The Little Grave (Detective Amanda Steele)

“No one was hurt.” Malone let his gaze go over her to Trent. “You two headed out?”

“Yeah, have a couple of people to question,” Amanda said.

Malone nodded. “Great. It sounds like you two have it all under control.” He met her gaze, and with the last two words, a sliver of remorse wormed through her.

I have nothing under control! But as far as the world knows…

“We do,” she said and tossed out a smile. She did her best to have it reach her eyes, but it was unlikely it had, given the suspicion reflected in Malone’s eyes.

“Great,” he said.

Trent started walking toward the hall and she followed.

Malone said, “Just before you go, Detective Steele.”

Trent turned and she held up her index finger to let him know she’d be there in a minute.

“What is it?” she asked the sergeant.

He leaned in and hunched to reach her ear. “Do you have your alibi?”

She let out the breath she hadn’t known she was holding, but it was shallow regardless. “The ME hasn’t ruled that Palmer was murdered yet…”

Malone shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. Get out in front of this or—” He ran a finger along his neck.

“I will.”

“See that you do.”

She held eye contact with him for a few seconds longer before hauling ass down the hall to catch up with Trent. With each step, it just sank in more and more the mess she was in. For one, she was in possession of illegally obtained drugs, and two, she had to manifest an alibi from thin air. But maybe she could return to the bar where they’d met and use her badge to whittle information from the woman who’d served them. If she went that route though, she could never return to the bar for risk of her name and her history getting out. But what was the lesser of two evils: the need to find a new place to pick up men or getting benched from the case? And the latter came with potentially worse consequences still. She could be assigned desk duty for the rest of her career or given the cases no one else wanted to touch. If things really spiraled out of control, she could be defending herself against murder charges or lose her badge. Some days she wasn’t sure if finding a new path in life—away from Dumfries, away from Prince William County PD and the county itself—was that horrible an idea. She could start fresh and rebuild her life. Then only she would truly know the hole that existed in her heart.

They were headed to Lorraine Nash’s home in Dumfries, Trent at the wheel, but Amanda requested a brief detour to Denver’s Motel first.

The Forensics van was still in the lot, but Rideout’s vehicle was gone. She booted up and stepped into the room. Palmer’s body was gone and there was a different feel to the space, but she could still feel his presence. But there always was that tingling, tangible feeling where a person had died that stuck to a person’s skin.

“Detectives? You’re back,” Donnelly said pleasantly.

“We’re just finishing up here,” CSI Blair said.

“Just on our way past and thought we’d drop in,” Amanda said, trying to lighten the mood in the room. “Anything you feel like sharing?”

“I found a lipstick under the bed,” Donnelly volunteered.

“May I see it?” Amanda asked.

Donnelly rummaged in her collection case, pulled out a sealed evidence bag, and passed it to Amanda.

She read the label on the bottom of the tube. The brand could be purchased at any beauty counter in any department store, and the shade was Ruby Red. She gave the bag to Trent for him to do his own inspection.

“I wouldn’t get too excited about it.” Blair pointed at the bag. “It could have gone under the bed at any time. Doesn’t mean it was during Palmer’s stay.”

“A fact we’ll squirrel away,” Amanda said drily. She’d wanted to say an obvious fact…

Donnelly returned the lipstick to her kit and Amanda noticed a sealed bag with Palmer’s wallet enclosed. The photographs.

“Actually, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble,” she started and cringed, because she could feel Blair’s hostile energy from across the room. Apparently, anything Amanda requested was too much trouble as far as that CSI was concerned. “The wallet… it had a couple of photos. It might prove useful to get a copy of those.”

“Sure.” Donnelly smiled at Amanda and took the necessary steps of removing the wallet and the photos and redocumenting and sealing after Amanda took pictures of the photos with her phone.