214 Palmer Street(35)
In a second of panic, she decided to abort what she’d been thinking of as “the mission.” Turning away from the counter, she slipped out the door. In the hallway, she breathed a sigh of relief. This was the kind of idea that seemed great in concept, but terrible in execution. She walked purposefully, eager to leave.
When she got to the end of the hallway, the sight of Gavin Kramer coming out of the police department made her stop in her tracks. She’d momentarily forgotten that, as the chief of police, he worked in this building. There was no pretending she didn’t recognize him. Even if they hadn’t met dozens of times, he stood out, dressed as he was in his usual work attire, white dress shirt with a black tie, gold badge over one pocket. The patches on each shoulder made him look even more official. Sarah felt herself paste a smile on her face.
“Gavin!” she exclaimed as he came through the doorway. “What a nice surprise.”
“Sarah?” With outstretched arms he pulled her into an embrace, making her cringe. When he stepped back, he still had a hand on her shoulder. “What are you doing here?”
Caught off guard, her mind shuffled through all the plausible reasons she could have for being here. “Looking for you, of course.” She hadn’t known she was going to say that exact thing until the words came out of her mouth. “I was just at the library and thought I’d pop in and ask a few questions.” Mentally she gave herself credit for coming up with an explanation on short notice.
“What kind of questions?”
“About the threatening notes left in our mailbox? I’ve had some memory issues from my head injury and I thought seeing them might help.” Her head injury was turning out to be a handy excuse.
“Of course.” He smiled, then beckoned. “Why don’t you come down to my office? I’m just heading out to a meeting, but I’ll ask my assistant to get what you need.”
She followed him into the office, past the front desk and into what he called a meeting room. With a wave of his hand, he offered her a chair. As she took a seat, he said, “Kirk said you’re having some cognitive impairment. False memories, memory loss. I’ve never experienced anything like that. Feeling like you’re losing your mind—that must be terrible.”
He stood over her with folded arms, making her feel like a child being schooled. Sarah said, “It’s not as bad as all that. And I’m getting better every day.” His expression showed he wasn’t buying it so she added, “I’ll be back to my old self in no time at all.”
Gavin gave a patronizing smile. “I hope so. Kirk sent me an email when you first came home and he was frantically worried, said you insisted that he’d replaced the towels and rearranged the cabinets. He was concerned that you had permanent brain damage.”
Kirk emailed Gavin about this? Sarah felt a stab of betrayal. Smoothly she said, “The doctor said some confusion is normal. And I was still on pain meds at that time as well. Later on, I remembered everything.” All true. Days later she recalled buying the new towels and rearranging the cupboards to make emptying the dishwasher easier. The gap in her memory had somehow filled itself in, which had been a relief. She met his eyes. “You said you had a meeting?”
“Right.” He nodded, smiling widely. “I’ll have Christy bring you the file. It might take a few minutes. Are you going to be fine here by yourself?”
“Of course.” He turned to leave but before he left, Sarah said, “Just one thing. When I spoke to you about the notes and the dead rat, how did I seem?”
Gavin put a hand to his goatee, seemingly in thought. “Kirk was the one who brought the other notes in and he was the one who filed the report. He said you were too upset to talk about it.”
“So I never discussed it with you?” she asked casually, tilting her head. “Maybe at one of our dinners?” She couldn’t pin down the last time they’d gotten together but if it was around that time certainly the subject would have come up.
“Not directly, no.” He shook his head ruefully.
She nodded. “One more thing. Any leads on my case?”
“I’m sorry, Sarah. We haven’t made any progress at all.” He gave her a sympathetic smile. “But that doesn’t mean we’ve given up. I’ve seen cases solved years later. People call in through the tip line, or the victim suddenly remembers something that leads us to a suspect. If seeing the notes helps you remember something, please let me know.”
“I will.”
After he left the room, Sarah sat under the bright fluorescent lights built into the white ceiling tiles and checked her phone. The only ones who ever messaged her anymore were Kirk and his mother. Once in a great while, Natalie checked in with her as well, but those were drive-by messages. She sent Phil a quick text:
Sorry this is taking so long. Maybe another ten minutes?
He pinged back immediately.
No worries. Whatever it takes.
She put her phone back in her purse and examined the room. A large window in the hallway had proved to be a mirror on her side, leading her to believe she was actually in an interrogation room.
A few minutes later Christy came in with a file in hand, saying, “Mrs. Aden? The chief said you wanted to see your file?”
“Yes, thank you.”