Temptation Trails - Page 135

He shifted away and rubbed his chin. “You said he brings up true crime stories?”

“Yeah. I think he’s really into that. The first time he came into the bakery, he was wearing a true crime shirt, and he started telling me about a case. It was odd.”

“Did you ever find out if he left the bear on your car?”

“No. I should ask him but I’m usually too busy trying to figure out how to get out of the conversation. Especially today. He tried to get me to go home with him.”

His tone hardened. “He tried to what?”

“He asked if I’d go to his house to meet his pet bearded dragon. He has a white van, Garrett. An actual white van. That has to be too cliché to be real, right? He can’t be an actual kidnapper with a white van.”

“Did he try to force you inside?”

“No, nothing like that. I told him no thanks and went back into the bakery.” Suddenly, dots connected. “Wait, didn’t Matt file a complaint about you?”

“He was going to, but apparently didn’t follow through.”

“That’s so strange. He didn’t mention anything about it, not even when he was asking about the case you’re working on. I don’t get this guy.”

I wasn’t sure if Garrett was listening anymore. His eyes were unfocused and he sat down at the table with his laptop. “Could he know?”

“Could he know what?”

“About the package,” he said, almost under his breath, as he started scrolling through something on the screen.

“What package?”

He froze, his muscles tensing. “Never mind.”

“No, what package? The one I got? Please tell me what’s going on.”

With a long exhale, he turned to look at me. “Not long before she was killed, Jasmine received a package from an unknown sender. It had a pair of her underwear in it.”

The shock of what he’d just said reverberated through me like the sound of a gong. “What?”

“That doesn’t mean there’s a connection between her murder and the package on your porch.”

“But it’s the same. I got a package from an unknown sender with a pair of my own underwear. Which is just like the case you’re trying to solve? How is that not a connection? Did she get a murder bear too?”

“No, she didn’t get a bear.”

“But what does this mean? Could Jasmine’s killer be—” I stopped because I couldn’t say it.

He glanced toward the couch, but Owen was wearing headphones. It didn’t look like he could hear us.

“There are other possible explanations,” Garrett said, lowering his voice. “Jasmine’s murder was ten years ago, and as far as we know, he hasn’t killed again. At least not with the same pattern. We don’t even know if he’s still in Tilikum. It’s unlikely the same person would resurface now and start recreating the events leading to her death.”

“But he might, especially since you’re investigating the case.”

“I know. Trust me, I’m looking at every scenario. But I’m also concerned about the fact that the town gossip line has been buzzing about the case. This might be someone who thinks they’re funny playing a practical joke. Or it might be something worse.”

“Like someone reenacting what happened back then?”

“Exactly. The police dismissed the package as being unrelated, so I don’t know if the contents were ever public knowledge. But they could have been, especially when it was a missing persons case, before her body was found. I haven’t had time to look up all the news coverage.”

“So, you’re saying someone could know about the package, especially if they were into true crime?”

“Yeah.”