Written in Stone (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

pretty hard.”
    Olivia showed him her paperwork. “I’m legit. I was just about to call a taxi when you showed up.”
    “Mom’s taxi at your service.” Laurel performed a little curtsy. “You can even sit up front. Harris doesn’t mind the cookie crumbs, apple juice spills, and cereal debris in the backseat. We’ll fill you in on the case on the way to the parking lot.”
    The three friends headed outside. Olivia felt unsettled to be walking without Haviland at her side. It felt like part of her was missing. Why hadn’t Rawlings at least sent her a text message?
    “Have you seen the chief?” she asked Laurel. “Haviland stayed with him last night and I’m worried about them both.”
    “That must have been hard on you,” Laurel said. “But we only talked with Millay. After giving her statement yesterday, she insisted on visiting Talley. The next thing we knew, she was in the car and on her way to Maxton.”
    Olivia paused next to the passenger door of Laurel’s minivan. “That’s a three-hour drive!”
    Harris nodded. “It sure was. I know because I went with her. She was hell-bent on visiting Talley’s house. Apparently, Judson refused to confess and Millay swore she had a plan to get him to tell the cops everything.”
    Laurel unlocked the minivan and they all got in. Olivia breathed in a mixture of Cheerios, juice, and coffee. “Why did she want to go to Talley’s house?”
    Harris kicked aside a pile of empty juice boxes and buckled his seat belt. “First, she wanted to photograph the walls in the root cellar. Second, she wanted to collect photos of Talley and Willis in the house. Happy ones, you know? Christmases, birthdays, Willis and Talley carving pumpkins, that kind of thing.”
    “Brilliant,” Olivia said. “Did it work?”
    “I have no clue,” Harris admitted. “Millay brought her camera and Talley’s photo albums to the sheriff’s office, but neither Poole nor Rawlings invited her to enter the inner sanctum, so she left the stuff with a deputy and went home and crashed. She’s still out cold.”
    Olivia studied the landscape for a moment. “I’m assuming that she told you what we did.” She glanced at Laurel. “And you obviously realized we were in trouble.”
    “It wasn’t hard to figure out!” Laurel exclaimed. “Millay shouted for me to call the cops, that you two were in Judson’s hotel room, and that he was there too. I used the landline in my kitchen to get ahold of the chief.” She put a hand over her heart. “I’ve never been so glad to have someone answer on the first ring in all my life.”
    Laurel put her hand back on the steering wheel and gripped it tightly. Olivia saw her friend’s knuckles turn white. “It’s all right, Laurel. You did everything you could and I’m sorry we scared you like that.”
    “If only I’d typed up my powwow interview notes earlier . . .” Laurel left the rest of the sentence unsaid.
    “Hey, if anyone missed something important, it was me,” Olivia said. “Judson made several comments about growing up poor and having had to deal with hardship. He even mentioned the fact that he volunteered at an animal clinic. That’s where he got the inhalants. It was like he was taunting us—dropping little bread crumbs for us to follow and then laughing while they were eaten by hungry birds.”
    Harris groaned. “This was the strangest weekend I’ve ever lived through. There were so many riddles, so many things spinning out of control. It felt like time was moving too fast for us to catch up. All I want to do now is chill out for a few days.”
    “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Olivia asked.
    “I took a sick day.” Harris gave Olivia a demonstration of the coughing fit he’d produced for the benefit of his boss.
    Laurel laughed. “After I take you home, Olivia, I’m going to spend the rest of the day at my cubicle. I might not be able to tell the complete story on Judson Ware and the Locklears, but I’ve got enough to wet plenty of whistles.”
    “Actually, could you drop me off at Grumpy’s?” Olivia asked. “I have something to take care of there.”
    This surprised Laurel. “But the chief had someone bring your car back to your house. And what about Haviland?”
    Olivia felt a twist of guilt in her belly. “I don’t even know where he is.”
    “Haviland’s with the chief,” Harris assured her. “Rawlings called me at five thirty this morning and asked me to check on you. He didn’t want to