Catch You Later: A Novel by Jessica Strawser

Author:Jessica Strawser [Strawser, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2024-10-22T00:00:00+00:00

19

Lark

2024

“Your grandmother is quite a character,” Deputy DeLue said by way of greeting. He gestured for Lark and Heath to join him at the same long rectangular table where they’d met him and his partner several nights ago, but Deputy Rodgers was nowhere to be seen now.

Lark felt foolish thinking of how the last time she’d walked in this room, she’d dared to hope it signified a new beginning for Mikki’s case, a second chance to get things right. Now, she couldn’t even wish for a do-over because she had no clue how things had gone wrong again.

“Sorry about Nini,” Lark said quickly, sliding into a chair and wincing as it scraped the linoleum. “She’s not my grandmother,” she reminded him. “She’s Mikki’s.” She’d meant only to distance herself from Nini’s antics, but it came out sounding like she’d corrected his grammar.

“Right,” he said, clearing his throat. “Well, she sounded like your grandmother.”

Deputy DeLue didn’t know the half of it. When Heath had chided Nini for not immediately telling Lark the sheriff wanted her to come in, she’d lashed out.

Lark has been through enough, she’d snapped. We both know those deputies don’t have serious questions for her. They’re wasting everyone’s time so they can shame her just for show. We’re not interested in going through the motions to help them look effective.

Lark had never seen this fiercely loyal side of Nini before, not even when Nini had been left to grapple with her only daughter hanging Mikki out to dry so unforgivably. It was hard not to feel a little flattered, though of course she couldn’t show it.

Nini, she’d said. That was not for you to decide.

Nini had doubled down. Like hell it’s not. I’m the missing person’s next of kin. Nini had jabbed a finger at her own chest for emphasis, leaving red blotches above her puff-painted blouse. No diagnosis can change that. Besides, at every one of my assessments, I pass the test that I still know right from wrong. And those deputies have been nothing but wrong since the day Mikki left.

When Nini’s tirade was over, Lark had waited for Heath to reassure them that being called in to the station was routine. That the concern on his face didn’t mean they should worry about the deputies having questions for Lark. That Heath could never doubt her.

But he didn’t. He merely suggested that Lark call the school and instruct Dove to ride the bus home—something he knew Lark hated to do, because the ride to their fringe of the school district was a full hour long—so they could go to the station without further delay. Then when Lark said she’d prefer to drive herself, he’d insisted on following, like an awkward police escort.

What she needed was Fiancé Heath. Not Trooper Heath. But she was starting to think he couldn’t separate the two, a revelation that caused more anxiety than it probably should have.

What about Chris Redmond? Lark wanted to protest. If he’s free to go, we have to stop him.

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