“Can you take me through it?”
“I called out, then came right back here. I took out the bakery boxes, and I’d brought some pretty bookmarks, so I got a cup of coffee and one of her little vases to arrange them in. I set them on the table. I decided to go upstairs, see if she was nearly ready, but she wasn’t upstairs. I wasn’t concerned, just puzzled. I thought maybe she’d decided to run out for something, so I … I took out my ’link to tag her. I heard it ring from her office, so I went there. And I saw her. I saw my baby.”
“Take your time.”
“I think I could use that water now after all.”
Eve rose, found a glass, filled it.
“I don’t know if I blacked out or fell, or … I came back to myself on the floor, just sitting on the floor in the doorway of her office. I kept hearing this awful noise, like an animal in pain. It was me. It was me.”
Covering her face with her hands, Catherine rocked. “I wanted to go to her, to my baby, but I knew I shouldn’t. Preserve the scene—that’s the term, isn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am. You did the right thing.”
“They came very quickly. It seemed like years, but I know they came quickly, the MTs, and the police. Officer Krasinsky—Mike—I’ve known him since he was a boy. He’s been in the store many times. It helped to have someone who knew us.”
“Do you know, or did your daughter know, Dr. Kent Abner?”
“I don’t think so.” Catherine drank more water, pushed her hands through her hair, pressed her fingers to her eyes. “I heard, there was a story about his death on Channel Seventy-five this morning. This is … the same?”
“It’s possible. Have there been any problems at your bookstore? Employees you or your daughter had to reprimand, even let go?”
“We’re like a family.”
“Customers who’ve caused problems?”
“We’re pretty good at handling complaints. We have customers
who’ve shopped with us for fifty years, who span generations. We’re not a huge business, you understand, but a steady one, a neighborhood fixture. Elise worked there three times a week—more if we needed. She focused on raising her boys, running the house, but she couldn’t stay away from her second home. That’s what First Page was for her. For us. No one who knew her would have wished her harm. I swear I’d tell you, without hesitation, if I knew of anyone. Even a sliver of doubt about anyone. She’s my only child.”
Catherine managed to drink more water. “The world’s still going on outside this house. But for me, everything stopped. Do you know what I mean?”
“I do.”
“I need Rob. I need my husband. I need to tell him.”
“Where would he be now?”
“At the store.”
“Why don’t we send Officer Krasinsky and his partner to the store, and have your husband taken home? We’ll take you home. We’ll…” She started to say notify, amended. “We’ll talk with your son-in-law, and have him and your grandsons brought to you.”
“Yes, yes, then we’ll be together. We need to be together now.” She swiped at her eyes, then reached out and gripped Eve’s hand with her still damp one. “Nadine Furst wrote truth. You care. It shows. It matters.”
Peabody had started back as Eve walked toward the front of the house. “I’ve got Krasinsky and his partner taking the father and the bookstore, and pulled a couple more uniforms in to finish the canvass.”
“Good.” Eve rubbed at the tension in the back of her neck. “We need an escort to take Ms. Fitzwalter home, and let’s have her taken around the back. She doesn’t need to see what’s going on out here.”
“I’ll call for transpo. Look, why don’t I walk her around when they get here? So it’s not another face, but one she’s already seen.”
“Yeah, do that. Go, I don’t know, sit with her until. I’m going to start upstairs.”
“Should I have EDD come in, scan the electronics?”
“Yeah. Allied?”
“Tracked the package. You were right, another drop-off, twenty-three hundred. The charge? To an account of a ninety-three-year-old woman who reported her ’link missing less than an hour ago.”