Sting

“That’s another story.” He told her about Kinnard’s disappearance from the crime scene. “He claims to have placed Jordie Bennett under arrest.”

Marsha arched her eyebrow.

“Right.” He told her what Hick had said about the steam escaping the hotel bedroom. Her only response was a thoughtful hmmm. He knew that sound.

“What?”

“All these people—men—in her life, pushing her around, pulling her this way and that. I feel sorry for her.”

“Don’t. Not yet. Kinnard may be in lust, but he also thinks she knows more than she’s telling.”

“What do you think?”

“Same. She’s not coming clean about something.”

“Panella? Herself?”

“Possibly, although she says no. But she’s mama bear when it comes to Josh. You heard what I said to him this morning.” Marsha had been in bed with him when Josh had called before dawn. “I intentionally tried to scare him into turning himself in. That was before Royce Sherman’s body was discovered. According to Ms. Bennett, that freaked him out. Now Hick? If we get confirmation that it’s Panella—”

That instant, his phone rang. He answered and Kinnard said, “It was Panella.”

“He had juvenile arthritis.” Shaw held the phone out nearer to Jordie. “Tell him.”

“He basically grew out of it,” she said into the phone, “but it flares up when he’s fatigued or sick, even with something minor like a sore throat, any malady that weakens his immune system. When that happens, his joints become inflamed, especially his left knee. It causes him to limp.”

“I didn’t know this,” Wiley said.

“Neither did I,” Shaw said. “Neither did anybody.”

“Except Ms. Bennett.”

“Yeah,” Shaw said. “Except her.”

Her face turned rosy with anger over his tone.

“She says Panella is self-conscious of the limp,” Shaw said. “He’s good at hiding it.”

“Unless he’s on his way to a murder.”

“I guess.” Shaw paused then asked Wiley how he was holding up.

“I’m okay. My wife’s here.” He told Shaw about the guards he’d ordered for his family.

“Good call,” Shaw said. “Might be even better to get them out of town.”

“I’ll look into it as soon as I know more about Hick’s condition.”

“He still in surgery?”

“Far as I know.” His voice went shaky. He switched to another topic. “You going to tell me where you are?”

“My own safe house. Panella won’t find us.”

Wiley sighed but let it drop, probably because he didn’t have the energy to pursue it. “I don’t suppose Ms. Bennett’s heard from her brother.”

“No. And she hasn’t been out of my sight. Nothing on your end?”

“No,” Wiley said. “I figured he’d call in a panic when he heard about Hick.”