Ozarks Missing Person by Maggie Wells

Author:Maggie Wells
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-01-25T21:00:21+00:00

Chapter Ten

Grace Reed knew how to make an entrance, that was for sure. The minute she walked into the prosecuting attorney’s offices, the air felt charged. The low murmur of voices paused for a few noticeable ticks of the clock. For the first time since he’d opened the folder containing a motion he intended to file in one of his cases, Matthew’s concentration broke.

He had only planned to come into the office for a few hours to line things out for Nate, but it was already past noon and he was still up to his elbows in work. Without conscious thought, he rose from his chair as she approached his open door. Her expression might have looked neutral to anyone who hadn’t spent the past two days studying her, but he knew at a glance whatever she had to tell him wasn’t good.

Wordlessly, he gestured to the guest chair across from his desk once she closed the door. “What have you heard?” he asked, suddenly grateful for his own chair as his knees grew wobbly.

“I had a call from the Benton County coroner. The initial indication of blunt-force trauma was correct. Mallory struck or was struck by something.”

“Before or after?”

“Hard to tell the exact timing, because she did aspirate water, but the angle, size and shape of the injury don’t line up with hitting her head on a log or something submerged in the water.”

He fidgeted with the pen he’d left beside a pad of legal paper. “And the angle, size and shape were?”

“It appears to be something wide and flat. The injury was to the side of her skull, behind and above her ear.” She gestured to the general vicinity on her own head. “Not generally consistent with someone hitting their head after they’ve fallen into a body of water.”

“Someone hit her with something,” he concluded.

She raised her hands in a staying motion. “It’s early days.”

He slumped into his chair. “When will they release her?”

“He said probably the end of next week.”

Matthew nodded, his mind instantly shifting to funeral arrangements, because it was far preferable to thinking about his sister’s murder.

“Have you been to her apartment yet?”

Grace’s question jarred him from his thoughts. “What?”

“Have you gone to Eureka Springs to start sorting out Mallory’s belongings?” she repeated, her diction careful.

He shook his head, gestured to his laptop and the pad filled with notes beside him. “No, I was going to call her roommate when I finished this and make sure it was okay to head over there, but I got...drawn in.”

Grace pursed her lips. He knew that look well. Had worked with the police for too long. He wasn’t getting the whole story.

“What? What am I missing?” he demanded.

She uncrossed her legs and sat forward in the chair, her elbows braced on her knees. “I want to be sure I’m clear. You have not been to the apartment Mallory shared with Kelli Simon, correct?”

He raised an eyebrow. The woman would have made a fine prosecutor if she’d been inclined. “I have not,” he stated, matching her concise delivery.

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