Angels Fall

action would somehow give her statements more validity. He took notes, asked questions. His voice was flat and cool.
    "Why didn't you report these incidents before?"
    "Because I knew you'd think just what you're thinking now. That I either did them or I imagined them."
    "You don't have a window into my head, Reece." There was a quality in his voice that warned her his patience was at a low ebb. "Have you noticed anyone loitering around? "
    "Half the town loiters here at some point."
    "Who has access to your key?"
    "I keep it with me. There's a spare in Joanie's office."
    "Brody have one? "
    "No, no, Brody doesn't have one."
    "You had trouble, had words with anyone in town?"
    "Not until I clocked Min at Clancy's last night."
    He gave her that faint smile again. "I think we can rule her out."
    "He must have seen me."
    "Who?"'

    "The man, by the river. The one I saw strangle that woman." Rick drew a breath, sat back. "Saw you, at that distance? T he distance you gave in your statement?"
    "Not me. I mean he must have seen there was someone on the trail. It wouldn't take any effort to find out it was me, not after the whole town knew about it. So he's trying to discredit me as a witness." Rick closed his book.
    "What are you going to do?" Reece demanded.
    "I'm going to do my job. I'm going to look into it. Next time something happens, you need to tell me about it. I can't help you if I don't know you've got trouble."
    "All right. Have they identified the woman? They body?"
    "Haven't matched dental records yet. She's still a Jane Doe. Have you thought about it? Can you confirm she's the woman you saw?"
    "I can't. She's not."
    "Well then." He pushed to his feet. "You got a place to stay while these repairs are going on? "
    "I'm at Brody's."
    "I'll be in touch."
    Reece rose, cleared the table herself. Back in the kitchen Joanie scowled at the half-eaten egg.
    "Something wrong with my cooking?"
    "No. He doesn't believe me."
    "Doesn't matter if he does or he doesn't, he'll do what he's paid to do. I want some of those cluckers barbecued for the lunch special. You're behind."
    "I'll get right on it."
    "And make up some potato salad. You got your famous fresh dill in the cooler. Use it."

    REECE WAS ENDING the first of a double shift when Rick tracked down Doc Wallace. In strong, even strokes. Doc rowed his boat to its mooring on the lake. Rick grabbed the line, secured it. "You got a fishing license?"
    "You see any damn fish? You hear the one about the same warden come across this woman in a boat, reading a book. Asks her if she has a fishing license. She says she's not fishing, she's reading a book." Doc climbed nimbly out of his boat. "Game warden says 'You got the equipment for fishing in there, so I'm going to have to write you a citation." She says. 'You do that, I'm going to have to bring sexual molestation charges against you.'"

    Rick waited patiently while Doc took off his prescription sunglasses. polished them on the tail of his shirt.
    "Well, the warden says with some outrage, "Lady, I never sexually molested you."And she says, 'But you irot the equipment for it."
    Rick's laugh was quick and easy. "Pretty good. Nothing biting today?"
    "Not a damn thing on my line." Doc laid his rod over his shoulder. "Pretty day not to catch fish though."
    "It is that. You got a few minutes?"
    "Got more than a few. It's my day off. Gould use a walk after sitting in that boat the last couple hours." They fell into step, slowly following the curve of the lake. "Reece Gilmore's been to see you, I hear. Medically.
    "You know I can't talk about that kind of thing, Rick."
    "Not asking you to. We're going to be talking in the hypothetical area of things."
    "That's a shaky line."
    "It shakes too much, you can step off."
    "Fair enough."
    "You heard about what happened at Joanie's place."
    "Water damage."
    "I got a statement from Reece. Says she never turned the water on in the tub. Says someone's been getting into her apartment, doing things in there. Says someone took her laundry out of the dryer and put it back into the washer down in the hotel basement while she wasn't there. Now maybe somebody around here's taking a dislike to her. Though she's a likeable enough woman, if you ask me."
    " There are some people who take a dislike to the likeable."
    "True enough. Yesterday she all but falls in the lake. Then she's running down the street in her bare feet. She's climbing down Brenda's throat about somebody going down to the laundry, messing