JOAN WOKE WITH A SMILE ON her lips on Sunday morning until she realized that Gabe, very sensibly, had slipped out before the sun was up. She reached over, touched the bed where he’d lain, and breathed deeply to hold the memory of him. A single dark hair lay on the stiff cotton of the hotel pillowcase. She carefully pinched it between her fingers, then ran it across her lips as the reality of the day bombarded her. She debated with herself about visiting the Rimmers. It was more complicated now that she had to weigh the Gabe factor. If anyone found out they’d spent the night together, the investigation would be headed toward disaster. If it was only Marlena accusing her of murdering Roger, she wouldn’t worry about it, but Staff Sergeant Smartt seemed to think she had potential as a killer. In the end she decided that she would only reinforce suspicions if she didn’t show up. Although Roger hadn’t been a friend of hers, Dr. Rimmer had been the Parker family physician all through Joan’s childhood. It would be natural for her to pay a call of respect. If she went early she might miss the inevitable crowd.
On the way to the Rimmers’, Joan stopped at a dead-end road high on the hill facing the river. She had a stunning view of the Welcome sign, and it seemed to be one of the few places in the county with full cell-phone coverage. She turned the phone over in her hand, watching the illuminated green bars denoting perfect reception. The logical thing to do would be to leave town right after she visited the Rimmers. She should call the Elgar RCMP detachment to see if they wanted her to stay in Madden any longer. It wouldn’t be wise to ask for Gabe. If word got out about them it would fuel the rumour mill and set tongues wagging up and down the aisles of the Co-op Store. That, however, wasn’t what was needling her. The stakes, in this situation, were much higher than town gossip. Could Gabe get fired because of her? The RCMP brass could sure put the screws to him for sleeping with a suspect. Although he was equally to blame for their indiscretion, she felt responsible. She hadn’t discouraged him. What was even more disturbing was the cold fact that she might be thrown in jail. Was that possible? It wouldn’t be the first time that an innocent person was accused of doing something they didn’t do. Would it look even worse that she had been angrily rejecting Roger on Friday, and not embracing him passionately, as Marlena had described? And if it was discovered that Roger had tried to rape her thirty years before, would that go against her? She should have told Gabe right after the murder. Coupled with the confusion over whether or not she’d been on the invitation list, it made her look plain bad, as though she’d been withholding information. Thankfully, Peggy could clear up that misunderstanding.
As Joan stared at the phone, silently daring Gabe to call her first, she allowed herself to remember the details of her night with him, the tender touching, the fevered intimacy, the aftermath of lying in the arms of someone who knows you so well. Slowly, she admitted the truth to herself. She didn’t really want permission to leave. She wanted to stay in Madden for a while longer, but not under suspicion of murder. She couldn’t just wait for someone else to make her life right. Research was her specialty. Nothing could keep her from digging around for information on her own, doing her own private investigation. She’d do what she could to get both Gabe and herself out of this mess.
It wasn’t much different than what she did in her lab. There she used the process of induction, combining information in the form of scents and tastes to make best-selling products. Now she would turn to deduction, deconstructing the murder, isolating the ingredients that made someone want Roger Rimmer dead.