Bones Don't Lie (Morgan Dane #3)(99)

“It’s just a few scratches. But I have some news for you.” He told her the basics of what happened with the sheriff, leaving out the details of King’s attempt to kill him and Morgan. She didn’t need to know everything.

“They found Dad.” Lance told her what they’d found at the sheriff’s cabin.

When he’d finished his story, she seemed . . . relieved. “I knew it. I knew he didn’t leave us.”

“You were right.”

His mom sniffed. “Now we can put him to rest properly.”

And carry his memory untainted. Until this moment, Lance hadn’t realized how important it was that his father’s name be cleared.

“How are you doing here?” Lance asked.

His mother’s eyes filled with tears. “I want to go home. The doctor thinks I can go home tomorrow or the next day.” She licked her lips. “I don’t like being here. I want to go home today.”

“I know.” Lance patted her forearm. “Are you up to answering a few questions from the police?”

“I don’t know.” His mom pulled her hand away and picked at a cuticle.

Lance took her hand back, holding it firmly between his own palms. “It’s all right if you’re not ready. The man responsible is dead. Cleaning up the loose ends of the investigation can wait.”

“I can try.” She struggled to sit up. “Would you hand me my water?”

“Sure.” Lance raised the head of the bed and lifted the water cup to his mother’s lips. Then he nodded to Morgan, who went out into the hall, returning a minute later with Stella. Brody hung by the doorway, within earshot, but not crowding Lance’s mother.

Morgan introduced her sister.

“Who visited you the day you got sick?” Stella asked.

“Sheriff King came to ask me more questions about Vic’s disappearance,” Jenny said. “He brought pie, but it wasn’t very good. When he went to the bathroom, I scraped most of it into the trash. I didn’t want to insult him, so I left a few bites to finish when he came out.”

The fact that she’d only eaten a few bites had saved her life.

“He used the bathroom twice in thirty minutes. I thought maybe he was having prostate problems. I had no idea . . .” His mother shivered.

He must have gone into the bathroom to steal her medication. Then again to leave the pill vials in the sink and set the stage for her fake suicide attempt.

“None of us did.” Lance still couldn’t wrap his head around the truth.

“Do you have any idea why Sheriff King might have tried to poison you?” Stella asked.

“No.” His mother shook her head. “But I do remember where I’d seen him before. It wasn’t just on TV. Of course, he looked different. He was much younger back then, which is why I didn’t remember him right away when he came into my house the first time. He was on duty the night Vic went missing. I remember driving past a rest stop when I was out looking for Vic. There were two sheriff’s cars in the lot. I stopped to ask them if they’d seen a Buick Century.”

Lance and Morgan shared a glance.

And the very last piece of the puzzle fell into place.

“Mom, did you mention this to Sheriff King when he came alone to question you?” Lance asked.

She nodded. “I did. He said something about it being a small world.”

And he’d tried to kill her before she could give him away.

Stella asked a few more questions, then bowed out. “Is it OK if I contact you again, Mrs. Kruger? You answered our big question, but I’m sure we’ll have details to iron out as we wrap up the investigation.”

His mom nodded. “I supposed that would be all right.”

“Thank you for your help today.” Stella said goodbye and she and Brody left.

His mom released their hands. “You both look terrible. You should go home and get some rest.”

“Would you like to have a video call with Kevin?” Lance asked.

His mother lifted her chin. Her eyes brightened. “I would love that.”

Lance connected her laptop to the hospital’s Wi-Fi network. Morgan rolled the bedside table over to the bed. A few minutes later, Kevin’s face appeared on the screen.

Jenny smiled.

“We’ll leave you two to talk.” Lance kissed her on the cheek. “I love you, Mom.”

“Love you too.” She smiled at Morgan. “Take care of each other.”

“We will.” Lance followed Morgan out of the room.

That’s exactly what they did best.



Lance stood on the sidelines of the ice arena and watched Eric send a hockey puck into the goal. The buzzer rang and the small crowd cheered.

Next to him, Morgan clapped her hands around Sophie, who sat on her mother’s hip. Ava and Mia stood on the bench so they could see over the wall.

“Did we win?” Sophie kicked Morgan’s sides as if she was riding a pony.

“Yes, we won.” Morgan pointed to the score board. “The blinking number four is Lance’s team.”

“Yay!” Sophie squealed.

The team skated by Lance, pulling off their gloves and high-fiving him as they zoomed past. By the time the last member had slapped his hand, Lance was holding his ribs.