In Close (Bulletproof #3)(60)
Author: Brenda Novak

“What happened?” Claire asked, her normally smooth forehead furrowed.

Since Leanne had seen him bringing Claire home on Wednesday morning, she’d called him probably ten times. Over the years, she’d made other overtures. But Isaac didn’t want to tell Claire, not after she’d asked him earlier whether or not he’d ever been with her sister.

“She’s conflicted when it comes to you. You’re aware of that, aren’t you?”

He could tell Claire didn’t want to think about it. “She’s her own worst enemy, but…she’s not as bad as she seems.”

Could they be sure about that? No. Especially now. “Just know that you can’t trust her,” he said, and left it at that because Myles had come into the house.

“Do you have any idea who might’ve done this?” he asked.

Claire shook her head. “None.”

“Is anything missing?”

“Doesn’t look like it.” She rubbed her eyes as if she was merely tired, but Isaac knew she was fighting back tears. “Just my mother’s case files.”

Myles turned to him. “The ones you mentioned in my office. I’ve been checking into those.”

“And?”

“Leland Faust told me what happened. He and David showed up at the station to visit Rusty late one night when we had only a skeleton crew. While Leland distracted Rusty, David got what he wanted.”

But visitors had to be buzzed in. With the jail on the other side of the building, there were video cameras in the lobby, and the dispatch operator sat right inside the front door behind bulletproof glass. “How?”

“Easy. No one had opened those files since Claire called off the investigation last time. They’d been gathering dust in Jared’s cubicle. David simply stuck them under his winter coat and walked out.”

“How’d he get the originals back in?” Claire wanted to know.

“Same way. Except Leland did it for him.”

That explained why Leland had acted so funny on the phone with Isaac. He knew David had been investigating Alana’s murder and probably wondered if there was any connection between that and his death.

“Claire, if I didn’t tell you some detail about your mother’s case, it was because I had no proof and no answers,” Myles was explaining. “Investigations are works in progress. We can’t reveal every question, every inconsistency, or it’s that much easier for whoever we’re chasing to stay one step ahead of us. You understand that, don’t you?”

“I do. But you have to see the situation from my side, too, Myles. I want to know. It’s been fifteen years. I’m tired of waiting for answers.”

He nodded. “I understand. And there’s some good news in all of this.”

“There is?” she said wryly.

“Maybe whoever did this left something of himself behind, a latent print or other forensic evidence we can use to track him down. Although this is painful, maybe it’ll end up being what cracks the case. You have home-owner’s insurance, right?”

“I do, but…it won’t replace the stuff that really mattered.”

“I know. And I don’t think you’re going to find any prints,” Isaac said. “This guy spent some time here, which tells me he was experienced enough to wear gloves.”

Myles didn’t like that comment, and his expression showed it, but Isaac saw no point in giving Claire false hope. False hope would only serve up more disappointment later.

“We’re going to check, just in case. We’re going to do all we can,” he promised. His radio crackled again, and he started to leave the room but Claire stopped him. “Myles?”

Letting the radio summons wait, he shifted his attention to her.

“Have you ever come across anything concerning April Cox while pursuing this investigation?”

His eyebrows came together. “Like what?”

“She claims she found some emails on Roni’s computer that prove Roni was having an affair with Tug before my mother went missing.”

“I’ve never seen or heard anything like that.”

“So her interview or testimony or whatever wasn’t in your copy of the case files, either.”

“No. But I can call Sheriff Meade to see if he remembers her being involved. Far as I know, he’s still alive and enjoying his retirement in Big Fork.”

“But if he purposely dropped that information from the file as a favor to my parents, he probably wouldn’t admit it,” she said.

Myles ran a hand through his hair. “You think Tug or Roni might be behind this?”

“Can you rule them out?”

“No,” he said. “I can’t.”

19

Claire had never dreamed she’d be moving in with Isaac. They’d gone from not speaking to renewing their torrid affair to living together in only a week’s time. She was bowled over by this sudden reversal and wondered if he felt the same. If so, he didn’t show it. He was the one who’d insisted she pack some of the clothes that hadn’t been destroyed and stay with him. He didn’t think she’d be safe anywhere else.

Myles had overheard them discussing her temporary relocation and interrupted to say that his home was available to her, too. Claire knew he wasn’t pleased about her relationship with a known heartbreaker. No doubt he thought Laurel would be upset about it. But Myles and Laurel had each other and a family to care for. She couldn’t see herself crowding in with them, interrupting their lives. She’d tried to argue that she could stay right where she was, or with Leanne, but Isaac wouldn’t hear of it. Leanne hadn’t returned, which hardly made her seem sympathetic.

After putting her bags in the back of his truck, they’d spent several hours cleaning up the mess, which included wiping away the fingerprint dust the police had used in hopes of figuring out who might’ve broken in. They’d lifted so many prints, most of which probably belonged to her or Leanne or maybe even Isaac, it was going to take a couple of weeks to sort through them all.

“You okay?”

Claire glanced up to see Isaac watching her from across the table at Hank’s Burger Joint. They’d spent so much time trying to put her house back together and make a list for the insurance company that it was now late afternoon.

“You haven’t said a word since we got here.”

She stared at her plate as she sighed. “It wasn’t easy seeing things I’ve worked hard to accumulate swept into a dustpan and thrown in the trash, but…I’m okay.” For the most part. Her life with David was slowly being dismantled and carted off; even the memories were beginning to feel distant. Coping with that, and the disloyalty she felt, complicated an already complicated situation. So did how much she cared about Isaac, because she worried that allowing herself to depend on him would turn out to be her biggest mistake yet.