“Great,” Laura sighed. She immediately began a hacking cough that felt like it was tearing chunks out of the lining of her throat. Nate rubbed her back soothingly until she finished. “Ugh.”
“You’ll get used to it and stop triggering it,” Nate said. “You want to go back to the motel?”
Laura shook her head. “I’m too awake. We should debrief.”
“Fine. But I’ll debrief, you’ll listen, and just nod if everything sounds right,” Nate said. “You should stop talking too much or you’ll hurt your throat even more.”
Laura nodded emphatically with her eyebrows raised to show him that she understood.
“Alright,” Nate said. “So, on my side, I was checking out the furthest ship and just coming off deck in order to go to the next when I thought I heard your scream. That was you, right?”
Laura nodded quietly.
“Then I ran over, but it was so dark I couldn’t tell where you were or what was happening. I hesitated on the walkway for a moment, and I thought I heard something coming from theSaint Marieover the sound of the waves. I was almost there when I heard the splash and saw it must have been someone falling from the deck. I didn’t know if it was you or Schafer or the killer or someone else, but when they didn’t come up right away, I dove in to help.”
“You saved him,” Laura said.
Nate gave her a look. “No editorializing,” he said. “Remember? Anyway, yeah. I got him on dry ground and then he was so out of it, it was easy to arrest him.”
Laura tapped her head, mimed writing something with a pen, and then shrugged her shoulders up and down.
Nate frowned and tilted his head at her.
Laura shook hers in frustration. “Do we have a psychological report yet?”
“No, they couldn’t find anyone at this short notice to do it tonight,” he said, sighing. “Someone will be here in the morning, so we’ll read the report later. But what I do know is that he’s deathly afraid of water. That’s what it was all about—protecting himself from the water. I gather something went down with his father too. That was the flashpoint for everything that came after. Schafer gave a witness statement that Jens told him that he’d killed his father for laughing at him when he nearly drowned a week or so ago.”
Laura shuddered. That was horrible. For a parent to mock their child like that when they’d had a brush with death that clearly terrified them. She wouldn’t ever say that murder was justified, but she could understand how, under the right—or rather, wrong—conditions, something like that could push someone to the edge and even over it.
“Anyway, with the attack on both you and Schafer we should have enough evidence to get him convicted. A good lawyer might convince him to plead guilty. An even better one might give him a story to tell the jury, I suppose, to try and get it down to manslaughter.”
Laura nodded, shrugging to show that she agreed with his assessment.
“Come on,” Nate said. “Let’s at least go back to the motel and sit there instead of in this place. I’m sick of the cardboard coffee. We can get takeout and sit in my room if you don’t want to go to sleep yet.”
Laura nodded, getting up. Being silent like this felt odd, and it was getting old already. She wasn’t sure how long she was going to be able to keep it up. At least, she thought darkly, if she wasn’t allowed to speak, then she couldn’t tell anyone she loved any more lies.
Laura followed Nate out of the Sheriff’s station. One of the deputies, the one she’d seen Nate talking to before, stopped to shake his hand and thank them both for their work. Laura nodded and smiled politely. No small talk—that was another benefit, now that she thought of it.
The Sheriff was in his office. Laura looked up and saw him watching them from the doorway. It was the perfect opportunity for him to come over, to thank them for solving the case, to apologize for the mistakes he’d made early in the case and his lack of communication.
He closed his door.
Laura considered it a loss and left it at that, knowing that there was no chance he was going to improve. At least they weren’t going to have to work here any longer, though she had concerns about the citizens of Jones Harbor should any kind of crime ever happen here again.
“Alright,” Nate said, lifting a hand of farewell. “Good luck with everything.”
“You too, man,” the deputy said enthusiastically, grabbing the door to hold it open for them as Nate and Laura passed outside and left the Sheriff’s station for the last time.
Nate led the way to the car, getting behind the wheel automatically, and Laura didn’t argue. She slid into the passenger seat and slumped back, opening the mirror above to check her neck. The angry red marks left by the rope were a mess. She was going to have a hard time explaining this to Lacey without leaving her daughter terrified.
“I, um…” Nate started, and then stopped, which was unusual for him. He shifted in his seat as he pulled onto the road, even though the town was dark and no one else was driving around, as if he needed to focus hard on the task. He cleared his throat. “I was thinking about that nightmare that you had.”
It took Laura a long moment. That morning felt like it had happened three years ago. “Oh,” she said, which was all she managed before he carried on.
“I was an idiot,” Nate said, shaking his head at himself. “I really was, Laura. I don’t know where I was coming from. You should tell him the truth.”
“Really?” Laura said. “That’s a complete one-eighty from what you said before.”