The sheriff looked momentarily startled. “What did he mean by that?”
“I don’t know. He wouldn’t talk about it over the phone. I suggested he come to you with his concerns, but he said he didn’t want to embarrass himself or waste your time until he knew for certain he wasn’t imagining things. He asked me to come down, take a look at what he’d found and make sure he wasn’t going crazy. Also his words.”
The sheriff canted his head as he considered everything Adam had told him. “When was this?”
“He called early last week. Tuesday, I think. I owed him a favor, so I agreed to come.”
“Just like that.” There was that note of suspicion again.
Adam shrugged. “More or less.”
The sheriff said pensively, “Ellie said you arrived on Sunday of this week. Today is Thursday. I’m guessing he’s been in the water longer than five days. Weren’t you concerned when you arrived and didn’t hear from him?”
“He told me he’d be out of town for a few days. A medical conference in Houston, I think. I decided to come down early and get settled in. I wasn’t sure my grandmother’s house would even be livable. So, no, I wasn’t concerned when he didn’t call.”
Brannon’s expression turned grim. “He obviously didn’t make it to that conference. Why do you suppose he didn’t tell anyone about his change of plans? Is it possible he drove out to the lake to see you?”
The throbbing intensified at Adam’s temples. He resisted the urge to press his thumbs to the pulse points. “I doubt it. He didn’t know I would be arriving early. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision.”
Brannon fell silent. Adam could well imagine all the scenarios churning inside his head, all the loose threads and unanswered questions that would keep him awake that night. When the sheriff finally spoke, something new had crept into his voice. “How did he seem when you last talked to him?”
Adam said carefully, “If you’re asking about his mental state, the only thing I can tell you is that he didn’t seem himself. At least, not the Dr. Nance I knew. He sounded anxious and paranoid. He was sometimes distracted. Frankly, that’s another reason I agreed to come. I was afraid he might be losing it. He sounded as if he might be worried about that, too.”
Brannon turned to skim the lake, letting his gaze drift toward the bridge. For a moment, he seemed to forget Adam’s presence. “The onset of dementia would be hard for a man of his intellect and accomplishment to accept.”
“It would be hard for anyone to accept,” Adam said. “Are you suggesting he deliberately crashed his boat into those pilings?”
The sheriff frowned. “I’m not suggesting anything. Just thinking out loud.”
“Is there any reason to suspect foul play?”
The interview had shifted and Brannon didn’t like it. His scowl deepened as he returned his focus to Adam. “I’m not going to stand here and speculate about cause of death,” he said in a brusque tone. “That determination will be made by Dr. Dresden and her colleagues at the lab.”
“Dr. Dresden?” The name zinged along Adam’s scalp like an electrical shock. Dresden. Dresden. How did he know that name?
“Nikki Dresden. The Nance County coroner.”
Adam’s gaze shot across the bank to where she knelt beside the body.
Nikki Dresden. Holy hell. Now he remembered where their paths had crossed. Now he understood his strong reaction to her.
She looked very different from the last time Adam had seen her, but then, people changed in fifteen years. People grew up. Most people, anyway. He certainly wasn’t the same person he’d been at seventeen. Nikki Dresden had undergone a dramatic transformation in both appearance and stature. Adam would never have placed her if he hadn’t heard her name, but he supposed that was understandable. They hadn’t been friends or even acquaintances. He doubted they’d exchanged more than a dozen words during the entire summer he’d spent with his grandmother. Still, as odd as it now seemed, there’d been a time when he felt he knew Nikki Dresden better than he knew himself.
He scanned her features, searching for even a shadow of the eccentric girl he remembered. Gone were the black clothes, the dyed hair and the mask of heavy makeup. Her hair was still dark, but natural and glossy, her face scrubbed clean of cosmetics. She looked intense, yet comfortable in her skin and confident in her element. She had her kit open beside the body as she gathered samples, her brow furrowed in concentration. She didn’t look up from her work, but Adam had a funny feeling she was all too aware of his interest.
He watched her for a moment longer before the sheriff once again commanded his attention.
“I take it you’ll be sticking around for a while,” Brannon said.
“I don’t have a timetable.” Adam ran a hand over his head as he averted his gaze from the coroner. “There’s a lot to be done at my grandmother’s place.”
“Good luck with that. In the meantime, I’d like you to leave a contact number. Depending on the autopsy results, I may need you to come in and give a statement.” Adam supplied his phone number and the sheriff jotted it in his notebook. “I’ll be in touch. You’re free to go, but I’d appreciate your discretion until we can make the official notifications.”
Adam nodded his agreement and then moved away from the perimeter, stepping deeper into the shade of the pine forest before pausing to glance back. Between his prickling scar and throbbing temples, he felt as if the top of his head might come off. Maybe he wasn’t as healed as he wanted to believe. Maybe his peak physical condition was only an illusion or wishful thinking. Maybe he would never be the same man he’d been before the shooting.
He didn’t want to think about that. Easier to drift back into the past than to worry about his uncertain future. Besides,
