So far, the only print that lifted clean and had a match was Zane’s. And it had come from the kitchen, where he’d been in and out the night of Zoe’s going-away party.
Jo was clicking through mug shot after mug shot when she was told she had a visitor waiting to speak to her.
Instead of inviting them into her office, Jo left her desk and came to the front of the station.
Her clerk offered the briefest of introductions. “Sheriff, this is Ms. Pensky.”
Jo’s first thought was Doesn’t that hairstyle hurt? From the pinched face, she imagined it did.
“How can I be of assistance, Ms. Pensky?”
The woman tapped a card she had been holding and handed it over. “I’m with Child Protective Services, investigating a case I believe you’re familiar with.”
Jo glanced at the card briefly and hid all the emotion from her face. Much as she’d love to tell the woman to leave, she didn’t think that would bode well for Mel and Hope. “Perhaps we should talk in my office.”
Ms. Pensky followed her inside and sat on the very edge of the seat.
“I don’t think this will take long,” Ms. Pensky told her.
The woman stared at her for a long minute before continuing. “I’m investigating the welfare and living conditions of Hope Bartlett.”
One of the things Jo had learned in the academy, and from her father, was the art of silence when she truly wanted information. “Oh?”
“A complaint came through our office stating that she’s in physical danger in her current living situation.”
Oh, Nathan . . . when I get my hands on you.
“That’s absurd.”
Ms. Pensky had a flatline smile. “How can you say that? Aren’t you searching for a recent guest of the inn in which Hope lives?”
“I am. So is the FBI.”
“Didn’t the man walk in, ask for a room, sleep under the same roof as Hope Bartlett, yet no one knows who he is?”
Jo felt herself being led down a rabbit hole. It was time to hide behind the law.
“The details of the investigation are not for public knowledge.”
Ms. Pensky did that staring thing.
Jo matched her.
“Are you not personal friends with Melanie Bartlett?”
“I am.”
“Has Hope ever slept in your home, Sheriff?”
“Why do you ask?”
Ms. Pensky let her eyes sweep up and down Jo’s frame. “Do you leave your weapons at the station when you go home, Sheriff?”
Jo’s back teeth started to hurt for all the grinding she was putting them through. “You’re wasting your time, Ms. Pensky.” She stood and indicated that Ms. Pensky do the same.
“One more thing, Sheriff. Did you recently respond to a disturbance call at R&B’s?”
Jo pulled a slow breath, replied with a hiss she wished she could control. “Yes.”
“And did you not bring into your station Wyatt Gibson, Ms. Bartlett’s current lover? The man she was with the night before Hope’s disappearance?”
“Mr. Gibson wasn’t charged with anything.”
“But he was involved in a bar fight, was he not? Indicating a propensity for violence. Something the office of Child Protective Services is very interested in since he is in close contact with that poor child.”
“Wyatt Gibson is a well respected and law-abiding citizen of River Bend, Ms. Pensky. You won’t find one person in this town who will disagree with me.”
Ms. Pensky stood and cracked the line of her lips with a sneer. “I do believe you might be a little too close to the victim’s mother to be objective, Sheriff.”
“It’s a small town, Ms. Pensky. I’ve known most of the residents all of my life. Safe to say I’m close to all of them. That doesn’t stop me from doing my job.”
“I’m sure you’re right.” She dripped with insincerity.
Jo followed her out.
Her clerk offered a smile and instantly dropped it when she noticed Jo’s pained expression.
They’d just about made it out the door when Ms. Pensky fired her last shot. “Oh, Sheriff, one more thing.”
“What might that be?”
“Isn’t the suspect who put poor Hope Bartlett in the hospital still on the loose?”
“We haven’t apprehended him yet.”
“I was told that Hope was found on the side of a cliff, left to die, I believe those were the words from many of the volunteers that were present the day she was found.”
Jo found herself rubbing her thumb and index finger on her right hand. “Do you have a point?”
“How safe is the only surviving witness to a crime?”
“Every precaution is being made to ensure Hope is safe. No one wants that more than the residents, family, and friends of this town.”
“Good. Good. My only concern is Hope’s welfare.”
As much as Jo wanted to see the last of the woman, she went ahead and stopped her from leaving with a question of her own.
“Oh, Ms. Pensky?”
The woman showed surprise when Jo called her back.
“Yes?”
“How well do you know Nathan Stone?”
Ms. Pensky lifted her chin, didn’t smile, and stared.
“Who?”
Gotcha! The woman could interrogate, but she was shit for lying.
“Have a nice day, Ms. Pensky.”
“You do the same, Sheriff.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The street between Sam’s diner and Miller’s Auto was blocked off to traffic. Miss Gina’s special lemonade bridge club started setting up tables by ten. Backyard barbeques were lined up on the street outside of the only market in town. A staple of any small town festivity was the American flag, several of which the volunteer fire department pulled out and flew on every streetlight in town.