Page 14 of Devoured By the Forbidden Mountain Man

“Seeing Meredith in the file beside Lantern House.” Georgia looked toward the window for a moment before meeting my eyes again. “I knew a woman had witnessed the fight. I knew Brad’s girlfriend had been there. Somehow I never put that together with the woman Gavin had worried about before Halloween.”

“The original statements kept her in the witness column.”

“That’s what bothered me after I thought about it all night. Gavin didn’t make a habit of worrying about random servers.” She set down her mug. “If he was watching out for Meredith before the party, then him being in that alley with Brad probably wasn’t random either.”

“It wasn’t treated as random.” I rested my forearms on the table. “Witnesses saw the confrontation. The problem came afterward. Brad was dead, Gavin’s prints were on the knife, and Gavin eventually disappeared.”

“I know what the evidence looked like.”

There was no defensiveness in her voice. It sounded like she wanted me to know she wasn’t asking me to ignore facts.

I appreciated that more than she probably realized.

“We start with Meredith’s current information,” I said. “We find out whether there’s a legitimate way to contact her. We don’t assume she lied, and we don’t push beyond what she chooses to tell us.”

Georgia nodded. “I’m not looking to scare her. I want to know whether she remembers something that never mattered to anyone because everybody thought they already knew what happened.”

“That’s fair,” I said.

She studied me over the rim of her mug. “Was that the official bondsman approval, or did you actually agree with me?”

“I actually agreed with you. It happens occasionally.”

Her smile returned. “I’m documenting the date.”

By seven-thirty we were back in the office with Gavin’s recovery file open between us.

Morning light had replaced the desk lamps, revealing dust in the corners Georgia hadn’t reached yet and the old scratches along the wooden file cabinet from years of hard use. Wind pressed against the windows in uneven gusts while the heater clicked on beneath them.

I used North Fork’s lawful search resources only where we had a legitimate business connection and stayed inside the lines everywhere else. For Meredith herself, public records did enough. An old address from the case connected to later directory information, which led to a current phone number and a mailing address in another Idaho town.

Georgia stood beside my chair, one hand braced on the desk as she read the screen. Her sweater brushed my upper arm, shifting my attention instantly, but I kept my eyes on the monitor.

“Is that number recent?” she asked. She leaned closer to read the date attached to the listing, bringing the warm scent of her shampoo with her. “And that address?”

“Recent enough to try. The address is current within the last year. We don’t need more than that yet.”

Georgia straightened, though not before I felt the soft pressure of her body against my shoulder for another second. She looked down at me, and the faint curve of her mouth told me the contact hadn’t been entirely accidental.

“You’re enjoying this,” I said.

Her smile deepened. “Finding Meredith, or did you mean something else?”

I reached for a legal pad before I reached for her.

“Write down the number.”

She did, still smiling.

My phone rang before either of us could say anything else. It was Annette.

I answered and put her on speaker when Georgia pulled her chair closer.

“Morning,” I said. “Georgia’s here.”

“Good. I received the maintenance invoice at six twenty-three this morning, which means either you’ve developed an administrative conscience or she has access to email. I also received two August fuel receipts I stopped asking you about because preserving my blood pressure seemed more important.”

Georgia laughed softly. “Morning, Annette. I found those behind an old mileage sheet.”