And in fact, she was able to narrow it down to three different Dee Jameses.
She left a voice mail for each of them.
If one of these numbers was his, he probably wasn’t picking up because he didn’t recognize her number. She gave him a few minutes to call her back or at least listen to the voice mail. If one of the men knew Sarah, maybe they would call back. Tori was counting on it. She needed to find something. She needed a win.
Someone knocked on the door. Tori grabbed her weapon and peeked through the peephole to see her father. She let him in just as her cell rang.
“I need to take this, Dad. Go ahead and work on the window.” She smiled and then looked at the phone. Her heart jumped. Maybe it was him. “Hello? Dee James?”
An intake of breath. “Yes. I’m returning your call.”
“Thanks. As I mentioned in my voice mail, I’m Tori Peterson. I’m Sarah’s sister.”
A few breaths of quiet, then he said, “I’m sorry for your loss.”
Of course, he already knew about the death.
“Yes, well, thank you.” Tori cleared her throat. “I was hoping you could help me.”
Again, he was silent for a few heartbeats. This man was wary.
“I don’t know how,” he finally said.
“Can you meet me to talk? I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.” If she could get him in person she could read his expression. Plus, he might be willing to share information—that is, if he had any.
“I don’t know anything about what happened to Sarah. I’m sorry, but you’re wasting your time if you think I can help.”
“But you were in an environmental group with her, right?”
“Yeah, so? She was in lots of groups with lots of people.”
Ah. Now. So she was getting somewhere. He knew enough about Sarah to know that. Still, she had the feeling he wasn’t going to agree to meet her. So she had to press her point and see how he reacted. “I read some information about suspicious activities such as...um...ecoterrorism. The FBI was checking into that. I... I just want to find out if Sarah was involved with the group, that’s all.”
“You already know she was involved in A Better World, and as I mentioned, many more groups besides.”
Tori was going to lose him and soon. She was surprised he’d stayed on the line this long. Maybe he feared if he didn’t satisfy her that she wouldn’t go away. “Yes, well, I mean, was Sarah involved in any suspicious or violent activities? I’m not trying to build a case. I just want to know why someone would try to kill her.”
Dad’s hammering echoed through the house and she tried to concentrate on Dee’s words. “I don’t know anything about any suspicious activities. I’m sorry for what happened to Sarah, but I don’t know anything to help.” He ended the call.
Tori stared at the cell. Her mouth went dry. The call had the kind of tension that let her know she was on to something here. Dee James probably regretted returning her call. He’d probably thought he could brush her off and make her go away. Now he would be worried and maybe even try to flee—that is, if he had something to hide.
The unnatural tension in his voice told her that he did.
Dad emerged from the hallway. “All done.”
“What? That was fast.”
“The window should be restored tomorrow afternoon.”
“Thanks, Dad.” She smiled.
“I can see you’re busy. Will your mother and I see you later?”
Tori didn’t want to lose her momentum after that conversation with Dee. “I’ll be at dinner. We can talk more then.” She got up, moved to her father and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks, Dad. I’ll see you tonight, okay?”
“Okay.” She knew him well enough to see he had more to say, but she was grateful when he kept it to himself and bade her goodbye. He let himself out. She reset the alarm and got back to work.
Thunder rumbled through the house. She made notes of her conversation and then read through more emails, carefully now. If she’d been reading too fast, she would have missed the mention of the environmental protest, though she should have known to look into that to begin with. There had to be a ton of environmental groups in the area. She would make a list of the groups and the major participants, but she was pretty sure Dee James was someone to question further and she would make sure to do that soon.
The sound of torrential rain soon followed.
Then, the power went out. Of course! After what had happened here, staying alone in the darkened bungalow was too creepy, and since she couldn’t continue her internet search, Tori decided to head out.
She wrote down an address she’d found for this Dee James and then she shut down her laptop. She might as well make use of the downtime.
After grabbing a light jacket and an umbrella, she ran to the car but was drenched even though she’d used her umbrella. The issue came when she tried to close her umbrella and tuck it inside the vehicle. Tori wiped the water from her face and smoothed her hair. Maybe she should have waited until the rain stopped but that was a moot point now. She turned on the vehicle and activated the windshield wipers.
Though she probably shouldn’t head out in the storm, sitting in Sarah’s house without power wasn’t a safe option, either. She thought of Ryan and his investigation.
See, I told you, we wouldn’t even cross paths.
No way was he following this particular lead. He needed Tori on this and didn’t even know it.
She thought back to the moment when he held her. Of them holding each other. They had been grieving together over Sarah, but there had been something more between them. Tender emotions that had nothing to do with Sarah’s death. A knot lodged in her throat. She
