Forest Trap (The Rose Landgreen Mysteries Book 1) by Sigrid Holm

Author:Sigrid Holm [Holm, Sigrid]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MP Press LLC
Published: 2024-05-12T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Rose sat at the desk in her office. Her boots were dusty, even though the forest floor at the crime scene had been grass and pine needles.

It’d been a long day already, and it wasn't over yet. Maybe it would drag out over several days. Maybe it would turn into weeks.

Right now, they were waiting for the search warrant for Moore’s house. Brian was on the phone, trying to sort out where it was.

In front of her stood an open bottle of water, but she wanted a cup of coffee. It was almost ten in the evening, but she’d not had coffee in the morning because she was out and hadn’t gone grocery shopping. Her body held a grudge, nudging her all day to catch up. Or maybe her mind just wanted to worry about something other than the dead jeweler in the snare.

At least it wasn’t the coil of wire in her shed. She’d driven home to check.

Rose should also check on her mother. It’d been two days already. Lily’s good spells usually lasted a few days, even a week. She would dig, but she would also eat and shower and sleep. It was all anyone could ask of a mother who had lost her first daughter.

The phone rang. Rose screwed the cap back on the bottle and answered. It wasn’t Pam for once, but the station’s second receptionist. “Candy?”

“I’m sorry, Rose. I know you’re in over both ears already.” Candy sounded as if it was her, not Rose, who had two bodies on her hands. “But Hensley’s gone home and there was a big traffic accident in town, so the traffic cops are all busy.”

“What’s going on?”

“There’s a woman here who needs to see someone about her little girl.”

“What about the little girl?”

“She didn’t come home.”

A high-pitched voice said something in the background. It sounded muffled, as if Candy was pressing a hand over the receiver.

Rose stood. “I’m coming out.” She hung up and hurried to the door.

What was going on in Twin Creek? There couldn’t be a child missing on top of an unearthed skeleton and a snared jeweler who just lost his wife, could there?

“Hey—are you the detective?”

Candy was leaning forward in her chair to peek down the corridor. “You have to wait over here, ma’am, please!”

Ignoring Candy, a woman in her twenties came speed-walking toward Rose. She was dressed in a loose gray T-shirt, jeans, and running shoes. Her face was pale, the eyes big and fixed. “My little girl didn’t come home.”

“Come this way,” Rose said. She waved to Candy that it was okay and pushed her office door wider. “Tell me.”

“I didn’t know—my husband’s in the army, he’s deployed, and my neighbor thought I had to wait twenty-four hours.” The woman slid into the visitor chair and rubbed a hand over her face. She looked like she was in pain, but Rose knew it was panic.

“No, you don’t have to wait. Let’s sit for a second. Tell me your name and what happened.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.