“This place?” Zoe frowned up at theexterior, which seemed innocuous enough. “Why? There was not even a line to getin.”
Shelley shrugged. “Trends move on. Theypioneered this blend of craft ales and signature cocktails which are unique tothe songs being played over the… and I can see I’m losing you, so let’s justkeep going. So, they all came here.”
“Right.” Zoe nodded, tossing the informationabout the bar out of her head. “They all posted about it on social media. Andit’s called Bar 23 West, you see?”
Shelley paused, cocking her head at anangle of ten degrees. “No, not really.”
Zoe could almost growl with irritation.How could Shelley be so dense? “Twenty-three,” she repeated, with heavyemphasis.
“... Like the tattoos?” Shelley said.She bit her lip again, making a pained expression. “Zoe, that’s a bit of aleap.”
“No, it is not,” Zoe insisted. She dugher notebook out of her coat pocket and thrust it at Shelley, with the rightpage open. “Look. See? All of these numbers. They all add up. And the bar staffthat work here, they would be able to see credit card numbers. ID for dates ofbirth and ages. The tattoos. All of it.”
Shelley read over the list, her headslowly shaking. That wasn’t the reaction that Zoe had been looking for. Sheseethed with irritation, itching to get back inside and finish the job.
“Zoe, this is all happenstance. This isn’tproof of anything. And no judge would give you an arrest warrant based on this.This isn’t how we do things.”
“What are you talking about?” Zoe wantedto rip her own hair out. “It is him. It has to be.”
“Even if you’re right, we don’t approachit like this. You don’t just walk into a crowded bar without backup—withouteven transport to get you back to the precinct—and arrest someone. You have todo your due diligence, the background work. Have you done any of that? Do youeven know what his name is?”
Zoe deflated a little. She hadn’tthought it through fully, that much was true. But she was still right.
“Look, just wait here, all right?”Shelley suggested. “I’ll be a minute, maybe less. Will you give me that?”
Reluctantly, Zoe nodded. What else couldshe do? It wasn’t as though her partner was being unreasonable. As much as shewanted to ignore her and go right ahead, she had to cede to common sense.
She stood miserably, waiting for Shelleyto do whatever she was doing and come back. The distant noises of the city, andthose closer at hand, washed over her. It was a strange kind of sudden silence,in comparison to the din of the bar and then Shelley’s conversation. She feltisolated, vulnerable.
True to Shelley’s word, she was not gonelong. She came back and laid a hand on Zoe’s upper arm before speaking,obviously feeling some concern. “I just spoke to the door staff. Everyone whois behind the bar tonight was working when Naomi Karling was killed. None ofthem could be the murderer.”
Zoe stared at her. The words all madesense in English, but their meaning eluded her.
“I know you were really convinced aboutthis,” Shelley continued. “I just think you need some rest, Z. You’re tired.”
“How did you know I was here?” Zoeasked.
“What?” Shelley blinked, struggling toreact to the sudden change in direction.
“How did you find me? I did not tellanyone I was coming here.”
Shelley paused again, rubbed the back ofher neck. Zoe was beginning to be irritated by those pauses. She wasrecognizing that they indicated Shelley deciding whether or not to say something—whetheror not to protect her from the truth. “Don’t be mad,” she said, which was notthe best start. “When you were distracted earlier, I turned on location sharingon your phone. I thought it might be handy, just in case we got separated.”
“You betrayed my privacy,” Zoe saidflatly.
Shelley shook her head, blowing out aheavy breath. Her eyes had narrowed by ten percent, forced up by the twistingof Shelley’s mouth. “No, Zoe, I didn’t mean to. I just—I was worried about you.Sometimes, when you have these ideas, you go off by yourself. I thought if youwere right, and you did manage to track down the killer—well, you might be indanger.”
Zoe opened her mouth to object, but thenshut it again. Actually, what Shelley said made a lot of sense. Moreover, Zoecould hardly argue that it didn’t—when going off alone in search of a killerwas exactly what she had done.
“You should have asked me,” she said.
“Would you have allowed me to do it?”
“No.”
“That’s why I didn’t ask.” Shelley swepta hand over her own brow, pushing her blonde hair back. “Look, Z, I’m sorry. Iam. I just wanted to make sure you stayed safe.”
Zoe tried to regain the righteous angerthat had burned through her only a moment before, but found that it was gone.Shelley was right. She had predicted that Zoe might go off alone and need help,and that was exactly what had happened. She had even shown up in time toprevent Zoe from publicly arresting an innocent man without due cause.
“We should go back to the motel,”Shelley said. “Get some sleep.”
At last, Zoe nodded. She couldn’t arguewith that. Maybe if she did finally get some rest, she would wake up withoutthe number twenty-three ringing in her head. Maybe she could get some clarityand actually find a real lead that might help them solve the case, instead ofchasing wild geese.
Anything, so long as they could stop thereal killer from striking again.
***
Zoe rearranged the thin pillows on thebed, trying to find some way forward. To sleep, to rest. Why was it that theharder you tried to fall asleep, the harder it was to do?
The journey back to the motel had beenone of reflection, and now, wrapped in the scratchy over-washed sheets, sheknew that Shelley had made a very good point. She knew because the numbers werestill itching away at her, well past the point of rawness. Everywhere shelooked, even when she closed her
