“Thank you,” he said. He didn’t know where to start.

“If I may,” the administrator said as if she’d read his mind, “I would start with wrongful death accusations. They are the bulk of the lawsuits, to be honest. The others are nuisance cases or minor complaints. One mother sued because she waited in the emergency room for twelve hours before her daughter was seen. We were in the middle of a multicar accident, numerous victims, and she brought her daughter in for a cough that turned out to be nothing more than the common cold. I don’t see someone like that killing anyone, but the warrant was clear that you needed every case where Anne Banks was mentioned.”

True.

“I took the liberty of separating the cases into wrongful death or injury and everything else. Hopefully, that’ll help?”

“It will. Thank you.”

Michael helped Matt put the boxes in the trunk. “I know that look,” Michael groaned.

“Shit rolls downhill, buddy. Ryder will help, but this is yours. I need someone competent that I trust, not a rookie cop who doesn’t know what to look for. Spokane PD is already running through students who had issues with Marston during his tenure. I can’t ask them for more. And I’m notifying Ogdenburg’s next of kin. You want that job? I’ll swap paperwork for a death notification.”

“No, no you do that. Maybe I can ask the hot detective to help—I mean, Detective Quinn.”

“Go ahead,” Matt said. “She’s probably still at the crime scene, and somehow I don’t think even a guy as charming as you will be able to convince a workaholic undercover cop to spend her vacation sitting at a desk going through paperwork.”

“Yeah, maybe not. She sort of scares me.”

She sort of scared Matt, too, but for different reasons.

After Matt dropped Michael and the boxes of medical lawsuits at the hotel war room, he headed downtown to tell Jeff Ogdenburg’s sister that her brother was dead. He hated this part of the job, but it had to be done. Plus, she might be privy to information about anyone following her brother, or anything he might have said about a prowler or former student.

Brian Maddox called while Matt was driving. “I talked to Andy,” he said. “We’re meeting tomorrow at noon in our auditorium. It’ll fit everyone, and it’s secure. You think this is necessary?”

“Yes. And you said you live in Liberty Lake, right? You need to be at the meeting.”

“Andy said the same thing. And that house in Newman Lake? I didn’t know it when I heard the report that the ATV had been stolen from there, but Andy told me that the house had been in my family years ago. My parents owned it, and Julie and I lived there early in our marriage, before I took the job in Spokane. My parents retired to St. George—in Utah—and sold it when I moved to Spokane.”

“I don’t like coincidences.”

“Nor do I, but I think this is truly one. Newman is smaller than Liberty Lake with more vacation homes.”