Eight years, and she was still feeding the cat.
Molly thought that if Zachary re-investigated Declan’s death, it would bring Isabella some peace.
But the woman was still feeding her missing cat eight years later.
Chapter Four
It was a couple of days before the copy of the medical examiner’s report was ready for him. Zachary kept himself busy in the interim with his other cases. Surveillance on Pastor Hellerman’s wife. A long, tedious review of the accident reconstruction he had done on the Mae Gordon accident. Running background on the interns who had applied to work with Senator Brown. There was plenty to keep him busy.
Martin Ash was running the security check-in at the police station and gave Zachary a big smile as he approached. He had always been friendly with Zachary, even when Zachary was running an investigation that was not popular with the police force, which happened more often than he liked. It had been a while since he had seen the big, black man. Martin pushed a bin toward Zachary for the contents of his pockets. Zachary put his briefcase down on the conveyor belt behind it and walked through the metal detector.
“How are you, my friend?” Martin boomed. “And how is Bridget?”
“I’m good.” Zachary picked up his keys and wallet from the bin after it went through the x-ray. “Bridget is in remission.”
A look of confusion passed over Martin’s face. His brows drew down. “In remission?” he repeated. “She was sick?”
Zachary’s heart sank. He had assumed that Martin was part of the grapevine and knew all the details or that they had talked about it at some point already. He was unprepared for Martin’s ignorance. For a moment he was frozen, unable to speak. He swallowed and licked his dry lips.
“Uh—yes—sorry, I thought you knew. She had ovarian cancer.”
“Oh.” Martin shook his head, looking shocked. His smile was gone. He tried to meet Zachary’s eyes, though Zachary did his best to avoid connecting. “I’m so sorry, Zachary! I didn’t know.” He patted Zachary on the back.
“It’s fine. I’m sorry to spring it on you like that. It seems like everyone knows all of the details, whether I have told them or not, so I just assumed that you knew, and were asking about the cancer treatments…”
“But she’s in remission. So that’s good. That means she’s clean and they caught it in time.”
“Yes, exactly.” Zachary tried to force a smile of reassurance. “She’s good. She’s recovering from the chemo and starting to feel back to her old self.”
“Good, good. So, the two of you…” Martin tried to approach it delicately, but he had no tact to speak of, “…does that mean you won’t be able to have children? Because of the cancer and the radiation?”
Zachary swore. He should have headed off that inquiry at the same time as he informed Martin that Bridget had had cancer. He should have broken it all at once instead of leaving it open-ended.
“We aren’t together anymore,” Zachary told Martin gently. “I’m sorry…”
“You broke up?” Martin shook his head. “How could that happen?”
There were other people waiting for security clearance, and Zachary made a little motion toward them. “I shouldn’t keep you. You have a job to do.”
“I can’t believe you guys aren’t together anymore.” Martin moved like a robot to clear the next person in line, not smiling at him or greeting him. “I thought you two were happy together.”
“For a while.” But even as Zachary said it, he wondered if it was true. Had they really been happy? He had loved her. He’d hoped for a long life together, but the way things had turned out… things had never been perfect. It had always been rocky. “I think the cancer was just too much for us. Too much stress.”
Martin nodded, the corners of his mouth drawn down in a pronounced frown. Zachary didn’t think he’d ever seen Martin unhappy before.
“Sorry,” Zachary apologized again, getting on his way and leaving Martin to clear the next visitor.
After the run-in with Martin, Zachary was anxious and on edge. Not the best side to show to the new girl in the medical examiner’s office. He tried to be pleasant and cordial, but he knew he wasn’t pulling it off. Kenzie kept attempting to make small talk as Zachary looked down at the photocopied report in his hand, but he couldn’t seem to find the proper responses to keep the conversation going and put her at ease.
“Is everything okay?” Kenzie asked finally.
“Yes… it’s fine… I just…” Zachary shook his head, looking for a way to explain. “I just had some news, that’s all.”
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.” Her dark eyes searched his face, and she decided not to ask him for details. She took one of her business cards out of the holder on her desk, scribbled on it, and slid it across to him. “Call me, okay? If there’s anything in that report that you want to run through. Or if you want to talk.”
Zachary gave her a smile that felt stretched and nodded his head. “Thanks; and I’m sorry for being out of sorts. We’ll talk.”
Kenzie nodded and smiled. He could feel her eyes on him all the way to the end of the hallway before he turned and was out of her sight.
Zachary watched the blond woman get out of her yellow VW. She locked it with her remote key lock as she walked away. It gave a little chirp, and she never looked back.
He knew her routine. Coffee at The Jumping Bean. Not on the terrace because it was too cold and snowy to be open, but inside where it was warm, sitting pleasantly close to the tiny fireplace. Then she would start her errands. The parking zone she was in gave her three hours. She would likely use all of that and then restart the meter.
Zachary sidled up to the car, looking casual like
