CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
1:22 p.m.
Bridger County Sheriff’s Office
Grayback, Wyoming
Rae downloaded files from the cloud onto her newly purchased laptop, thanks to a quick stop on the way to the sheriff’s office, and watched Liam pace in the small office while they waited on the sheriff.
“He’ll listen, Rae. He has to,” Liam said.
She had the feeling Liam was trying to convince himself.
“Besides, we have to report what happened today. I’d prefer Taggart himself hears about it rather than just filing a report, and he has to agree that it’s part of his larger investigation.”
Now Rae waited on the downloads, so she tried to reach Reggie. She hoped he had more information for her. Reggie was truly a godsend, and she was grateful he’d been more than willing to get on board with helping her. In journalism, knowledge was power. She knew approaching people and asking them questions point-blank were important parts of the investigative process, and she’d done that with Enzo Astor today. But she needed additional information on him. If she knew more about the man, she would have ammunition when she met with him. Still, she couldn’t shake the sense that she’d yet to truly find Zoey’s trail. At least she wasn’t in this alone, and many well-trained agencies were searching for her friend and sister-in-law.
Oh, Zoey . . .
Reggie didn’t answer, and she ended the call without leaving a voicemail. He knew what she needed. She tapped the edge of the desk. “We need to pick up the pace, but how?”
Was it possible that she could have gotten more done without Liam at her side?
“No. We need to take our time and rethink our strategy. You’re in someone’s crosshairs, Rae. I’m pretty sure it’s Enzo Astor’s. That changes everything.”
“Just so we’re clear, Zoey is the one in immediate danger.”
Uncertainty surged in Liam’s gaze. What was that about?
The door whipped open and Sheriff Taggart rushed in, his expression almost warming when he spotted Liam. Almost. Taggart was in his forties, and his deeply furrowed brows appeared hooked together permanently. He seemed to have more than his fair share of troubles.
“Thanks for giving me a few minutes, Sheriff. This is Rae Burke,” Liam said. “There’s a situation going on.”
“By all means, fill me in.” Sheriff Taggart took his seat. He shook two pain relievers into his hand and popped them into his mouth, followed by a long swig of water from a glass that had been sitting on his desk.
Liam appeared to wait for the sheriff’s full attention, and when he got it, he succinctly explained Simon’s death and Zoey’s disappearance, their search, the stolen laptop, and the incident on the slopes. Rae couldn’t be sure if the sheriff had been aware of the possible connections. She offered the images from her cell phone, which he studied, then returned.
The sheriff nodded as if he’d heard the story before. “I got a call from the Denver Police and had the unfortunate task of delivering the news to Mr. Astor about his brother’s remains. I also spoke with Samara Davidson about her missing daughter.” He rubbed his jaw. “This county has seen better days. I’ll pass this information on to one of my detectives. It sounds like a stretch, but we’ll see if there’s anything to learn.”
“No,” Liam and Rae said at the same time.
Taggart frowned. “Excuse me?”
“Sheriff,” Liam said as he leaned forward. “Enzo Astor was seen meeting with the same man who stole Rae’s laptop and ran her off the slope.”
“You’re positive it was the same man?” Sheriff Taggart studied Liam.
“I didn’t see his face, but he was wearing the same green-faced watch as the man who stole the laptop—and on his right wrist.”
Rae scooted to the edge of her seat. “Sheriff, if I may, Zoey’s life is in danger. We want to save her life, not hear about her death in the news. Or have a police officer knock on my brother’s door to tell him his wife is dead.”
“Those are a lot of accusations with nothing to go on. I don’t have a reason to search Mr. Astor’s home. I’ll give this to one of my detectives to see if we can get probable cause for a search warrant. I have two detectives at the moment.” He flashed two fingers. “Two.”
“Wouldn’t you agree that human life is more important than, say, ticketing horse abusers and managing road closures?” A typical day for the county sheriff’s offices. Liam’s tone didn’t go unnoticed by the sheriff.
Anger flashed in the sheriff’s eyes. Maybe even a little hurt.
Interesting.
“Look, Sheriff. That wasn’t called for,” Liam said. “I’m sorry. I just want you to know what’s happening. I had hoped you would understand the urgency.”
Sheriff Taggart appeared to consider his words carefully. “I appreciate that, Liam. Go ahead and file a report on the incident at the resort involving the jerk who bumped Ms. Burke off the trail. Beyond me passing this to a detective, why don’t you tell me what you want me to do.”
Rae didn’t for a minute believe he was asking for their directive. “We just want you to be aware there’s a possible connection. I want to find Zoey, and right now I don’t know what else we can do.”
Liam leaned back. “Do you have any new information about Simon’s death, Sheriff? Maybe your detective could deliver that and use it as an excuse. I could come along.”
“You’re not in my employ.”
“You used my assistance before.” Liam crossed his arms.
“I don’t need it now.”
“We’re looking into this with or without your help, Sheriff,” Rae said.
Sheriff Taggart squeezed the bridge of his nose.
“I’ve hired Liam as a private investigator to find Zoey. To save her. To save my brother and their four-year-old daughter. We can do this together. Or not.”
“Someone followed Rae and then broke into her room and stole her laptop. Someone forced her off the slope and maybe wanted to kill her today. Someone doesn’t want her to find Zoey, Sheriff. Good enough?”
“You two aren’t going to stop digging, are you?”
“No. My sister-in-law’s life is at stake. I’m a reporter, and Liam is a brilliant investigator. I’ve worked with him before.” Maybe Liam didn’t want the sheriff to know about their shared past, but it was too late.
Sheriff Taggart pinned his gaze on her. “You’re positive your brother isn’t responsible for her disappearance?”
Anger burned her cheeks. She kept her words steady. “I’m 100 percent sure.”
“No one can be that sure.” He tucked his chin, his eyes flooding with compassion. “Even if it’s someone you think you know and trust. Even if it’s a loved one.”
Okay. Well. Sheriff Taggart spoke like a man who’d experienced betrayal.
“As a journalist,” he said, “you already know that more often than not, husbands are responsible. Or that someone she knew took her.”
Rae could work with that. “Exactly. That’s why I was betting on the previous stalker. I thought Simon had found her and abducted her, but then I learned he’s dead. Now, see, it could be the ex-stalker’s brother exacting revenge after he learned of his brother’s death and put two and two together.”
“Even if everything you said is true, we can’t charge anyone. We can’t arrest anyone without evidence.”
“The only evidence we care about is Zoey, Sheriff.” Desperation edged her voice.
“I don’t advise you get into the middle of an investigation and muddy the waters, but right now I don’t have an actual investigation going. Not enough facts to say that Zoey is here. But this is what I will do. I’ll call Denver PD and connect with their investigator. Find out what I can. Then I’ll go to Enzo Astor’s house with a deputy and tell him what we’ve learned. We’ll see if we can get an invitation inside, or at the very least look around outside.”
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“If Zoey is being kept there, though, we could tip them off. She could get hurt. So please be careful.”
“True enough, but the way I see it, it’s better to get a reaction than to leave things as they are.” The sheriff swiped his hand over his tired face. “I don’t have to tell you that evidence is growing colder by the hour. The chances of finding her alive are growing slimmer.”
“No. You don’t have to tell me.” I know. God, I know that, please. Rae pushed back the nausea.
Liam rose as the sheriff did, and they shook hands. They were familiar with each other. Not quite close friends, but their natural camaraderie said there was trust between them.
She followed Liam out of the county offices and climbed into his truck.
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“The clock is ticking and we’re getting nowhere. That’s because I only know how to get information and write stories.”
“What are you talking about? Remember when I said you would make a great private investigator? Well, you are making a great private investigator. Using your skills to find your sister-in-law. What should we do next?”
She angled to look at him. “Are you trying to mentor me? Or just asking because I’ve hired you and I’m the lead on this?”
He shrugged. “Take your pick.”
His eyes held hers as if he wouldn’t let go. As if he peered inside her soul, then his dimples emerged again. Warm sensations skated across her heart. Don’t get attached. When this is over, Liam and I will go back to being less than comfortable with each other. I’ll leave this valley and Liam McKade far behind.
He shuttered away whatever emotions had surfaced in his eyes, then started the truck.
Rae wanted to talk to Samara Davidson again, but she had to follow this lead through. “We need to be at that house after the sheriff makes contact. We’re going to stake it out to find out where else Astor’s been going besides the resort.”
“Don’t forget, you have a masked man after you,” Liam said.
“And that’s why I have you, Liam, to keep me safe from the monsters and bad guys.”
“Let’s be sure to keep a safe distance from whatever monster emerges after the sheriff’s visit. That’s bound to set off Astor’s alarms—that is, if he has something to hide.” Liam glanced her way. “And you and I are going to be waiting for what he does next.”
“Then if nothing comes of that, I’m going to call him on his private number and arrange an interview.”
Rae ignored the warning in Liam’s eyes. Astor could be behind Rae’s stolen laptop. With the information he found on it, he could learn what she knew about Zoey. He could have hired the masked man to scare her or injure her or force her to discontinue her search. With those thoughts, she now leaned toward Liam being right about Astor, after all. Despite Astor’s response when she’d approached him, he’d known exactly who she was, and he was the reason behind Zoey’s disappearance. He’d gotten revenge for his brother’s death.
An eye for an eye.
A death for a death.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
1:47 p.m.
Denver, Colorado
Callie sat at the counter eating Goldfish crackers and drinking strawberry almond milk, thanks to the local grocery delivery service. Alan imbibed black coffee. A knock came at the front door. Callie’s eyes widened. He suspected she hoped it was her mother who, for some reason, had knocked on the front door instead of waltzing in, filling the room with love and joy.
He glanced through the peephole. Detective Beverly Mansfield again. Thirty-something. Small but fierce. Eyes that held little warmth.
Fear and hope jumped around in his chest. He glanced over at Callie, whose eyes remained riveted on the door. He hated that she would soon be disappointed, and he wished she didn’t have to be here to see the detective or hear her accusing words. He’d have to remedy that.
He opened the door and leaned against it, blocking Callie’s view as much as possible. “Detective.”
Alan didn’t exactly want to invite the woman into his home. Was he required to show manners? She seemed to lean strongly toward suspecting him in Zoey’s disappearance. However, the detective and her search could bring Zoey back to him. It was a double-edged sword.
“Please tell me you’ve found her.” Despair echoed in every word.
By the look in her eyes, good news wasn’t the reason the detective had come.
“I’m sorry. Not yet. You’ll certainly be the first to know when we do.” Her response sounded slightly threatening.
Or maybe he was paranoid.
“Would you mind if I came inside so we can talk in private?”
He glanced beyond her. As expected, a few reporters had gathered at the curb. He had no choice, really. Alan opened the door and let her step inside. “Let me situate Callie in her room with some toys. I don’t—”
“Understood.” Detective Mansfield’s chin bounced up and down.
Hands in her pockets, she started strolling the room. Taking in the bookshelves. Looking for clues. Evidence. Alan should be glad Mansfield took her job seriously and would leave no stone unturned, as the saying went. He simply feared she would find some reason to arrest him. Innocent men had been sentenced to death before. He feared not for his own life but for Zoey’s and Callie’s lives. Zoey would want him focusing on Callie. He wished he weren’t so torn up inside so he could function better through this ordeal, for his daughter’s sake.
“Come on, sweetie. Let’s move the Goldfish and milk into your room. I’ll set them up on your table. You can play with your dollhouse while you eat.”
She scrunched her face. “But you said no eating in my room.”
“I know what I said. I also said unless it’s a special time.”
“Is this a special time?”
“It is. I need to speak with Detective Mansfield.”
Callie’s face scrunched again, only this time painfully. “Is she here to talk about Mommy?”
Alan shot the detective a look. He had wanted to spare Callie the pain. He’d hoped that she would keep believing his lies that her mother was visiting a friend. Still, he wasn’t about to admit the truth to his little girl. He would fiercely protect her to the end. “It’s grown-up talk, Callie. Nothing for you to worry about.”
Alan grabbed the snacks, but Callie rushed over to the detective and hugged her legs.
Mansfield angled her head, then gave Alan a strange look. He thought he’d explained that Callie was on the other end of the spectrum. Overly friendly with strangers. She wanted to hug them all and bring them into her world of joy. Alan would do whatever it took to keep her world from collapsing.
“Callie, please come with me.” He offered his hand.
“Listen to your father. Go with your dad.” Detective Mansfield appeared so uncomfortable that Alan wanted to let her “suffer” a bit longer.
He inwardly chuckled, but it was a sick sound to his heart.
“Callie, please.”
She lifted her face. “Do you know where my mommy is?”
Alan’s broken heart could have shattered into a million more pieces right then. He set the snacks on a side table and crouched to eye level. Alan pulled Callie toward him. “Mommy’s visiting a friend, Callie. I told you.”
She stuck her lips out in a huge pout and hung her head. Alan gathered her into his arms and sent Detective Mansfield a glare. He couldn’t help himself. “I’ll be right back.”
He picked up Callie with one arm and gathered the Goldfish in his other hand. Callie held her glass of milk. Concentrating on keeping the milk from spilling seemed to distract her for the moment.
Once Callie was settled in her room and appeared happy eating and moving furniture around in the Barbie dollhouse, Alan returned to find the detective flipping through a book she’d lifted from a shelf. She snapped the book shut and set it back
in place.
The detective tried to present herself as unbiased and like someone who was only interested in the facts. But she did a poor job hiding that she strongly suspected Alan had killed Zoey and stuffed her body in a freezer in some warehouse across town.
“What’s happening with the investigation?” he asked.
Mansfield held out a photograph. “Do you know this man?”
Alan’s heart jackhammered. He took a good, long look. A big guy, but beyond that, nothing particularly notable. Could have been anyone on the street. “No, why?”
“In reviewing security footage from the area where her car was discovered, we found these images of your wife with this man.”
Mansfield showed him the rest of the photographs. Zoey seemed to be speaking with the man as if she knew him. She stood entirely too close to him. Blood rushed to Alan’s head. He couldn’t control his increased breaths and was sure the detective watched with great interest. Headlines flashed in his mind.
HUSBAND KILLS CHEATING WIFE.
Focus. You must focus for Callie!
God, how do I stop my pounding heart? The questions? The suspicions ramping up the hurt inside?
Zoey would never cheat on him. Alan believed that. He had to hold on to that belief.
“So, you think this man abducted her?”
“No. She left with him.”
The detective’s words hung in the air. His pulse pounded in his ears. Mansfield watched his pupils for a reaction.
“Not voluntarily.” Alan’s words sounded much too loud, and he softened them. He glanced at the hallway, hoping Callie hadn’t heard his distress. “He must have forced her to go with him.”
“And why would he force her? Do you know something you’re not telling me?”
“No! Of course not! Detective, I want you to find my wife. It’s clear this man abducted her. Now, who is he?”
“We were hoping you could tell us.”
“How can I tell you when I’ve never seen him in my life?” But Zoey clearly knew the man. From where? How often had she met with him? Alan wasn’t sure he could hold his world together much longer. “Please make me copies. I can ask if anyone knows him.”
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