She nodded. “Yes. If this is the same woman, she’s won several poetry awards. I’ve read her. She was incredibly insightful and often wrote about the earth and flowers. Makes sense with her botany background.” The poems had been beautiful and intelligent at the same time. They’d been striking to a person who normally missed subtext. Such was Lamber’s talent. Was Lamber up here hiding from a stalker? Or had she just been working? “We’ll need to talk to her sister. Was Dr. Lamber married? Did she have any other relatives?”

The sheriff rolled his eyes. “Yes, she’s married, but supposedly she and her husband are separated. Mrs. Bearing didn’t know why.”

More likely the sheriff hadn’t pushed for answers. Laurel didn’t want to work with this man again, but she also didn’t see a way out at the moment, unless she wanted to pull rank. She did not as of yet. “I assume the luxury SUV out front is hers?” At the sheriff’s nod, she glanced back at Huck. “Let’s get warrants for her vehicle, home, and office at the college. We can speak with her sister first thing in the morning, and we need to find the husband.”

Huck nodded, already texting on his phone. “If we’re awake, might as well get everyone else up. Except Monty. He needs sleep.”

The sheriff shoved his notebook back into his jacket. “Don’t tell me. You want to create another task force and get your face in the newspaper again?”

“That’s not necessary,” Laurel said smoothly. “We’ll just keep everybody in the loop this time.” She liked that particular colloquium.

“This is my case,” he said.

Laurel sighed. “I would like to work with you on this, Sheriff.”

“That’s fantastic, so long as you realize I take the lead. I will loop you in when I think you need to be involved. As of right now, you don’t have a reason to be here, except that Ortega wouldn’t take the body until you saw everything firsthand. For some reason.” His eyebrows rose.

For some reason? “I assume it’s because I caught the first case and saw the other victim.” Laurel tilted her head. “What other reason could there be?”

The sheriff met her gaze, his chin lowering. “You tell me. In my years of working this city, I’ve never had the county ME insist we call in the feds. What’s so special about you?”

Was he being literal? “This is exactly the kind of case the Pacific Northwest Violent Crimes Unit was created to handle.” Surely he knew that fact.

“Uh huh.” His gaze traveled from her face down her body and then back up.