also one of the victims,” she argued. “And how are we supposed to figure out what happened if you just admitted you didn’t even have enough time to really look at the house? Plus, maybe something will jog my memory!”

It was a good idea, he had to admit, but he’d been burned by Maggie Carson’s enthusiasm one too many times.

“How about you just leave the police work to the police? Despite the thoughts that I’m sure fill your head, last I checked you weren’t law enforcement. In fact, last time I checked, you weren’t even a reporter.”

Maggie bristled. Her lips thinned. The air in the SUV seemed to go arctic.

And just like that Matt found a way to shut Maggie Carson up.

* * *

THE HOUSE AT the end of Birchwood Drive had a yellow door that stood out like a sunflower among a bucket of weeds. The moment they turned on the street, her eye was drawn to the door like there was a bull’s-eye painted across the front. It made Maggie feel a touch of warmth just looking at it.

Because man, had she fought tooth and nail with the homeowners association about it.

The memory of fighting for something, even as small as the color of a door, made the detective’s words’ sting lessen. But not enough to press him further about going to Dwayne’s. Instead, she decided to focus on another mystery.

Like what she had done after taking Cody to school the day before.

Her thoughts stalled when she realized something she hadn’t even thought about until the house was right in front of her.

“The sheriff said my car was at Dwayne’s but empty,” she said when he cut the engine in the driveway.

“Yeah?”

“Including my purse, which also wasn’t in the house.”

Matt nodded.

For the first time that day Maggie let her shoulders sag.

“So along with my car key, it’s safe to assume my house key is no longer in my possession.” Matt turned to the front door. He hadn’t thought about that detail, either. Maggie sighed. “You said you picked my lock yesterday morning? Another event I can’t remember. Think you could put on a repeat performance?”

The detective led the way to the backyard and to the back door with notable tension lining his shoulders. He kept his left arm tucked close to his stomach. Ready to unholster his gun, she bet. Something she might have deemed unnecessary under different circumstances.

“Give me a heads-up before you crack the lock,” she said at his elbow as they walked up the steps. “I might not remember what I did yesterday but I never leave the house without setting the alarm. I’ll need to run to the front door and disarm it once the door is—” Maggie watched, confused, as Matt opened the back door with no problems.

“Do you normally leave your doors unlocked?”

Maggie didn’t answer right away. She was listening for what should have been a familiar sound.

“Not on purpose,” she finally said. “But again, I always turn on the alarm before I leave. Or at least I thought I did.” She motioned to the house and met the detective’s eyes. “The alarm beeps until you disarm it and—”

“And there’s no beeping,” he finished, turning back to the open door. He unholstered his gun. “Anyone else live here?”

“No. Just me and Cody.”

“Anyone else have the code?”

“Only Larissa but she has classes until two today.”

Matt gave one curt nod followed by an equally curt order.

“Stay here.”

“Yes, sir.”

She moved to the side of the doorway as Matt held out his gun and went inside. Despite his order and her common sense, Maggie wanted to follow him. She wasn’t a stranger to taking risks, though admittedly she had taken a good deal less of them since Cody had arrived, but leaving the door unlocked and the alarm off? That didn’t sound like her. Not even memory-less her. Something must have made her leave in a hurry.

Or someone.

That thought was the glue that kept her feet in place while the detective spent the next few minutes going through the house. During that time she revolved through question after question in her head. No matter which mystery popped up about her blank yesterday, she never reached any memories. No leads. No answers.

“No one’s in here,” Matt said, reappearing in the doorway. His eyes found hers with a notable amount of suspicion. If it was directed at her she didn’t know. “Nothing jumped out at me that might shed some light on everything but then again, this isn’t my place. I don’t know what to look for.”

They walked into the house, both uneasy. Maggie felt her defenses—and sarcasm—rising. In the past few years her social life had declined. The people who frequented her house were few and far between. Not that she was unhappy with her life. She just wondered what conclusions the man had drawn from his pass-through.

He followed her as she went clockwise through the house, starting at the kitchen and ending in the living room. It was the heart of their home and most lived-in. Stranded toys mingled with books and blankets and other odds and ends that never seemed to get sorted to their rightful places outside the room.

The detective stood sentry next to one of the large windows at the front of the house. His gun was back in its holster but his hands hung at his sides, ready to do whatever was necessary.

Maggie took a moment to watch the man. She’d be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about him off and on throughout the years. Mostly when a case he was working crossed over the media airwaves. She might have switched from a reporter to a magazine writer but that didn’t mean she’d stopped reading the paper. But there had been moments, quiet moments, where the detective had crossed her mind without her conscious volition.

He’d just be there. Like he was now.

A man she barely knew.

A man who loathed her.

A man seemingly always in sync with the world.

Except when it came to her.

Maggie cleared her throat. She wasn’t about to give herself permission to think about the detective as anything but a pain in her side. No. She wasn’t allowed.

“Okay, so as far as I can tell the house is how I would normally leave it.”

“Other than the unlocked door and the disabled alarm,” Matt supplied.

“Yeah, except those. Everything else, though, looks like it did before the memory loss.” To prove her point further, she turned to the couch. “See, my pillow from the other night is still there—”

Maggie’s eyes caught on to a few details she’d missed. The strangeness of what she was seeing must have shown in her expression. The detective’s body language became more open. He faced her with a look split between curiosity and concern.

“What is it?”

Maggie walked to the coffee table and paused. She pointed to the contents on its wooden top.

“Those are my keys,” she said, thoroughly confused. “My house and car keys.” She started to pick them up as if the physical contact would somehow answer the questions starting to spring up in her head when she noticed something else between the table and the couch. “And this is my purse.”

“What?”

Maggie picked up her bag. She pulled out her wallet and flipped it open. Her ID, credit cards and money were inside. The same as she remembered it from before her memory blanked out.

“Everything’s here.”

It was a statement but even to her ears, her confusion was still running rampant. The half-filled cup of coffee with lipstick marks on its edge didn’t help.

“You may think I’m a lot of things but let me tell you, messy isn’t one of them.”

“But you and your car were at Dwayne’s,” Matt added. “How did the keys end up back here?”

Like someone had flipped a switch, a new theory blazed across Maggie’s mind. She turned around and walked straight to the kitchen. Matt’s boots were heavy against the hardwood as he followed.

“Do you remember something?”

Maggie rounded the breakfast bar and made a beeline for the three metal canisters on the counter next to the sink. The one labeled Flour was open, its lid next to it. She was sure of what she wouldn’t find within it but still had to look. After she did she turned, confused.

“It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

“The spare key to my car.” She motioned to the canister. “I kept it in there.”

Matt looked between her and the tin for a moment.

“So let’s assume you used your spare car key to drive your car to Dwayne’s,” he said. “Why would you need it when your original car key is in the other room? And why not take your purse?”

“Why leave a half-filled cup of coffee out? Why leave the back door unlocked and not the front? And why not set the alarm?”

Matt’s eyes widened. Like her, his switch had flipped.

“Because you needed to leave in a hurry,” he guessed. “But why not grab your things?”

Maggie walked to the door that opened into the kitchen. From where she stood she couldn’t see the living room. But she could see the back door.

“I’m not one to make baseless guesses, despite your personal opinion of me, but I think someone was with me here yesterday,” she started. A knot of cold began to form in her stomach. “And whoever they were must have said or done something I really didn’t like.”