An Unquiet Grave (Louis Kincaid Mysteries) by P.J. Parrish

white handkerchief. He tied it to a bare limb above the nurse’s shoe. “I’ll need you and Miss Cooper to come down to the station for a statement,” Dalum said, starting back toward E Building.
    “Of course,” Louis said.
    “Might take a couple hours.”
    “No problem.”
    Louis glanced at his watch. He knew Frances expected him back for dinner, but things at home had been so tense, he was dreading another evening with Phillip hidden behind a newspaper and Frances folding laundry.
    But now there was something else, too. He had to explain to Phillip that the search for Claudia had come to a dead end, that they would probably never find her remains.
    “So, your work finished here, Mr. Kincaid?” Dalum asked as they walked back to the cruiser.
    “I think so,” Louis said.
    “Then you’ve really got no reason to come back here to Hidden Lake, do you?”
    “No.”
    “Just as well,” Dalum said.
    Louis didn’t answer. He stopped and looked back at the empty windows of E Building. As much as he wanted to help Phillip, he hoped he’d never have to come back to this place again.

CHAPTER 10
     
    It was dark by the time Louis walked out of the Ardmore Police Station. Alice had asked for a ride back to the hospital, so he waited near the door, out of the wind, watching the street.
    The shops were dark, CLOSED FOR THANKSGIVING signs on the doors. Christmas lights twinkled in the window of O’Malley’s Hardware. A single car made its way slowly up the street, a faint sprinkle of rain shimmering in its headlights.
    “Thanks for waiting.”
    Louis turned to look at Alice. He hadn’t had much of a chance to talk to her once Chief Dalum had shown up and he wondered how she was doing. Her eyes were red-rimmed from crying, but there was something else in them, too—disbelief. The same disbelief he had seen in the eyes of so many other people whose quiet lives collided with catastrophe.
    “You okay?” Louis asked.
    Alice nodded, stuffing her hands in her pockets. “I just want to go home.”
    “You want me to drive you home?”
    She shook her head. “No, just back to the hospital is fine. I need to get my car and lock up.”
    Louis led her to Phillip’s Impala and helped her inside. She was quiet as he backed out of the space and flipped up the heater.
    “Did you know her well?” Louis asked.
    Alice sighed, folding her hands in her lap. “Pretty well, but we weren’t close. Rebecca came to Hidden Lake before me.”
    Louis slowed for a stop sign, then drove on through, leaving the soft glimmer of Ardmore behind them as they headed out into the empty farmlands.
    “Her last name was Gruber,” Alice said.
    Louis didn’t reply, knowing nothing he could say would make this any better. But he did have some questions, ones he knew he shouldn’t be asking because this wasn’t his case. But he couldn’t help it.
    “Can you tell me more about Charlie Oberon?” Louis asked.
    Alice didn’t answer immediately, but her eyes were on him, looking for some level of trust. “I’ve known Charlie for six years,” she started slowly. “And I’ve never known him to be violent.”
    “What’s wrong with him?” Louis asked.
    “We’re not sure. He’s been diagnosed as several things. Schizophrenia, mild retardation as a result of possible fetal alcohol syndrome or drug addiction. Maybe brain damage due to physical abuse as an infant. No one seems to be able nail it down since we have no history on him.”
    “Who brought him here?”
    “The state. They found him wandering the streets of Jackson in the summer of seventy-four. He seemed to function on the level of about an eight-year-old. Things haven’t changed all that much really.”
    She made a sniffling sound and Louis glanced over at her. But she wasn’t crying, just reaching into her purse for a Kleenex so she could blow her nose.
    They fell into a silence that was broken only when Alice had to give him some directions. Out here, in the emptiness of the hills