A Beautiful Corpse--A Harper McClain Mystery by Christi Daugherty

Author:Christi Daugherty
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

21

Just before five o’clock, Harper pulled up in front of the police headquarters and ran inside at such speed, Darlene gave her an alarmed look.

“Uh-oh,” she said. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Harper told her, grabbing the binder of police reports Darlene held out. “I’m just late.”

She didn’t have time for chitchat. The trip to Reidsville had taken too long, and she needed to get to the paper. Baxter was expecting her story on the restraining orders by six and she hadn’t even started it yet. There’d hardly been time even to think about it.

Everything felt like it was happening at once. Weighing down on her. Naomi Scott. Wilson Shepherd. Smith. Luke. The note.

All the way back to Savannah she’d tried to figure out what the note meant. The main question—the one that she kept coming back to over and over—was: What did this guy want?

And for that one there were no answers. The note didn’t bring any clarity.

She went through the stack of crime reports so quickly she barely saw the words on the pages. Then she shoved the stack back to a puzzled Darlene and headed for the door, reaching it right as it opened and Luke walked in.

He stopped in his tracks. The stress must have showed on her face because, without a word, he turned around and followed her outside.

They stood to one side of the front door in the humid afternoon air. Cicadas buzzed from the oak tree behind them.

“Everything okay?” he asked, searching her face. “No problems last night?”

“Luke, I found something.” She took a step toward him, talking quietly. “The guy who broke into my house last year—it’s the same guy. I’m sure of it now. He left a note.”

“Wait, wait, wait.” Luke held up his hands. “Start at the beginning. What note?”

“I kept thinking about that file,” she said, leaving Smith out of the story. Luke didn’t know about the prison visits and she wasn’t about to tell him. “And it seemed to me if it was the same guy who broke into my house, he’d want me to know. And I was right. I found a note in my car. It had fallen under the seat. I know it was him.”

“What does the note say?”

Harper gave him a look. “‘You didn’t run.’”

Luke swore.

“Oh, come on. Who the hell is this guy? Why is he messing with you like this?”

She held up her hands. “I wish I knew.”

“Can I see that note? Is it still in your car?”

They walked over to the Camaro. The note lay facedown on the passenger seat.

Crouching down, Luke pulled a pen from his pocket and used it to flip the paper over.

“Do you mind if I take this? I want to run it for prints.” He glanced up at her. “We didn’t find anything usable on the keys, so this could be our only chance.”

“Take it.”

He pulled an evidence bag from his pocket and, pulling his shirt down over his fingers as a makeshift glove, picked the square of paper up gingerly.

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