* * *
Reeling from hearing the truth about her sister, Eva struggled to hold herself together. She didn’t want to believe the things Wade claimed Malina had done. Didn’t want to consider the fact that her sister might have got involved in something nefarious.
Still, it was impossible to ignore the truth staring her in the face. Wade had fired Malina. Her sister had lied to her. And now Cocoa was missing. All because of a stupid package.
Looking back, she had to admit that Malina had seemed distant a couple of months before her death. Preoccupied. Sometimes excited and other times depressed. At the time, Eva had assumed that Malina’s diminishing eyesight was the reason for her behavior. Even when it came to the accident, she’d thought that Malina must not have seen the car swerving toward her until it was too late.
What if she was wrong? What if the accident had been deliberate? Eva shivered.
“Do we have time to drop off the evidence before picking up Mikey?” Finn’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“I don’t think so,” she said, glancing at her watch. She wore one with a large face with the numbers in bold. “The traffic seems to be picking up and we’re closer to the preschool than we are to your headquarters.”
“Okay, we’ll pick up Mikey first.” Finn took the next right, toward the preschool. “How are you doing? I’m sure this hasn’t been easy for you.”
She let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll be fine, although it’s hard to believe Malina would have got mixed up with drugs.”
“It can happen to anyone,” Finn said. “Try not to hold it against her.”
Eva hadn’t told Finn about her retinitis pigmentosa or about the fact that Malina had suffered the same progressive disorder. Was her impending blindness the reason her sister had turned to drugs? It didn’t jibe with what she knew about Malina. How her sister had worried about her ability to take care of Mikey and whether or not Pete would continue being supportive.
Pete. Surely, if Malina was using drugs her husband would have known? Granted, the same thing could be said about Eva, but Malina and Pete were living in the same household day in and day out. It would have been much harder to hide something like drug abuse from a spouse.
At least Mikey’s reference to a bad man-made sense now. She’d tried to pooh-pooh Finn’s concern, but clearly the little boy had been exposed to something.
Why, Malina? Why would you risk your husband, your son, your life for something like drugs? Why?
Her desperate questions remained unanswered.
“Hi, Officer Finn!” At least Mikey seemed to be oblivious to her somber mood. “Hi, Abe!”
Abernathy licked Mikey’s face, making him laugh. Upon returning to the car, Eva quickly buckled Mikey into his car seat and then slid in beside him.
Finn headed back toward the K-9 headquarters. Eva knew he was anxious to find fingerprints from the paper or the rock itself. She wanted the same thing, hating to think about what the raspy guy or the stinky guy might be doing to Cocoa.
Finn left them in the SUV with the engine running. He returned less than five minutes later. “They’ll call me as soon as they get anything off the rock.”
She nodded, exhaustion weighing heavy on her shoulders. Not just from the lack of sleep the night before, but from the most recent developments.
What else hadn’t she known about her sister?
“Officer Finn, I’m hungry.” Mikey’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“We’ll order dinner once we’re home,” Finn promised. He glanced at Eva as if half expecting an argument.
“If you’re tired of ordering out, I can make grilled ham-and-cheese sandwiches,” she offered.
“I love grilled ham and cheese, but ordering something might be easier. Not only do we need to do some searching, but I’d like you to look at the video tape. There’s only one brief moment where a man in black comes into view, and I need you to tell me if he might be the raspy guy or stinky guy.”
“Sure.” She nodded and then glanced out her window, knowing that it was highly unlikely she’d be able to see the man’s features clearly enough to identify him.
Mikey’s chatter filled the silence as they fought the traffic back to Pete’s house. Finn ordered food while Eva kept busy providing Mikey with a snack to hold him over until dinner arrived.