“I’m okay,” I assured him, though I was anything but. I didn’t want to wait in the car. I wanted to know what was going on with Mrs. Proctor — especially if I was about to be labeled the prime suspect in her murder. “We both know I’ll have to hear all of this stuff eventually, Detective. I might as well get it over with as fast as possible.”
He frowned, an indecisive look stealing across his features as he studied me for a long moment. Whatever he saw must’ve been enough to convince him I could hack it, because eventually he turned back to Graham.
“You’re tagging along, I presume?”
Graham didn’t respond except to growl incomprehensibly, “One morehoneyand we’ve got problems, Hightower.”
For some reason, I didn’t get the sense he was calling the detective an endearment. The men traded a loaded glance, communicating something they didn’t feel the need to share with me.
Cade shook his head. “Stay focused, Graves.”
“Not my focus I’m worried about.” Graham’s jaw clenched as his eyes moved again to Mrs. Proctor, who was was now hidden from view behind some portable privacy screens the crime scene squad was setting up at the perimeter of the graveyard, blocking the view from the street. “If she was staged, that fits the pattern.”
Cade expelled another sharp breath. “We don’t know for sure—”
“Oh, fuck off, Hightower. What do you want, a handwritten confession from the perps? Can’t connect the dots without construction paper and a pack of crayons at your disposal?”
“I know your main form of transportation is jumping to conclusions, Graves, but some of us are duty bound to follow the letter of the law,” the detective responded in a stern tone I’d never heard from him before. “I’m not prepared to declare this open-and-shut before I’ve had a chance to go through the scene, inch by inch. You have to give me a few days.”
“And in the meantime?” Graham’s unhappy eyes flickered to me. It lasted less than a heartbeat before his gaze jerked back to Cade. “We both know they did this for her. Left the body here, specifically, for her to find. We both know what that means. And we both know they won’t bother with a second warning.”
I tensed.
Beside me, so did Cade. “We don’t know anything, yet.”
“For fuck’s sake, Hightower—”
“Look, what do you expect me to do, Graves? Put her under twenty-four hour surveillance on no more than a hunch? Take her into protective custody?”
“For starters.” Graham paused, glowering. “I’ve already got a man on her. Hourly drive-bys of her house during the night. Front entrance of the shop is now wired with surveillance, so is the alleyway door.”
I felt my eyes widen. This was news to me. Then again, Ihadbeen feeling like someone was stalking me. I was oddly happy to know it wasn’t all deluded paranoia I’d fabricated in my head. Still…
Cameras on the store exits?
Hourly drive-bys?
That felt… extreme.
Excessive.
Until my mind filled with a vision of Eliza’s dead corpse and, just like that, Graham’s actions no longer felt extreme or excessive. They felt very, very necessary.
“She’s covered, then,” Cade pointed out.
Graham’s eyes were again on the cemetery. “Not covered enough. You have a full force at your disposal, funded by Salem citizens you’re meant to protect. Use it. Protect her.”
Cade finally released me, but only so he could run an exasperated hand through his thick, silver-streaked hair. “Right now, our priority is on identifying the victim. That’ll take some time. After that, we can talk about our next steps in—”
“It won’t,” I blurted without thinking. “Take time, that is. Her name is Elizabeth Proctor.”
Both men’s heads snapped in my direction. I instantly wanted to evaporate.
Why hadn’t I just kept my mouth shut?
“Gwendolyn,” Cade said slowly, turning his body fully toward mine. “You know the victim? Personally?”
“Um.” I swallowed hard, trying not to show the panic that was clawing its way up my throat, blocking off my air flow. “She’s my neighbor.Wasmy neighbor.”