Angels Fall

sprout wings and fly. I'm off at three. You can pick me up here."
    "Can I?"
    "Yeah, you can. And you will. Because you wonder about this just as much as I do." She dug into her pocket, pulled out a faded and wrinkled ten-dollar bill. Slapped it into his hand. "There. That should cover the gas."
    She strode off, leaving him staring at the ten with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.

Chapter 8
     
    REECE TURNED THE soup to simmer, and since her blood was up, started a list of what she considered essential items for any kitchen.
    Five-star restaurant, small-town diner, personal kitchen. What the hell did it matter? Food was food, and why the hell shouldn't it be perfectly prepared?
    She handled a few orders for people who, for reasons that escaped her, wanted a buffalo burger before noon. Between orders, she set to work scrubbing down the kitchen, from the inside of the cabinets out.
    She was on her knees washing out the area under the sink when Linda-gail crouched beside her. "Are you trying to make the rest of us look bad?"
    "No. I'm keeping busy."
    "When you're done keeping busy here, you can go over to my house and keep busy there. Are you mad at Joanie?"
    "No. I'm mad at the world. The whole stinking, fucked-up world."
    Linda-gail glanced over her shoulder, lowered her voice. "Got your period?"
    "No."
    "It's just that one or two days a month, I usually get mad at the whole stinking, fucked-up world. Anything I can do?"
    "Can you wipe out the last twenty-four hours with the power of your mind?"
    "Probably not." She laid a hand on the small of Reece's back, gave it a rub. "But I've got chocolate in my purse."
    Recce let out a sigh, dropped her rag back in the bucket of soapy water. "What kind of chocolate?"
    "The little pads in the gold foil the hotel puts on pillows at night. Maria in housekeeping's my pusher."
    The smile felt so foreign on Reec'es face it almost hurt."They're not bad. I hanks, maybe—
    "Reece." Joanie's voice, clipped and cool, brought Recces head out from under the sink. "'My office a minute."
    Reecc and Linda-gail exchanged a look—and Linda-gail's was ripe with pity—before Reece got tip and followed Joanie into the little office.
    "Close that door. I just got a call from my boy. Seems the sheriff's been out to the ranch asking questions. Appears he's looking for some people, most especially a woman who might've gone missing. Lo didn't get much out of him, but I didn't raise any fools, so he got enough."
    Turning to her tiny office window, she shoved it open before yanking her cigarettes out of her pocket. "Rick says maybe somebody saw something happen to this woman, maybe that person was up on Little Angel and thought something happened across the river. Not being a fool, either, I figure somebody who maybe saw something would be you."
    "The sheriff asked me not to say anything until he'd investigated, but since he's not finding anything… I saw a man kill a woman. I saw him strangle her, and I was too far away to help. I was too far away to do anything. And now they can't find anything. It's like it never happened."
    Joanie blew out a quick stream of smoke. "What woman?"
    "I don't know. I didn't recognize her; I didn't see her that well. Her face. Or his. But I saw… I saw…"
    ""Don't you go hysterical on me." Joanie kept her voice cool and firm. "You sit down it you need to, but you don't get hysterical."
    "Okay. All right." Reece didn't sit, but rubbed away the tears with the heels of her hands. "I saw them. I saw what he did to her. I was the only one who saw anything."
    Her boots drumming into the ground.
    High-topped black Nikes with silver swatches outside the storeroom door.
    His black jacket and orange hunter's cap.
    Dark gray hoodie, big, black gun.
    "I was the only one who saw anything." she repeated. "And I didn't see enough."
    "You said you and Brody were on the trail."
    "He was farther down. He didn't see. He went back up with me. but there was nothing to see." Because she couldn't get enough air in the room, the tiny box of a room, Reece moved to the window. "I didn't imagine it."
    "Why would I think you had? If you were upset about this, you could've had today off."
    "I had yesterday off, and look what happened. Did Lo say… was there a woman staying at the ranch?"
    "Everyone booked there, working there, is accounted for."
    "Of course." Unsure it she should be relieved or terrified. Reece closed her eyes. "Of course they are."
    After a brief knock. Linda-gail snick her