Free The Border: Part One by Amy Cross Page B

shock,” he added. “You’re probably not capable of processing everything right now. You need to take a few days of work so you can deal with what you’ve seen.”
    She shook her head.
    “Jane -”
    “I can’t leave Alex in the lurch like that,” she replied, straining to remain patient. “He needs me. He’s there right now, I only came home to get some food. I’m going back in an hour.”
    “No way.”
    “Yes way.”
    “Jane, you have to look after yourself!”
    “Let her get on with things,” Beth said suddenly, before taking a sip of coffee as she sat on the other side of the table. “For God’s sake, Jack, stop telling the poor woman how she should feel. You care, we get it, I’m sure Jane appreciates the fact that you’re being all touchy-feely and caring for once in your goddamn life. You’ve shown that, now back off and let her get on with her job.”
    “Thanks for the sisterly advice,” he said dourly. “I’m just trying to be emotionally supportive for my wife.”
    “Beth’s right,” Jane continued, reaching over and putting a hand on Jack’s arm. “Thank you for your concern, honey, but I can deal with this just fine. It’s not the first dead body I’ve ever seen. I can’t just be a cop when everything’s rosy and sunny. This is part of what I signed up for too.”
    “Yeah, but -”
    “And it won’t be the last body I ever see,” she added. “Probably not, anyway. I mean, yeah, I’m a little shaken, but I’ll push through it. One thing I certainly won’t be doing, however, is letting Alex down. Or Mel. She’s on a cold slab somewhere, and she deserves justice.” She took a sip of coffee. “I have a job to do.”
    Sighing, Jack looked out the window and saw the children playing in the garden. He frowned as he watched Stuart making what appeared to be stabbing motions against Lucy’s belly.
    “Imagine if this had happened a week later,” Beth said suddenly.
    Jack turned to her.
    “Or if Ben had come a week earlier,” she added.
    “What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked.
    “Well,” she continued, “ imagine it. The whole thing would’ve fed right into…” She paused. “Well, you know, the thing with Ben. You’d have got your knickers in a twist about it all, running around asking everyone if they thought there was a connection while trying to plant the seed in their heads. At least this way, with him not arriving ‘til Monday, we know we don’t have to get into any of that bullshit. Hell, it’s kind of a relief in a sense.”
    “Do you really think that’s what I’d do?”
    “Blatantly.” She turned to Jane. “Back in the real world, do you have any suspects yet?”
    “We’re waiting on forensic reports,” she replied. “Alex is leaning toward the idea of a drifter, someone who came to town for the night, killed Mel, and then left, even though -” She caught herself just in time.
    “Even though what?” Beth asked.
    “I can’t say. There are some things that can’t be made public yet.”
    “About her injures?”
    Jane nodded.
    “Any sign of a robbery at the bar?” Jack asked.
    She shook her head.
    “Any sign of a sexual angle?” he added.
    “Not so far, but we’ll know for certain tonight.”
    “And Greg didn’t see anything?”
    “He just turned up this morning and went to open the place as usual. He said he found the back door unlocked, which was unusual, and then he realized Mel hadn’t finished taking out the trash. He went to dump the last bag, and that’s when he found her. He called it in as soon as he’d finished throwing up.”
    “And what time was that?”
    “Jesus,” Beth muttered, “Jack, do you have to switch into journalist mood so goddamn fast?”
    “I need to know what I can print in tomorrow’s paper and what I can’t,” he pointed out, before turning back to Jane. “I need you to tell me what parts of this can be out into the public domain.”
    “Everything I’ve told you so far is fair game,”