Deadly Love by Deborah Rogers

Author:Deborah Rogers [Rogers, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-12-23T16:00:00+00:00

 33

So Jeffrey Cooper lied to us. It was a foolish thing to do. He had not thought we would likely ask his wife for her version of the timeline. That she may or may not say something that contradicted his assertion he was home all night. Perhaps the pressure of the moment had gotten to him. O’Leary’s hard and accusing stare bearing down on him, wanting an answer right then and there, must have felt like a vice. A girl he knew, dead. All roads leading to him…

I sit eating sushi in my car, thinking. I’m parked discretely on a side street opposite Lake View Elementary School. It’s only a quarter to three, so the girls are still in their classrooms, and the outside play area is empty apart from a lone caretaker on a riding lawn mower.

I’m not sure why I’ve come. Curiosity. Anxiousness. Maybe it’s simply because I don’t like loose ends. Loose ends can be dangerous things, tripping you up when you least expect it. I sink my teeth into the last round of sushi. It’s wonderfully sweet and salty. Salmon and avocado. The nori is a little on the chewy side, but it’s still good with the soy sauce. Once I’m done, I wipe my sticky fingers on the paper napkin, and sit looking out the window.

Parents are parking up in their shiny late-model SUVs, or gathering in groups of three and four outside the school gates. They are carbon copies of the Bart’s preschool moms. Youthful, well-toned women. A couple of men. Some nannies, too. I scan the cars, trying to pick out O’Leary’s unmarked, but don’t see it.

At precisely three o’clock, girls in smart uniforms complete with blazers, ties, white ankle socks, and black T-bar shoes come tumbling out of the building. More parents arrive. More cars. I can’t keep track. Then at 3:15, I notice a vehicle parked some ways back up the road, facing the school, same make and model as O’Leary’s. I slide down in my seat afraid that if it is him, he might see me.

I watch the car. Try to make out the figure behind the steering wheel. It could be him, but I can’t really tell from this angle and distance. I think about getting out and going over, but decide against it. Sometimes it’s better not to show your hand all at once.

The cars and people begin to thin out, and I’m starting to feel like a sitting duck. A woman with a Pomeranian on a leash walks by and glances at me strangely. Then, when I look back, the car that might be O’Leary’s is gone.

*

An uneasiness settles over me for the rest of the afternoon. I get the sinking feeling that O’Leary saw me, and now I feel like I’m caught in some kind of twisted game of cat and mouse. I glance at Jamie, who’s working on triangulation data relating to the mom and pop store killings. I could ask her to run a few checks, see if she can dig anything up on him.

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