Her chest was heaving, and she sucked in a breath to try and calm herself.
Her brother smiled from a picture frame on the end table next to her.
She made a fist and struck it as hard as she could, sending it flying across the room. It smacked the wood floor and the glass shattered into a thousand pieces.
“Are you okay?” her father asked from the other room.
“Yeah.”
This was what she was now. A caretaker for her father. A cop who’d veered a one-eighty degree turn off her career path for this second-string bench-warming position in the middle of the woods in nowhere, Colorado.
Why had her father just mentioned Jonathan? Was this a sick joke, pulling that memory out of the cloud of his mind and shoving it in her face, reminding her that to top it all off, she was alone in this, devoid of anything close to resembling romance in her life?
“Shit.” She looked at the glass sparkling on the floor and went to the kitchen to get a broom, quickly sweeping it up.
When she was done, she went back to her father’s room, surprised to see he was fully dressed, pulling a sweater over his head.
“You’re dressed.”
“Yeah,” he said, turning toward her with a smile that contained all the light in his eyes.
She smiled back. “Good.”
“Why wouldn’t I be dressed? I’m a grown man.”
She shook her head. “No reason.”
She walked back to the living room, pushing the marvel of her father’s condition out of her mind. She pressed the voicemail button on her phone and put it to her ear.
“Hi, this is Detective Yates over here at Headquarters in Rocky Points. I have a request from Sheriff Wolf for you. He wants you to, quote, ‘get eyes on Mary Ellen Dimitri and Rick Hammes if you can. It’s in connection to the murder up at the mine yesterday. Anyway, I was hoping to get hold of you...’”
Yates talked some more and read off some addresses, and Piper wrote them down on a piece of paper in the kitchen.
Sheriff Wolf had a request, and he wants her to get eyes on Mary Ellen Dimitri and Rick Hammes? What did that even mean—get eyes on them?
She hovered her finger over the button to call Yates back, thinking about Wolf.
When Piper had moved down from Bozeman she had originally been hired by Sheriff MacLean. After a few months in the forgotten outer reaches of the county, she had decided to relocate with her father to somewhere with more social interaction, with more support available should they need it. Five months ago, back in February, she had applied for the two deputy job openings over at the Rocky Points headquarters. She had heard absolutely nothing in response. Which was strange. Sheriff Clegg up in Gallatin County had given her a shining letter of recommendation. Her history was spotless, and she was a damn good deputy if she said so herself.
When she had followed up with a call to the Rocky Points receptionist, she’d been told she would be considered by the sheriff himself and contacted either way within the month. That was five months ago.
As far as she was concerned, Wolf had forgotten about her back then. And now he’s specifically requesting her to do something? Now he’s calling her, by name, to go get eyes on someone? What did that even mean?
Situations are what you make of it. Her mother’s words echoed in her head.
She watched her father enter the kitchen and pour himself a bowl of cereal. He picked up the remote control off the coffee table, turned on the TV, and sat back in his favorite chair, munching his Kix cereal.
“What am I supposed to make of this situation, Mom?” she asked herself.
“What?” her dad said.
“Nothing.”
Maybe this was her opportunity to involve herself. Her in. Back in February she’d allowed herself to dream while her resume was being vetted. She had driven into Rocky Points and seen the thriving Main Street economy. The walking paths. The parks. The trails. The ski mountain.
She could see herself living among it all. Right now Piper had the help of her mother’s former best friend, Stacy Armistead. Stacy did a good job helping with her father here in Dredge, but she had her own problems, her own life with three grandkids and a son who needed help raising them. As far as professional help beyond Stacy, there was none available here in Dredge, at least not of the caliber Piper sought for her father.
With a full deputy salary and benefits down in Rocky Points, she could afford professional care during the day while she was at work.
And what about work? Just like back in Bozeman, she’d be rubbing elbows with dozens of other men and women. Skiing in the winter. Mountain biking in the summer. Friends. Bars. Restaurants. Maybe even a romantic life.
“Yates here.”
She looked down at her phone, realizing she’d accidentally pushed the call button. She put it to her ear.
“Hi. This is Deputy Cain, you just left me a voicemail.”
“Oh yes, hi Deputy Cain. Detective Yates, we met yesterday.”
“Right, I remember,” she lied, trying to put a face to the name and coming up blank. “Listen, I got your voicemail, I just wanted to make sure I heard that correctly. You want me to find Mary Ellen Dimitri and Rick Hammes?” She read off the addresses.
“That’s correct. And, like I said, you’re not to engage either of them.”
“Okay. What’s going on?”
“They’re people of interest in the Chris Oakley murder yesterday.”
“Rick Hammes is already on my list,” she said. “With his parole I mean. I’m aware of him.” She chuckled. “And I’m glad you’re telling me not to engage him. I’m not sure
