him.
“Is she all right?” he asked.
“She’s fine. Patrol just brought her into the station. Turns out she didn’t like moving into the new house.”
He forced a laugh.
“She thinks it’s haunted. So she split. She walked all the way back to her old neighborhood and hid in her best friend’s guesthouse.”
Rowan stepped back from the doorway so they could leave. Brian walked slowly. He was having a hard time understanding what Rowan had just told them. He was having a hard time dealing with what his wife had just asked him as well.
“That girl found her way back to her old house?” he asked.
“That’s right,” Rowan said. “Step this way and I’ll get you back your property. Then you’ll be out of here.”
Brian was led down the hallway and into a large squad room. There were several detectives working at desks and moving about. Across the room was another room separated by a glass wall. He could see a boardroom table in there. Sitting at the table were Detective Stephens and a girl. She was maybe thirteen years old. She looked like she was crying.
Rowan went to his desk and got a manila envelope out of a drawer. He handed it to Brian. It had his wallet and keys in it. His loose change. He didn’t bother tearing it open. He just held it as he stared at the girl in the glass room. Rowan noticed his gaze and looked across the room as well.
“She’s okay. She spent the night eating potato chips and drinking soda pop. I guess she had such a good time, she still doesn’t want to go back home.”
“Does Robinette have another daughter?”
“No, just the one. Just Teresa who doesn’t want to go home.”
Brian thought of the dream, of the dread he felt when he woke up from it. The feeling that he had let something loose.
“Teresa?”
Rowan looked at him.
“That’s right. I thought you said you asked—”
“Can I talk to her?”
“To the girl? No, I don’t think that would be proper, Mr. Holloway. Your involvement with this thing is over as far as I’m concerned.”
“I really need to speak to her.”
“Well, that’s not going to happen. Now it’s time for you and your wife to head on home.”
“What did she say about the house being haunted?”
“I’ll walk you out.”
He gripped Brian’s upper arm and ushered him toward the squad room’s exit. They went into another hallway and headed toward the door at the end. Rowan kept his hand on Brian’s arm. Laura trailed behind them.
“You know who owned that house before Robinette?” Brian asked.
Rowan didn’t answer.
“Arthur Blankenship.”
“So?”
“So maybe she’s got a point to why she’s scared. He built the plant. They say the runoff from the phosphate is responsible for all the fish kills. It’s like there’s a big cloud of black water in the bay. Hell, he built this city. He knew where all the bodies were buried. Maybe—”
“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that she’s going home safe.”
Brian jerked his arm free and stopped. He pointed back down the hallway in the direction they had come from.
“She’s not the one I saw in the house. She isn’t the girl I spoke to.”
Rowan held up his palms in a hands-off manner. He smiled.
“Mr. Holloway, I’ve got a caseload like you wouldn’t believe. This is one of the cases that ends happy, that ends good. Let’s just let this go.”
“And what if I can’t?”
“Then you are on your own, sir. Let’s go.”
He grabbed Brian’s arm again and led him to the door.
They were quiet at first on the ride home. Laura drove. Brian thought about what he had seen in the Robinette house. They were almost home before Laura spoke for the first time.
“Brian, what’s going on? What were you talking about back there?”
“I don’t know. I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t really feel like talking to you right now.”
“Brian, I’m sorry. They told me you did something to her. They said they had evidence and