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Even more than that, Rose didn’t want to leave Oren behind. She couldn’t fathom why.
“I’m all right, thanks,” Rose said. “But enjoy the party.”
Rose ducked around the cop, but the cop kept up with her, maintaining eye contact.
“I’m Sean, by the way,” he said. His eyes were like a puppy dog’s. “Officer Sean Slagle.”
“Hi, Sean. I’m Rose Carlson,” she said, feeling light and snappy and alive. “Don’t you have some crimes to stop somewhere? Some tickets to write?”
Sean’s eyes danced as though he wasn’t accustomed to meeting anyone like Rose. “You’ll let me know if Oren says anything?”
“I’ll let you know if the nicest man I’ve ever met insinuates that he murdered the love of his life,” Rose shot back sarcastically. “Thanks for all your hard work, Officer. Have a great day.”
With that, Rose scampered down the beach, sand flying out behind her.
She could feel Officer Sean Slagle watching her every move.
Chapter Thirteen
Present Day
It was remarkable how the memories returned—first slowly and then all at once, like a deluge after a leak in the ceiling. Rose sat at the diner in front of her burgers, fries, and onion rings, remembering how Sean all those years ago asked her to the party that weekend and how her heart had already been latched to Oren’s.
Sean raised his eyebrows and took a bite of his onion ring. “This is the kind of thing I would have loved to have back in ’93,” he said, gesturing toward the diary. “Like you said, everyone was sure Oren had set the fire himself. That he’d done it to kill her, but we could never get any traction on the case.”
Rose picked up her burger and took a small bite. Melted cheese and roasted onions took her to another dimension of flavor. She had to stop herself from moaning.I don’t know this guy,she reminded herself.But we have a pretty strange history. And now we’re here. Together.
Is that why he was so eager to find my sculpture?
“You couldn’t get a warrant to search the house?” Rose asked.
“It was deemed an accident, and then it was sealed up,” Sean said. “I think some money changed hands to make sure we couldn’t search the place. I was twenty-four at the time. New on the force. I didn’t have a lot of leeway, and they definitely weren’t telling me everything that went on.”
Rose remembered how big-eyed Sean had looked that day on the boardwalk after he’d asked her out. He’d been so hungry to prove himself as an officer. He’d been so sure that Rose knew something.
Now, Sean wiped his hands on his napkin. “He never said anything about the fire or Natalie?”
Rose traced through the memories readily available to her, closing her eyes. Pain rocketed through her.
“He stopped wanting to talk about her and the fire at all,” she remembered. “He wanted to bury it all in the past.”
“So he could start over with you,” Sean said. His tone was dark.
Rose wondered if he was jealous. But how could he be? This was thirty-one years ago. So deep in the past that it was sepia in her mind.
Sean looked incredulous. “You’re saying much of the house is still intact?”
“There could be a few more diaries where this came from,” Rose affirmed. “But is a diary like this proof of anything?”
“It could be enough to get the case going again,” Sean said.
Rose’s heart pumped. “I want to be clear. I didn’t bring this to you to get revenge.”
Sean continued to look at her.
“I haven’t seen him in years,” Rose said. “He’s nothing to me anymore. Just a ghost.”
“I understand.”
