When You Were Mine (Stone Lake 2)

“Scooby snack? Are you twelve, Sheriff?” I mumble, keeping my voice down just like he did because Luna looks back at us as if daring either one of us to cause problems.

“No. I’m a little older than the son you threw away, Lodge,” Kingston replies, scoring a huge hit that’s bitter as hell when I take it in.

There’s not enough time to say anything else, because we make it to a large, overweight man that looks to be in his mid to late fifties coming out of the bar and pulling off latex gloves.

“What do you have, Jeff?” Kingston asks. The man looks at Luna and smiles and then over at me. He gives Kingston a pointed look.

“This is Gavin Lodge, he’s the FBI agent the bureau sent in after Skylar’s murder.”

“Lodge? Are you Roy’s boy?” the guy says, surprise on his face.

“I haven’t been called a boy in a long time,” I tell him, ignoring the remark about Roy. I don’t know how to answer that.

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” he says, reaching out to shake my hand.

“You have?”

“Your father is very proud of you.”

Suddenly, I feel like I’m on an episode of the twilight zone. This guy is either crazy or he’s been taking illegal substances—some of which I’ve never encountered, because this is just too bizarre.

“This is Jeff Blair, he’s the coroner here in Stone Lake.”

“I’m also Roy’s AA sponsor. He said he wrote you a letter about his treatment.”

I clear my throat. This is definitely not something I want to talk about, so I just ignore his comment.

“You examined the body?” I question, changing the subject. I can feel Luna’s eyes on me and against my will, I spare her a glance. She’s biting on her bottom lip and there’s something on her face that says she wants to ask me questions. Selfishly, I don’t want to answer those either. I know I will eventually, however. I just hope I know what to say when it’s time, because right now I don’t even know what the hell I’m feeling.

Luna

“I did,” Jeff responds to Gavin, but I interrupt them to go and hug him.

“Hey, Jeff.”

“Luna, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I came with Agent Lodge,” I tell him.

“What have you found out, Jeff?” Ben’s clearly still ticked off about me being here with Gavin. I’m going to have to figure out how to get control of my life again—and soon.

“I can’t be conclusive on any of this, Ben. At least, not until I get her back into the morgue. Anything I give you here is pure speculation.”

“You’re the coroner and medical examiner?” Gavin asks.

“Yep. I take care of Stone Lake and several other counties.”

“So, you’re the one who examined Skylar’s body?”

“I did,” Jeff answers, instantly going into a pure business mode.

“Are there any similarities at all?” Gavin inquires further.

“Until we know if this case has anything to do with Skylar’s, I think I am the one in charge here, Lodge,” Ben growls.

“Believe it or not, Kingston, I’m not trying to step on anyone’s toes here,” Gavin defends.

“At least not on the case, you mean?” Ben replies and his comment pisses me off, but I hold my tongue for the moment.

“Fair enough assumption,” Gavin says, and my eyes grow big and wide .

What exactly does that mean?

“Can we discuss the case at hand?” I ask them pointedly, wishing I’d stayed home with Joshua.

“I’m merely trying to determine if the Cremator has struck again. Isn’t that what we are all wondering?” Gavin asks.

“Well, that’s the thing. I think if I had to make a judgment call, I’d say it was the same murderer, but there are differences,” Jeff says, and something about his response makes me uneasy. You can tell he’s not finding this case easy at all. Which, I mean, it’s a murder and he shouldn’t. It’s just in Stone Lake, cases are usually cut and dry and now in a small amount of time there are two murders. Two murders in the town I was elected to oversee. The last time there was a murder in Stone Lake I was in high school… I need this murderer found soon—for many reasons.

“What do you mean, differences?” Ben asks.

“Well, for one, she wasn’t posed like the others.”

“It hadn’t happened long when the body was found, maybe he didn’t have time? Maybe he was afraid of being caught?”

“I don’t think that was it. The body was meticulous. I think the bastard even trimmed her nails and cleaned the cuticles free.”

“Just like the Cremator does,” Gavin mutters.

“Yeah, and there were needle marks on the back of her neck. In almost the exact same spot that was on Skylar’s and the other victims of that guy,” Jeff confirms.

“Fuck,” Ben utters, and I have to say, I agree with him. That’s the last news any of us wanted.