by Mary Stone
As I walked back to my office, thinking just how wonderful everything was going, one of those wrenches got thrown into the works.
It came in the form of a voicemail on my cell phone. Chastity Banks from a county near the North Carolina-Tennessee border. She was a woman I’d worked with once. Only once, because the minute I met her, I could see how high-strung she was. I’d had an inkling she wouldn’t be able to handle it and would crack under pressure.
Turned out, I was right.
I listened to her frantic message, her voice so screechy and on the verge of tears that I had to hold the phone away from my ear. “Call me. Call me now. Please. I don’t know what to do.”
I frowned. She never knew what to do. It was remarkable she’d survived this long. Some people, like Mark, were pretty hands-off and understood this business. And then there were basket cases like Chastity Banks, who had somehow managed to become a doctor, and needed handholding at every step.
Going to my office, I closed the door, and locked it, should my assistant make the unwise decision of popping her head in again.
The phone barely rang before Chastity picked up. “Help,” she croaked, as if someone had hands wrapped around her neck and was strangling her right then and there.
“Didn’t I tell you not to call me? It’s too dangerous.”
“I know, but…” She started to sob quietly. “There was a woman here. A private investigator, and she was asking all sorts of questions.”
“What kind of questions?”
“About Elise Kirby? The woman whose baby I let you know about? Remember?”
I rolled my eyes. I’d told this stupid woman never to mention that name to me again. Yes, I’d been involved. I’d contacted her, and she’d told me all about Elise Kirby, a girl who was mentally disabled due to fetal alcohol syndrome, yet high functioning. She was alone, poor, scared…the perfect candidate. She’d recently been discharged from the hospital, and Chastity’s agency had a social worker assigned to the case.
Because Chastity was such a bonehead, though, I told her to call the caseworker off. Then I had one of my “caseworkers” scout the place out for me, finding when would be the best time to make the grab. They’d found out that Elise, not being as bright as most people, had an old, practically deaf woman watching her baby while she went to work.
It was so simple, it almost brought tears to my eyes, how well things fell into place. And then I went and picked up the child myself, dropped her at a clinic, and collected my fee.
But this was bad. If Chastity kept bawling and didn’t get control of herself, she was going to blow the lid right off this thing. “Calm down. I told you people might come around asking questions. It’s only natural. Granted, I didn’t think it would take two years, but you’ve got to keep your cool. You understand?”
“Yes, but this woman said Elise Kirby had hired her, and I was so unnerved by the whole thing that I googled her.”
“And?”
“And she might be young, but she’s got a resume. She brought down the Spotlight Killer. She’s not a slouch. I’m scared.”
I leaned back in my chair and massaged my temples. “All right. But there’s absolutely nothing to tie us to the Kirby case. I told you that. Just asking questions isn’t going to get her anywhere. She has to. You’re child services. So, you just need to refer her someplace else and send her on her way.”
“That’s what I tried to do. I told her I didn’t know anything about it. If she somehow subpoenas our records, she won’t find anything, but she seemed like she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.”
Dammit. I couldn’t trust this woman as far as I could throw her. She was too jumpy. Too liable to give herself up under the first sign of tension. She’d take a wrong step somewhere, if we weren’t careful. “What, exactly, did you say?”
“She asked about possible child laundering cases. I told her I didn’t have any knowledge of such a thing and referred her to health and human services.”
That was good. Amazingly, the good doctor had handled it well, for once. The state’s bureaucratic red tape would make even the most seasoned investigator want to jump from the tallest bridge. “All right, then. She’s digging, but she’s not going to get far. Eventually she’ll come up against a brick wall and stop.”
“I hope.” There was doubt in her voice.
“What’s this private investigator’s name?” I asked, pulling my laptop toward me so I could conduct my own search.
When she gave it to me, I had to admit, it sounded very familiar. I typed it in and it brought up the image of a young, dark-haired woman with a bright white smile. Kylie Coulter.
No wonder she sounded familiar.
Damn it all to hell, I thought, staring at the picture, then reading the woman’s impressive professional resume. She’d made headlines for solving several high-profile cases in the Asheville area, and had recently started her own company, Coulter Confidential.
I hadn’t stooped to murder to cover my tracks in a long time. But I’d decided long ago, when I was just starting my career, that if I had to, I wouldn’t blink an eye. And I hadn’t. Women like Patricia Hastings had just been part of the normal cost of doing business. A busybody who’d stepped in the wrong place. My career was at stake, as well as the careers of the dozens of other professionals who’d helped me.
And this Kylie, like Patricia, had clearly come too close.
11
Linc had always been the chef of the family since Kylie couldn’t boil water, so he hadn’t minded when she’d texted saying she would be late and that he should start on dinner without her. He decided to make something elaborate, since after fixing the dishwasher and putting the dogs through a nice hour-long workout outside, he had the time. After paging through his cookbook and checking the contents of the fridge, he settled on his famous beef short ribs with red wine gravy.
He knew it was one of Kylie’s favorite meals, and after the busy day she’d had, she’d probably appreciate relaxing with a glass of red wine and enjoying a long, leisurely dinner.
But by six o’clock, when the food was ready, she still hadn’t returned home.
He hated leaving the food to rest because it made the meat tough, but he had no choice. Going to the fridge, he popped open a craft beer and went outside to wait for her. As he did, he checked his phone.
No texts from Kylie, other than the last one, where she’d said she was fine. But that was three hours ago.
He sat down on the swing in front of the house, staring at the phone, willing it to give him some clue as to her whereabouts.
Not texting wasn’t like her. And from their lunch at the diner, he got the distinct feeling something was really wrong. Her moods were becoming more and more erratic by the minute. Snapping at Elise like that? Getting riled after he told her he wanted to help with the financial situation? It totally wasn’t like her.
Nothing was like her, nowadays. It was like she was transforming into a different person.
He hadn’t bothered to ask her if she wanted his help at Children’s Hope, because he knew the answer would have been a resounding no. He hadn’t wanted to insert himself in the investigation because it was clear she wanted to be alone. Maybe they had been working too close together. Maybe she just needed her own space.
If this was what owning her own business was going to do to her, then it wasn’t worth it. As much as she loved it, they couldn’t continue with this. But how could he help if she was constantly pushing him away? He wanted the old Kylie back.
He’d nearly finished the entire beer by the time he heard a car coming up the gravel drive. He was glad, because he was starving.
But when he saw the police truck instead of Kylie’s bright yellow Jeep, he cursed under his breath.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t glad to see Jacob, his best friend. He’d really been counting on someone else.
The second the truck pulled to a stop outside the house, the puppies swarmed it. Jacob jumped out and
uttered weak commands like, “Heel” and “Sit,” but for the most part, all of their training went out the window whenever they saw Jacob. Actually, whenever they saw anyone.
The burly, red-headed detective stood next to his truck with his hands up, looking at his friend like he was about to be overrun. “Little help?”
Linc whistled. Some of the pups listened, but for the others, it was just a free-for-all. He was still amazed that Kylie wanted to keep all of them. He shook his head as, eventually, the sea of dogs parted enough to let Jacob climb the stairs.
“You ever think of selling some of these guys off? Creating a little sanity here?”
Linc snorted. “Sanity is overrated.” He shook his hand, then went inside and got his friend a beer. When he returned, the dogs were in danger of pouncing on him again. He ordered them to go off to the yard and play. Once Beatrice did, the rest followed. “So, what’s new, buddy?”
“You know, the old grind.” He took a swig and looked at the door. “What’s up with you? Haven’t seen you in a long time, man. Thought maybe you got eaten by your dogs. Kylie here?”
“No. She’s out right now. She should be here soon, though.”
Jacob set his bottle of beer on the porch floor and began to stroke Storm’s muzzle. “Well, I do have some news. Hold on to your hat, because I think it’s gonna shock the hell out of you.”
Even knowing Jacob’s cemented status as a playboy, Linc had a little bit of an idea of what it was. His intentions were made pretty clear when Jacob brought Faith to Linc’s wedding. Where Jacob would normally dance with every single girl at the reception, that night, he’d only had eyes for one woman. “You’ve been chosen as Detective of the Year.”
“Not quite. I asked Faith to marry me,” he said with a big, shit-eating grin. “Amazingly, she said yes.”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Linc said in mock surprise, extending his hand to shake again. “She must’ve gone insane; probably took too many hits in Quantico.”
He laughed. “Probably. But it’s working out for me in the end.”
Truthfully, Linc couldn’t have imagined anything better. Besides Kylie, Jacob was his favorite person in the world, and even with their history, he was fond of Faith. He’d once dated her in law school, which felt like a thousand years ago, until he dropped out of school and went off to basic training. “How’s she doing with the FBI?”
“Well, it’s been great since she’s transferred to Raleigh from New York, but I’m still trying to get her to come a little farther so the two of us can be an unstoppable crime-fighting duo. Like Batman and Batgirl.” He grinned. “So, from the man who knows, how’s married life?”
Linc’s grin fell away. Today wasn’t the best time for Jacob to ask that question. Because right now, it seemed pretty damn shitty; the worst of it being that he wasn’t sure how to fix it. Or did marriage involve ups and downs, even this soon? He wasn’t sure.
“Great,” he lied through his teeth. “You know, wedded bliss.”
“Yeah? You look kind of tired. The dogs driving you insane?”
Linc jumped on the excuse. “Something like that. And Kylie’s on another big case. You know how she gets when she’s on her big cases.”
Jacob dropped his head back and growled. “Oh, Jesus, do I ever. You might as well stand back. She on a tear?”
Linc nodded but didn’t admit that he was worried that this one might be the worst ever. Because, this time, she had something to prove, a business to save. Now, she wasn’t just eager. She had attitude as well.
“What’s this one about?” Jacob asked.
He wasn’t sure he wanted to talk about it, but since it would be a distraction from how Kylie’d been acting, he gave in. “You ever hear of the case involving Elise Kirby about two years back? Her two-month-old child was abducted from her trailer park.”
He scratched the side of his face. “That rings a bell, yeah, but it was in another county, right? Over in Haywood, maybe? We didn’t get involved in that.” He took another gulp of beer. “How is Kylie getting involved in that, after all this time? Sounds like a massive lost cause. Kid’s been gone a long time.”
“The mother is an acquaintance of Kylie’s. Saw her ad on a placemat at the diner and all but begged Kylie for help. And you know, Kylie being Kylie, she couldn’t say no. So, she’s god knows where now investigating, and not getting paid a damn cent.”
Jacob whistled.
Linc hadn’t meant to sound so exasperated, but when he saw Jacob’s expression, he knew he’d said too much.
Jacob steepled his fingers together. “She needs to watch herself. Especially with Elise.”
Exactly what he’d been telling her. But…Elise was harmless. Right?
“What do you mean?”
“From what I can remember, the rumors were that that woman wasn’t right in the head. The case went cold because no one recalled seeing that aunt or relative anywhere and thought that maybe Agnes had made it up to protect Elise. A couple people said the girl was a liar of the first order.”
“You mean, Elise might have—”
“Yeah. They thought maybe she’d killed the kid then gave it to her new boyfriend to bury somewhere because, a few days later, she moved out of that trailer and started living with the guy. And he was a real piece of work. The thought was that the boyfriend didn’t want kids, so she removed the problem. Either that, or he did.”
Linc stared straight ahead, remembering the kid who’d walked around the barn with him a couple days earlier. Was that the same boyfriend? Was the sweet woman who served him at the diner a psychopath of the first order?
And dammit. Had he given his favorite dog to a murderer?
“She seemed like a nice person. Slow, maybe, but not cruel. And hell. Why would she ask Kylie to look into it if she killed the kid?”
Jacob shrugged. “Good point, but you never know what people will do for attention or out of guilt. Well, it sounded to me like they did all they could, and the trail just went cold.”
“I thought it could be a child laundering scheme.”
Jacob shrugged. “That’s a whole other can of worms.”
“You don’t think so?”
“Could be. I’d never say never. If it is, it’s probably got lines reaching all over the place, so she’ll end up getting tangled in a web of worthless research. But if it’ll help Kylie, I’ll pull a list of similar cases from the surrounding area.”
“Yeah. That’ll be good.”
Jacob pulled out his phone and started tapping away with his thumbs. “I’ll have it faxed to your office number, that okay? That fax is still good?”
“Yeah.”
“My guess is, you’ll find a bunch of different cases that could possibly be related, but there won’t be anything to tie them together. That’s the way it usually goes,” he said, slipping his phone into his breast pocket. “And sent. I’m having an officer compile it for you from the missing persons database right now. Infant kidnappings, child never located, ages one year and under, from North Carolina and the surrounding states.”
“Thanks, man.”
He finished his beer and said, “Well, I was hoping to see your lovely wife and break the news to her also, because I know her heart will break now that I’m off the market. Tell her that she’s always welcome to cry on my shoulder, if need be. But I did want to ask you both something.”
Linc grinned. He already knew what this was. Jacob had been his best man, so it only made sense. “Of course I will. I’m honored to be asked.”
Jacob looked like his face might split in two. “You think Kylie would like to be a bridesmaid?”
Linc nodded. Kylie lived to bridesmaid, she’d told him once. She had about twelve gowns in their closet upstairs to show for it. The woman had so many friends that he could barely keep track of them. She was a professional at that sort of thing. “She’d be honored to.”
“Great. Faith wanted to ask herself, but she’s in D.C. right now.”
“Ah. When’s the big day?”
“Soon. A month, six weeks at max. We’re planning a big engagement shindig. Invite forthcoming.”
Linc forced himself not to frown, wanting to ask why the rush. Was Faith pregnant? He mentally shrugged. If she was, his friend would tell him when he was ready.
“Sounds good. We’ll be there. I’m sure Kylie will be just as thrilled as I am by the news.”
They shook hands again, and he waved goodbye as Jacob got into his police truck and headed off. As he did, Linc searched down the driveway. Still no Kylie, and now the sun was starting to slip behind the trees, making their hilltop estate dark and shadowy.
He went inside as their old fax machine beeped. Going over to it, he ripped off a sheet of paper and saw that it was from the sheriff’s department. After that, the old machine started spitting out more pages. A lot more. He read through the file, finding the names of seven babies who’d disappeared in similar circumstances to the Kirby child within Buncombe and the neighboring counties. Then, there was a widened list that included Virginia, Tennessee, as well as all the neighboring states. That list went on forever. The first name on that list was a woman named Renee Best of Staunton, Virginia. She apparently died by suicide, and her weeks-old baby had never been found.
But that was from 1975, many years ago.
It would be ridiculous to try to connect the two cases, even if there were some similarities.
Yes, Renee was poor and lived in a trailer park in a small town. She had no support system, just like Elise. But other than that, Jacob was right.
There was no smoking gun connecting any of these cases.
He stopped leafing through the pages when he heard the sound of a car approaching outside. As the dogs barked, Linc followed them outside.
Finally. Kylie.
But when her Jeep rolled into the glow of the porch light, he realized she wasn’t smiling. Her face looked not tired, not angry, not happy, not anything. Vacant.
His first thought was to rip into her for being late, but he tamped that urge down, knowing it’d just make everything worse. Instead, he smiled then went to open the door for her.