Half the people at the table checked their screens.
Detective Cummings stepped away from the group and took the call. The others gathered around the table resumed the discussion. Sullenger recited the steps that had been taken and the ongoing theme of finding nothing.
Adeline told herself to pay attention, but she couldn’t shake Womack’s words. Her phone vibrated against her waist. She ignored it. Probably her mom. Or worse, the chief.
. . . under the water.
She had to talk to this woman. As crazy as it sounded, her words were too eerily pertinent to ignore.
Psychic connection or no.
Cummings returned to the table. “That was one of Stone County’s deputies.” He settled into his chair, his face pale with whatever news he had learned. “You were right.” He glanced at Adeline. “Her husband confirmed that Penny Arnold was terrified of water. She wouldn’t even go with the family on outings if water was involved.”
Shit.Adeline schooled her expression, beating down that uncharacteristic fear that kept gnawing at her. She didn’t want the others to see the impact his words carried. The idea that both Prescott and Adeline had fears related to water could be chalked up to coincidence. But having yet another victim share that same trait, that was no coincidence.
This, as vague as it was, could be their first step toward a tangible link.
“There’s more,” Cummings related. “The reason the deputy called wasn’t because of Arnold’s fear of the water. I asked him that question only just now. He advised that the husband had mentioned her fear of water, but the deputy hadn’t considered it to be relevant to the investigation, which is why that detail wasn’t in his report.” Cummings looked around the table, the gravity of what he had to say in his eyes. “We may actually have just gotten our first break. One of Arnold’s colleagues remembered that she had been visited just over a week ago—right before she left for Phoenix—by Cherry Prescott.”
Shock punched Adeline in the gut. Every face in the room wore that same reaction. “What was the purpose of the visit? Was Prescott interested in some real estate listing that Arnold represented?”
“The woman has no idea.” Cummings collapsed against the back of his chair. “Prescott and Arnold met in her office, door closed. But,” he added, “whatever they discussed, Arnold was visibly upset when the other woman left.”
“There has to be something between these women that we’re missing,” Ferguson proclaimed. He turned to Adeline. “If you’re the next victim, the answer lies with you.”
His words bumped against Adeline’s sternum. Her phone vibrated insistently. She grabbed it from its holster and checked the screen primarily so she could ignore Ferguson’s scrutiny.
A text message.
Sender unknown.
Adeline tapped the key to download the message.
An image filled the screen.
Penny Arnold. Face all made up with too much makeup. Tiara perched on her head in exactly the same manner as the one Prescott had worn in the first photo.
Two dead princesses, one to go.
28
2:00 p.m.
Tawanda Faye Nichols was seventy-seven years old with the gray hair and gnarled fingers to prove it. She sat in the interview room, her hands clasped on the table and her head bowed over them. Her lips moved frantically in noiseless supplication of some sort.
“What the hell’s she doing?” Adeline peered through the observation glass, her instincts on point.
“Praying, I imagine,” Womack suggested. “She started doing that as soon as I picked her up.” He sent Adeline a knowing look. “Lives in the worst shithole neighborhood over in Moss Point.” He shook his head. “I know most of the cops over there and even I think they look the other way more often than not. I don’t know how those folks survive.”
Adeline chewed her lip. “By their wits. They’ve got nothing else.”
“You ready?”
“Yeah.” Adeline headed for the door. “Might as well see what the lady has to say.”
Wyatt was mad as hell that he couldn’t be in on this, but Hattiesburg’s mayor as well as the brass here in Pascagoula had demanded a private conference with the man in charge. And that was the sheriff.
Womack held the door for Adeline to enter the interview room ahead of him. He’d spent a lot of time the year her father died trying to fill the void in Adeline’s life. She hadn’t appreciated his intent at thetime. And she’d told him so. Part of her regretted that now. Besides Wyatt, he was the one person here who still appeared to care about her on some level. Or, at least, who respected her ability as a cop.