Already Gone (A Laura Frost FBI Suspense Thriller—Book 1) by Blake Pierce (notion reading list .txt) 📗

“Would you like something to drink?” heoffered, his eyes flicking between their faces and their FBI-approved suits. “Tea,coffee, water?”

“I’ll take a coffee, thanks,” Nate said.He glanced at Laura as he sat down, prompting her to take his cue.

“Same for me, thanks,” she said. “Justblack, for both of them.”

“Got it.” The husband stood, squeezinghis wife’s hand and mouthing something to her—Laura guessed it was somethinglike “you okay?”—before disappearing back into the hall.

“I’ll help with that.” That was a voicefrom the sole armchair: the young deputy who had been sitting with the family.He stood and nodded to both Nate and Laura before leaving, allowing the sheriffto sit down in his place.

“So, Mrs. Howard,” Nate said, his tonelight and gentle.

“Oh—Tara, please,” she said, tucking astrand of dirty-blonde hair quickly behind her ear.

“Tara,” Nate resumed. “We’re very sorryfor your loss. You were the older sister, is that right?”

“Yes.” Tara had a birdlike way abouther, from her rapid movements to her thinness. Caroline had been a littlebigger, which on balance made her look healthier. Ironic, considering the onlytime Laura had seen her so far, she’d been dead. “Oh, god. I’m sorry. I juststill can’t believe it. I only spoke to her the night before. It doesn’t seemreal.”

“When you spoke to her, did she seem anydifferent than usual?” Laura asked, wanting to get a picture of her mentalstate. “Was she upset, tired, anxious, angry?”

“Nothing like that,” Tara said, with aless frantic tone, a more relaxed sag of her shoulders. Laura saw Nate closehis mouth, leaning back against the chair, out of the corner of her eye. If Tarawas more responsive to Laura’s questions, then he was obviously happy to letLaura do all of the asking. “She was normal. A bit annoyed, but not withanything that would make me think something was going on.”

“What was she annoyed about, then?”Laura asked.

“Oh, life.” Tara shrugged, then drew atissue out of her sleeve and dabbed it against her eyes. “She was alwayscomplaining about that stupid little apartment. I can’t believe she… that thatwas the last place she saw.”

“Why did she have such a small place?”Laura said, her tone gentle enough that she hoped it didn’t sound like a rudequestion. “You seem to be doing better here, and Caroline lived alone. Was shesingle?”

“It wasn’t her fault,” Tara saidquickly, shaking her head. “She got divorced a few years ago. Carrie and Davidjust weren’t compatible in the end. But it left her without any savings, and soshe had to start again from scratch. She was working her way up. Not muchlonger, and I think she’d have been on the path to getting out of there,getting somewhere nicer. Maybe finding love again.”

This seemed to set off a fresh round of tears,and Tara held the tissue against her eyes for a long moment, her shouldersshaking up and down. Laura glanced at the sheriff, giving her a moment toherself.

“David?” Nate asked, his voice low.

The sheriff shook his head. “We’vealready looked into him. He’s now happily settled with a new partner, and hehas an alibi for last night. Absolutely solid. He was nowhere near theapartment when it happened.”

“Any children?” Nate continued, stillkeeping his head turned toward the sheriff. Tara was getting herself undercontrol, sniffling and looking up from her tissue.

“No,” the sheriff said. “Both theparents are deceased, too, isn’t that right?”

“Yes, they passed away years ago,” Tarasaid. She had a weary look; she must have been up most of the night, crying andmourning her sister the whole time. She probably needed some rest. “That’s whythere wasn’t anyone to give her any support. I would have if I could, but thekids…”

“She knew you loved her, darling,” thehusband said, coming back into the room with two full mugs. He put one of themin Laura’s hand and the other in his wife’s before taking his seat again.Behind him, the deputy entered, handing a third mug to Nate while keeping afourth for himself. “She knew you would have helped more if you could.”

Laura cradled the coffee in her hands,warming them on the surface of the mug. It wasn’t cold out, but sometimes thewarmth of a cup of coffee was exactly what you needed when you had to sit andwatch someone mourn the loss of a family member. It was hard to stayprofessional, and this little drop of comfort helped.

“I know…” Tara paused, sighing deeply. “Ijust… if we could have helped her get a bigger place sooner, she wouldn’t have beenthere…”

“It’s best not to dwell on what-ifs,”Laura said, not unkindly. She would know; that was part of why she’d spiraledover years past, how she’d struggled with alcohol and losing her partner anddaughter. “Do you have any idea if there was anyone who might want to hurt yoursister? Anyone at all?”

“No,” Tara said, looking down into hermug miserably. “No, I don’t know why anyone would. She was a good person. Shewas just living her life.”

“Anyone at all?” Laura prompted. “I knowit can feel like you don’t want to get anyone in trouble, but it’s better thatwe investigate and clear someone from our inquiry than to have no leads to workon.”

“So you don’t have any leads?” thehusband asked, his head snapping up.

“We have a working theory at this time,but any information we can get will always help,” Nate said, deliberatelytaking over as if he didn’t want them getting angry with Laura. He was alwaysher rock. A wall between her and the very worst of people. Laura felt grief hither like a knife to the gut. Who was going to do that when he was gone? “Notjust for the arrest, but for help with a conviction, too.”

“There’s really no one,” Tara said,sounding a little distant. “Sorry. I wish I could help.”

“You’ve helped a lot,” Laura saidsoftly. “You’ve given us a bit more of a picture of who Caroline was, and that’sreally important. We want to catch the person who did this just as much as youdo.”

The husband looked doubtful, but henodded. Laura turned her head slightly in Nate’s direction, catching his eye toform a question in her look.