by Robin Mahle
“Just be careful, Riley. There are snakes in there.” Ethan hunched over with his hands resting against his knees. “You got it?”
A small grunt, and Riley pulled up again. “Yeah. I got it.”
Ethan pointed into the clearing. “Over there. Less than a foot. Is that? Does that look like keys to you?”
Riley peered down again. “Sure does.” She reached in again and pulled out the keys. Upon returning upright, she held out the evidence. “This just went from bad to a whole lot worse.”
Jacob cleared his throat and knocked on his boss’s door.
“Come in,” the voice from the other side of the door answered.
He turned the handle as if he was moving in slow motion and opened the door. “Hey, Ty, I’m not interrupting you, am I?”
“Jacob. No, not at all. Have a seat.” He motioned to the seat across from him. “What can I do for you?”
“Um, you asked me to come see you if I heard anything about um…” He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. “I—I’m sorry.” He pulled out the phone to check the caller ID, praying it was Alex. He peered at the screen and shot a look to his boss. “Excuse me, Ty, but I think this call could be critical to what I’m about to say. Do you mind?”
“No. Go ahead and take it, if you have to.”
“Hey, tell me you have news?” Jacob lowered his tone as he spoke. “I’m here with my boss right now.”
“Sorry,” Riley replied. “But I thought I should let you know. We found Alex’s cell phone and his car keys.”
“But not him?”
“No. Not him. But now we know he’s gone without a phone and he didn’t take his keys.”
Jacob was silent as his mind spun to think of something to say.
“Jacob, a man just doesn’t walk away like that, you understand this, right?” Riley asked.
“Of course, yeah. Um, okay. I really have to go. I’ll call you back.” He ended the call. “Sorry about that. That was my girlfriend. I told you she was a cop, right?”
“I’m aware.” Ty leaned back in his chair and regarded Jacob with growing concern. “What is it? Is this about Alex?”
“Yes. She said they found his 4Runner on the side of Hillcrest Road and that they also found his cell phone and keys—in a nearby ditch.”
“What?” Ty pulled up in his chair and leaned over his desk. “What are you saying, here, Jacob? That Alex has gone missing?”
“It’s looking that way, Ty. I’m sure the next call the police will make will be to Alex’s wife.” He fiddled with his fingers for a moment. “Since our phones are company-owned, is there a chance, and we’d probably have to get the okay from the police, but do you think we, or you could ask that they check his GPS for where he might’ve gone last night?”
“You said they found his phone. So he clearly doesn’t have it. Jacob, is he…?”
“I don’t know. The cops don’t know. But I guess you’re right. I wasn’t thinking that since they now have the phone.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m just a little taken aback by all this.”
“You and me both. Look, tracking the GPS might not be worthwhile, but that doesn’t mean we can’t see who he called or texted and give that information to the cops. Since it’s a company phone, Corporate should be able to request the records, I think.”
“Okay. Good. Yeah, I think that would help the cops find him.” He stood.
“Jacob? You don’t look good. Is there something else you want to say?”
“No. I guess I’m just—scared. Scared for Alex and his family. He’s got kids, for Pete’s sake.”
“I know he does. I’ll reach out to the police department and see what I can do to help, okay?”
Jacob nodded. “Thank you.”
Captain Ward spotted the patrol car enter the parking lot from his office. He made his way to the bullpen in anticipation of his officers’ return. When the door opened and Riley walked inside, he began, “I got a call from someone who might be able to help.”
“Who?” Riley eyed him as she walked to her desk.
“Alex Laughlin’s boss reached out to me. He knew you’d found Alex’s phone and said it belonged to the company.”
“That’s great.” Ethan returned to his desk. “We’ll be able to see who he was last in contact with.”
“Exactly,” Ward replied. “He also said Jacob had taken a call from you, Riley. And that was how he was told about Alex.”
“I called Jacob because he’d been out with Alex last night and I knew he was worried.”
“It’s okay. I’m actually glad because getting into that phone is going to be critical. Where is it, by the way?”
“I have it.” Ethan opened the kit and placed the phone that was inside a baggie along with the keys on top of his desk. “We followed protocol down to the T. Didn’t want to leave anything to chance.”
“Good call.” Ward examined the evidence. “Let’s get it logged into Evidence and we’ll go from there.” Ward started back toward his office. “Thompson, while Pruitt’s handling that, you mind if we have a word?”
Riley eyed Ethan then returned her attention to the captain. “Sure thing.” She followed him into his office. “I know I should’ve gotten your buyoff before calling Jacob…”
“This isn’t about that.” Ward dropped into his chair. “This is about what Jacob was doing with Alex last night. Now, I don’t know much, which is why I asked you in here, but from what Ty Henry, Alex’s boss, said, he and Jacob went out together. Any idea what that was about?”
“According to Jacob, it sounded like Alex wanted to vent about work or family. Nothing unusual about that.”
“You mind telling me why Pruitt was there last night too, then?”
“How do you…?”
“Doesn’t matter how I know. I know. He was off-duty. What was he doing there and were you in contact with him?”
Riley cast down her sights. “I asked him to spend some time with Jacob.”
“Why would you ask him to do that? They aren’t the best of friends, even I can see that.”
“I’ve been having—visions. Unpleasant ones about Jacob, and I can’t identify a reason, so I asked Ethan to pry a little. But it didn’t result in anything new. It was a waste of Ethan’s time.”
“Okay. So when that little meeting was over, Pruitt went straight home?” Ward pressed on.
“By your tone, you already know the answer to that,” Riley replied.
“As a matter of fact, I do. It’s my understanding Pruitt decided to stick around there for some time. Meaning he probably saw Jacob’s buddy too.”
“He did.”
“What are we going to do with that information now, Riley? I would say, with the wife’s consent, the time’s come to call this deal what it is.”
“A missing persons’?”
“You got it,” Ward replied. “So first and foremost, let’s get Pruitt in here and find out what he knows.”
“And Laughlin’s cell phone?” she added.
“We’ll get the company’s assistance and see what we can find.” Ward inhaled a deep breath. “In the meantime, help Pruitt with that evidence. Then I want you both to come back in here and let’s open us up a Missing Persons’ file.”
Jacob’s white Mustang pulled onto the driveway and caught Riley’s attention from the living room. “Scooch now, CJ.” She closed the lid of her laptop and hopped off the couch to open the door. Her eyes couldn’t hide her emotions this time and as he approached, tears welled. “I’m so sorry, babe.”
“It’s okay.” Jacob returned her embrace. “It’s okay, Riley. Come on. Let’s get inside.”
She pulled away and wiped the tears that had pooled. “How’s everyone at the office doing with the news?”
“Not great.” He continued toward the kitchen. “I could use a beer. You want one?”
“No. Thanks.”
“Sorry, I forgot.” He opened the refrigerator and popped off the lid to a bottle of
Sam Adams and tossed back half of it. “Anything yet from his phone?”
“No. It’s going to be a little while. We’ve only just opened the investigation.” Riley watched as he chugged down the rest of the brew. “I know how upset you must be, but we need to talk about last night. I have to know everything that happened. Jacob, we’re going to have to talk to everyone Alex was last seen with.”
“I have to give a statement?”
“Yes, you do.” She paced the kitchen floor and the cool tile felt good on her bare feet. “This must’ve been what the visions were about.”
“What do you mean? They were of me, not Alex.”
“I know, but you know how they can be deceiving sometimes. They don’t always make sense, but they’re always foreboding. I just can’t see if he’s…”
“See what? If he’s dead?” Jacob replied.
“Yeah. If he’s dead.”
“Well, if you can’t see it, then that must mean he’s not, right? He probably just took off somewhere.”
She walked toward him. “But why? Why would he do that? He has a family, children—a good job. It doesn’t make sense. Please, Jacob, is there anything else I should know? This is your friend we’re talking about. That should mean something to you.”
“He was never a friend, just a guy I worked with. Christ, I was doing him a favor.”
“What do you mean?”
Jacob appeared to realize his admission. “I mean, by hanging out with him. Letting him vent, you know? He only asked me because no one else wanted to go.”
“Then who were those men who talked to you both last night? And then the one who talked to you alone?”
“What?” His brow creased. “What are you talking about? What men?”
Riley’s shoulders sank. “Please don’t be mad, but Ethan decided to—stick around—after you two wrapped up. He said two men came out and talked to you and Alex. Who were they, Jacob? It could be important.”
Jacob stepped back with his face masked in confusion. “Wait. What? You had Ethan stay there? Was he like staking me out or something? What the hell, Riley?”
“I didn’t ask him to. It doesn’t matter because it was a good thing he did. What with the visions and everything. I was scared you were hiding something, and I couldn’t see it.”
He nodded with an air of superiority. “Let me get this straight. You couldn’t read my mind, so you sent someone, your partner, a guy who doesn’t like the fact that we’re together, to keep tabs on me?”
“Well no, not exactly.”
“Sounds exactly like what happened. You realize no one can read minds, except you, right? So what do you think everyone else does? Send spies to track their significant others?”
Riley raised her head in defense of her actions. “I don’t know what other people do.”
“That’s right, because you always had things under control. You were the one with all the knowledge in the world about everyone. If you think I’m hiding something from you, why the hell didn’t you just ask?”
“I did—sort of.”
“Sort of. Okay, look, um, I’m going for a drive.” He raised his hands. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t follow me or send someone to follow me, okay?” He grabbed his keys from the table and started toward the door again, but then stopped and turned. “I should be able to keep some things to myself, Riley. Everyone should. But I guess I shouldn’t expect that if I’m in a relationship with you.” He slammed the door behind him.
14
The few streetlights that illuminated the single-lane roads through town made driving even more challenging this late at night. Jacob didn’t need any more traffic issues after mowing down a stop sign last year before he decided to stay in Owensville and pray that Riley would give him a second chance. And now that she had, he’d blown it once again.
It was coming up on 10pm. Jacob was tired and had been circling the streets for almost an hour and still had no idea what to do. Riley always had his best interests at heart and had risked her life for him. She’d gotten him out from under the thumb of the Indianapolis mafia, no easy feat. And this was how he would repay her, accusations and storming out of the house—her house.
Maybe the root cause was really based in fear. Alex Laughlin had disappeared, leaving behind his wife and children. He wasn’t the type of man to do that, not that Jacob believed, in any case. And to hear that Riley had Ethan, of all people, tailing him; it just didn’t sit right. But now he was beginning to feel a growing dread that Alex was gone for good, maybe even dead. What had transpired after they parted ways last night? Had the men tracked down Alex? And for what reason? They did exactly as Silas Levin had asked. Unless those men weren’t on the side of Levin and only victims of Levin’s scheme to swindle hefty sums of money. Maybe those same men caught wind of it. If that was the case, then Jacob could be next.
He found himself driving along the street where Captain Dan Ward called home. The man who had helped Riley cope with her abilities, watched her family split in two, and now cultivated her career with the police department. Ward had almost as much influence over Riley as Carl had, but in a different manner. Carl seldom doled out advice; he only listened to her and spoke his piece, if asked. Jacob hadn’t been around for a chunk of Riley’s relationship with Dan Ward. It had developed prior to Jacob and Riley dating and then when he left for college, all she had was Ward and Carl—and then Ethan.
He pulled to a stop in front of the captain’s house. Jacob needed his advice. He had to know what to do to smooth things over and, of course, find Alex. He’d begun to wonder if trouble was following him or if it followed Riley.
The front porch light burned, a good indication the captain was still awake. Jacob approached the steps and climbed them until reaching the door. With his fist curled, he rapped softly on the door. A light flickered on in the entryway and shone through the door’s side window. Jacob pulled straight and thrust his shoulders back in some strange attempt to not appear as weak and feeble as he felt.
“Jacob? What are you doing here? Is Riley okay?” Ward stood in a white t-shirt and grey athletic shorts; his socked feet curled over the threshold.
“She’s fine. We had a fight.” His bogus swagger melted away in an instant, as though he was about to confess to some childhood prank gone awry.
“Come in.” Ward stepped aside and closed the door after Jacob entered. “You want something to drink? Probably water or soda, since you’re driving.”
“No, sir. I’m fine. I was just hoping you could tell me what I should do.”
The captain shuffled into the kitchen and filled a glass of water from the tap, setting it in front of Jacob on the counter. “About Riley? Son, if you think I’m some expert on how to contain Riley Thompson, then you don’t know her as well as I thought you did.” He folded his arms and examined Jacob. “This must be about your buddy, Laughlin. I’m sorry he’s gone missing. I truly am.”
“Yeah, me too.” Jacob sipped on the water. “She’s been having visions, you know.”
“About you?”
“Yep. It freaked her out, and me too. Now with this? What are we going to do, Dan? What can we do to find him?”
“We can’t do anything. The Owensville Police Department, headed up by yours truly, can. We’ve already opened an investigation. The wife is coming in first thing tomorrow. We’re going to try to track down his friends or any other family. In fact, it’s best if you come in and make a statement too, seeing how you were the last person to see him.”
Jacob hadn’t considered that small but significant point. “I didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance.”
“Of course you didn’t, son. But we’re going to need to know what you two did last night. Riley must’ve told you that.”
“She didn’t have to. She had Ethan tail me. Anything you need to know, you’ll be able to learn from him.” Jacob’s eyes flashed with irritation.
“I see now why you’re so bent out of shape.” Ward nodd
ed. “That is something.” He was silent for a few seconds longer, appearing deep in thought, before he began again. “Go home, son. Smooth things over with Riley because what choice you got? You and me both know she needs you just as much as you need her. I’ll address this with her tomorrow. In the meantime, we’ll do everything we can to find your buddy. I promise you that.”
“Thanks, Dan.” Jacob started toward the door again, but stopped and turned back. “There is something maybe I should’ve said to Riley.”
“Is that right?”
“As we were leaving the Crooked Horse last night, a couple of men came out and started talking to us. I didn’t think much of it because it didn’t seem important. And I thought Alex had left, but maybe one of them followed him.”
“Can you give a description?”
“I can.”
“Good. Come down to the station in the morning and let’s talk more about this.” Ward pulled open the door. “You should’ve led with that, son.”
When the front door creaked on its hinges, Riley’s eyes snapped open as she lay in her bed. The time hit 11pm and the expectation that Jacob had returned was predicated on the detail that Ward had texted her. He was always looking after her, regardless of whether she was in the right and in this case, she was not.
His steps sounded in the hall as he tiptoed along the wood-planked floors, apparently trying hard not to wake her. Sleep wasn’t in the cards for Riley tonight, at least not until Jacob returned and apologies could be professed.
Light spilled in from the hall as Jacob pushed open their bedroom door and slipped inside. He made his way to the bed, shedding all but his boxer shorts, and crawled under the light-weight covers.
“Hey,” she whispered with her back to him.
“I woke you, I’m sorry,” he replied with a rueful quality.
“I wasn’t asleep.” Riley turned over and regarded him in the darkened room. His eyes held regret and she was sure hers did too. “I shouldn’t have done what I did. I went behind your back and I’m sorry.”