“I’m finding a lot of discrepancies across each of these. Is that normal?” she asked, holding up the case reports I’d given her for half the victims.

“Like what?” I said, perking up.

I’d been sitting in the living room armchair for an hour, making notes in the margins of all the papers I had. She had taken to spreading things out on the floor. Birdie and Alonzo kept passing by her for occasional pets.

I swore I caught a glare from Alonzo on one of his laps.

“For example, this one says a witness saw her at the pub at 9:00 PM, but the final report and statement claim she was nowhere near there. Instead, it claims she must have been out for a run or walk,“ Len said, crinkling her nose.

I lean forward in the chair, taking in what she said. Someone messed with the report.

“This one says it was her first time visiting the bar, but I happen to know from my research, she was a regular there.”

Someone was definitely messing with the reports. I started shifting through mine faster, trying to find similar mistakes. Although I didn’t see as many glaring errors, the reports were certainly riddled with tiny ones, careless work.

“I don’t get it,” Len said. “Why would anyone falsify reports? How does that help them if it’s obvious an officer did it?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But it’s somewhere to start.”

“I don’t think the sheriff will answer our questions so easily now,” Len said.

“We aren’t going to ask him,” I said, rubbing at my chin. “We’ll find another way. We don’t have enough to say exactly who touched these.”

She continued on the floor, barely making a sound. If not for me periodically glancing up to check on her, I wouldn’t even know she was there. Every time her hand moved to her necklace, I caught the movement. Seeing her instinctively touch it hurt no less each time. She hadn’t taken it off since the dinner. A lump formed in my throat, knowing what I had to ask her.

It wasn’t fair, but we were running out of leads. She’d already been through so much pain, and I knew this would only drag up more.

I wouldn’t ask if you weren’t my only option. 

I kept reminding myself over and over, working up the courage. It had been days since her brother‘s dinner, and I had to stop treating her like she was a ticking time bomb, give her more credit than that.

“Why are you giving me that look?” she asked.

“What?” I answered, taken aback.

She raised a brow and bit the inside of her cheek. “The one where you watch me like one of your puzzles to solve. It’s hard to work when I feel you watching my every move.”

Fair point.