"Not at all, Deputy Nyland. But Oren is. He loves puzzles of any kind, and he's good at them."
"Which made him good at working out solutions to marketing campaigns with problems," the deputy said.
"Exactly."
"What else? What other gifts?"
"A bestseller by an author he knows I like. He stood in line for hours--so he claimed--to have the book inscribed to me. He gave me a CD that he'd burned himself. The most personal gift was a silver charm bracelet. Thin chain. One charm. A heart."
"Did you return these gifts?" Nyland asked.
"At first I tried, but Oren refused to take them back. Eventually I just kept them."
"Why?"
"Because attempting to return them involved seeing him or talking to him, and that's what I was trying to avoid."
Harris Carlisle interceded. "I think we understand the concept of stalking, don't we, Tom? Ski? The man has pestered her beyond endurance, and last night his obsession turned violent."
The sheriff nodded. "Please, Berry, continue."
"I forgot where I was."
"You moved here for the summer."
"I hoped to be rid of Oren forever. I don't know how he discovered the location of Mother's lake house--the address isn't in the phone book. But he did," she said quietly. The reminder of what had taken place caused emotion to well up in her throat.
Quietly her mother asked if she'd like some water. She shook her head. Caroline took her hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. The deputy shifted in his chair, making the old wood squeak, and looked toward the door as though anxious to adjourn.
Berry was tempted to ask if she was keeping him from something more important but then realized that of course she was. He was coordinating the search for Oren. The sooner he was done here, the sooner he could get back to it.
Without further delay, she picked up the story. "Last night Oren came to the house. He scared me out of my wits. I was in the shower. Suddenly the curtain was flung open and there he was, Psycho style. Except instead of a knife, he was pointing a gun at me."
The sheriff turned to Caroline. "You were out, I understand."
"I'd been away all day. I'd intentionally made myself scarce because Berry had told me that she and Mr. Lofland would be working on a very important project. I didn't want to be a distraction.
"After work, I went straight from the office to attend a dinner party hosted by former clients. Sort of a housewarming. I had told Berry not to wait up because I wasn't sure how late I'd be. Apparently I arrived shortly after Deputy Nyland got there. A deputy sheriff was standing guard at my front door. He forbade me to go inside.
"Berry had tried to call and alert me to the emergency, but my cell phone was in my handbag, and I'd silenced it during the party. I hadn't thought to check it before I left for home."
The sheriff looked across at Nyland. "When she got there, you two, you and Berry, were still upstairs?"
"We heard the argument between Andy and Ms. King at the front door. Came down. Ms. King called Mr. Carlisle."
"Which was my right to do."
The deputy conceded the point with a nod. "Soon as he got there, I continued interviewing Ms. Malone. First off, I asked if Starks had broken in. He hadn't."
"That's correct, Sheriff," Berry said. "All the doors to the house were unlocked. Ben and I had been in the pool, we'd cooked steaks on the outdoor grill for dinner, so we'd been going in and out all evening. I hadn't yet locked up for the night.
"Oren simply came through the front door; at least I assume he used the front door since that's the way he went out. The time between him yanking open the shower curtain and my placing the 911 call couldn't have been more than a few minutes. It all happened in a blur."
"In your statement you said the man was maniacal."
"She said he was unhinged."
Berry looked quickly at Deputy Nyland again, surprised that he recalled the exact word she'd used to describe Oren's state of mind. "That's right. He was wild-eyed. He was sputtering. 'I must kill you. You realize that, don't you? I've got to kill you.'"