by Jenn Vakey
Lori nodded and followed him to the conference room. If she knew he was only giving her something to do simply to keep her out of the way, she wasn't showing it. Rilynne watched them walk into the room and shut the door before turning back toward Ben.
“Do you want me to go in there with you?” he asked. There was a level of concern in his eyes that matched Wilcome's.
“Having you in there isn't going to prevent him from latching onto me if he so desires,” she said. He didn't look pleased with her response. “Besides, he won't open up as well with such a strong, handsome man in the room.”
“You really think flattery will make me forget my qualms with this situation?” he asked.
Rilynne stepped toward him and kissed his cheek. “That was the general idea.”
He let out a noise that was somewhere between a chuckle and a groan. “Fine,” he conceited. “But I'm watching from the observation room. He's already shown he isn't against getting physical while at a police station. I'm going to be close in case he decides to demonstrate it again.”
“You're never going to stop protecting me, are you?” She slid her arm around his waist and started walking toward the interrogation rooms.
He shook his head dramatically. “It's a full time job,” he said. “Someone's got to do it. I could hire someone, but I think I might actually go broke.”
Rilynne rolled her eyes and pushed him through the observation room door when they came upon it.
Maloy still had the smug smile on his face when she walked into the room. He stared at her for several long moments, as if trying to size her up. Though it made her extremely uncomfortable, she stared back at him, careful not to let her uneasiness show. After a couple silent minutes, he sank back in his chair.
“I would like a cigarette,” he said.
“No,” she replied bluntly.
He smiled. Though the smile itself left her almost worried, her true concern was actually for Ben in the other room. Even before they were dating, he had always been very protective of her. He even went so far as to punch a police officer who disrespected her. Then after Lori moved to town, his curtain of protection also engulfed her, though not to the same extent. She was scared to imagine what he would do if Maloy made the wrong move during her interview.
“When did you arrive in town, Mr. Maloy?” she asked.
“Please, call me Brett,” he said. “And five days ago, though you already knew that.”
Rilynne folded her arms and leaned back. “You are aware that Detective Sibrian took out a restraining order against you, correct?”
“Just a silly misunderstanding,” he said. “You know how dramatic she can get when she's emotional.” Rilynne's fist balled up. “But that's why I made the trip down here. We were actually really looking forward to spending some time together before this horrible thing with Kimmy. I just can't believe anyone would hurt that little angel.”
“Hurt?” she asked. She studied his expression carefully, looking for any hint of something she could work off of. “Has someone hurt her?”
“I hope not,” he replied. “That sweet girl is an angel and I pray she's going to come back home soon. I know Lori is completely beside herself with worry. So what are you doing to find her?”
“Well,” she said, trying to get a fix on him. It was harder than she expected. “I was actually hoping you would help me out with that. Now, since Lori has only been here for a short time, we are considering the possibility that the man who took Kim came from Bodker. That leaves the question of how he found her. Since you're from there, we were hoping he found her the same way you did. So, how was that?”
“I was having a drink last week and overheard some of the Bodker detectives talking about a wedding down here and how my sweet Lori would be in it. I came down to surprise her,” he explained.
She opened her mouth to ask something else, but was stopped by a knock coming from the two way mirror behind her.
“Why don't you think of anyone who you believe might be behind this and I'll be right back,” she said as she pushed her chair back. Maloy smiled and watched her walk to the door. The feel of his eyes on her left her wanting more than anything to go home and take a shower.
Rilynne walked out and found Wilcome and Ben sitting in the observation room, both with a grim expression. “What happened?” she asked. Though she tried not to, all she could think was the worst.
“He isn't our guy,” Wilcome said. She looked at Maloy through the window before turning back to Wilcome. When he saw the puzzlement on her face, he continued. “Joe just brought Harper in to look at a photo lineup. He isn't the man who took Kim.”
Chapter Thirteen
Her heart sank. “Surely it can't be a coincidence that he showed up here two days before she was taken,” she declared.
Wilcome shrugged helplessly. “The only thing we know right now is he wasn't the man who took Kim from the rehearsal dinner. That doesn't mean he isn't a part of it.” He glanced back at Maloy through the mirror before slowly shaking his head and turning to Ben. “Davis, I’m going to need your help with something.”
Ben nodded and was following Wilcome out of the room when Lori pushed in past them. Rilynne knew even before she spoke that she was furious.
“How could you not tell me he was here?” she asked. Ben stopped and turned to Rilynne as if silently offering his assistance. She gently shook her head and met Lori’s eye. “My daughter is missing and you don’t tell me that the man who’s been stalking me has not only found me, he’s been camping out in front of my house.”
“We didn’t know if he had anything to do with Kim’s abduction,” Rilynne said. “There was enough stuff for you to worry about without me adding anything else to the list. If we found out that he was at all connected to this, we would have told you immediately.”
“You should have told me when you discovered it. Tell me what else you’re holding back,” Lori demanded. In all of the time they had known each other, Rilynne had never seen Lori like this. She’d never seen her so angry.
“There’s nothing else to tell you,” she said, knowing it wasn’t exactly the truth. “We didn’t know for sure that Maloy was here until this morning. We went straight to his motel room when we received a confirmed identification on him and were only back here half an hour when you showed up.”
Lori looked like she could keep going, but she didn’t. Instead, she turned and glared at Maloy through the window. “How could it not be him?” she asked after several tense moments.
Rilynne groaned and walked toward her. “He must be working with someone else,” she said. She thought back to the flash she had hours earlier. Kim had been in that motel room. It didn’t matter that Harper hadn’t picked him out; she knew he had her.
“You know a well as I do that stalkers don’t usually work with others. He’s delusional,” Lori stated. The ferocious bite in her tone was all but gone. “He thinks that I want to be with him. Why would he take Kim?”
She was right. Rilynne couldn’t see Maloy taking Kim just to use her as leverage to force Lori to be with him. He saw them as a family, so it just didn’t make sense. There must have been another reason behind it. She just couldn’t see it.
“Maybe he wants to play the hero,” Rilynne offered. “He could have hired someone to grab her so he could ‘rescue’ her and bring her home.”
Lori thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. “He already thinks we’re together. That strikes me more as something a teenage would do to get more attention. You know, pretending something happened just so people will fawn over them. I didn’t think adults still did things like that.”
“Emotionally stable people don’t, but that’s not exactly what we’re dealing with here,” Rilynne said. “For all we know, he thinks this is a game the two of you are playing. Like your restraining order or moving away. I’m going to call Dr. Gamboa in to talk to him. Maybe he’ll be able to give us a better understanding of how to handle this.”
<
br /> Lori nodded and walked out of the room without another word. After sending a quick message to Dr. Gamboa, the psychologist the department had been using, she slid her phone back in her pocket and looked through the mirror to Maloy.
He sat almost as still as a statue in his chair, his eyes fixed on the mirror. Had his gaze not missed her by a few inches, it would have looked like he was staring directly at her. The cocky smirk that had settled on his face was unnerving. She could see why Lori moved across the country just to get away from him.
Rilynne leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. As she rubbed the bridge of her nose with her thumb, she thought over everything she had learned or seen. Kim had been in that room, or at least she would be. Then there was the ransom call. No matter which way she looked at it, that just didn’t make sense. Even if it was his intention to keep her, she would have expected him to be tempted by the money, no matter what the circumstances. It was the guilt that really struck her, though.
“How long are you going to let him sit in there before you go back in?” Matthews asked. Her eyes shot open and she glanced down at her watch. It had been just over an hour.
Rilynne sighed. “I might as well go back in now,” she said, though she didn’t move. “I still can’t believe he isn’t our guy.”
“His rental car was found about half a block from her house,” he said. “We had it brought in and the forensic team searched through it with a fine toothed comb. Luckily, the rental company did a thorough job cleaning it before he took it. Unfortunately, there wasn’t any trace of Kim in the car.”
Rilynne groaned and slammed her head back against the wall. It hurt more than she had expected. She reached up and rubbed it as she stepped toward the door.
Matthews leaned against the door frame and glanced at Maloy through the mirror. “Well, he was following Lori. Maybe he crossed paths with the abductor. These people can usually recognize one of their own.”
When she walked toward the interrogation room, Matthews took her spot on the table against the back wall. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, even to herself, she was relieved to have someone watching. She hadn’t yet decided what Maloy was capable of.
“Okay, Mr. Maloy,” Rilynne said as she walked back into the room.
“Please, I insist you call me Brett,” he said. He flashed another smug grin as he folded his arms and leaned back in his chair.
“Mr. Maloy, in the two days you were following Detective Sibrian before her daughter was taken, did you see anyone or anything that looked suspicious?” she asked, ignoring his statement as she sat back down. “Maybe you noticed someone paying special attention to Kim?”
“Yeah, actually,” he said. He leaned forward and nodded. “There was a guy I saw at the house, then again a few times while Lori and Kimmy were out running errands. There was something strange about him. I think it was the way he looked at them.”
Rilynne studied his face. She didn’t know exactly what to make of his sudden claim.
“Can you describe this man?” she asked.
“Of course,” he said. “Do you really think I would just ignore someone paying that much attention to my family? He’s tall with dark hair.”
Rilynne jotted it down in her notebook and looked back up at him. “Is there anything else you can tell me about him?” she asked. “Body type, or perhaps any distinctive features he might have?”
“I can do better than that,” he said. “I took a picture of him. There’s an album in my motel room. If you let me go get it, I can show you exactly what he looks like.”
Rilynne didn’t even have time to respond before Matthews walked in and dropped the album on the table in front of them. Instead of walking back out, he took the seat next to her. Maloy looked almost offended by his presence. Where he had been nothing but smug and almost flirtatious with Rilynne, his mood was now icy cold.
“We found this in your room this morning,” Matthews said. “Is the picture you took of the man following Detective Sibrian and her daughter in here?”
Maloy’s eyes moved from the large album on the table to Matthews. “You went into my motel room?” he asked. “You had no right to go into my room and take my property. This couldn't have been replaced if you had lost it.”
“I assure you we had a warrant,” Matthews said. As soon as it was discovered that Maloy had been on a flight to San Antonio, Matthews had a judge sign a warrant for both his arrest, as the pile of cigarettes was a foot shy of the restrictions of the restraining order, and his lodging as soon as it was found.
Maloy let out an irritated sigh and rolled his eyes before reaching for the album. He flipped it open to a page near the back and spun it around toward them. “Like I said, tall with dark hair. This was taken while they were out picking up Lori’s dress, but I also saw him in front of the grocery store, at Kimmy’s preschool, at the playground, and in front of Lori’s house.”
Rilynne took one look at the picture at the top of the page and peered over at Matthews. He fought off a smirk before meeting her gaze. After sharing an unspoken understanding, they both turned back to face Maloy.
“Mr. Maloy, this man is Detective Sibrian’s fiancé,” she said, pointing down to the picture of Joe. It looked like it had been taken on the street while he talked on his phone. “I assure you he had nothing to do with Kim’s abduction.”
Maloy’s brow furrowed as he looked down at the picture. “Looking past your ignorant misinformation, that’s not the man I’m talking about. It’s this one.” He pointed instead to the picture on the bottom of the page. Lori and Kim were walking hand in hand down the street, both smiling like they were in the middle of a humorous conversation. Just behind them was a man. He indeed was tall, at least six feet, with short dark hair. He looked young, no older than twenty-three if she had to guess. While he was walking behind them, he was looking off into the distance. He didn’t appear to be paying any attention to them at all.
“This man?” she asked. “This young man who’s just walking behind them down the sidewalk?”
“No,” he slammed his hand down on the table. “He wasn’t just walking behind them, he was following them. That’s why I hung back and didn’t let Lori know I was there. If he knew I was in town, I wouldn’t be able to keep an eye on him without him knowing. I just knew there was something off about him. I bet he’s the one who took little Kimmy.” There was excitement in his voice. “What are you going to do to find him?”
“Well, why don’t we start with you making a list of everywhere you saw him,” Rilynne said. “Do you have any other pictures of him following them?”
Maloy nodded and flipped ahead a few more pages. “Here’s another one of him.”
Rilynne looked down at the picture. This one was just of the mystery man. While there was no sign of Lori or Kim in the photograph with him, it was a much clearer shot of his face.
She and Matthews sat back and watched quietly as he compiled the list. It was longer than she expected. He listed a dozen separate locations and times.
“Did you happen to take any pictures of him with Lori or Kim on any of these occasions?” Matthews asked. She could hear he was just as skeptical as she was. While she would have been more than happy if this man had really been watching them, Maloy’s story seemed a little shaky. She found it hard to believe that Lori wouldn’t have noticed if someone had been following them, especially as close as the man was in the picture.
“No,” he said. His confidence didn’t waver. “I just have the two pictures of him.”
Rilynne took the list from him and stood up. “All right, Mr. Maloy. We’re going to start looking into this right away. Let us know if you think of anyone else.”
Before walking out after Rilynne, Matthews reached down and grabbed the album from the table. Maloy looked like he wanted to argue, but he didn’t.
“How do we even begin to look into this?” Matthews asked as soon as the door closed behind them.
Rilynne leaned against i
t and thought it over. The man in the picture didn’t appear to be paying any attention to Kim, let alone following them. Either Maloy was desperately trying to give them someone else to look into, or his delusions were advanced to the point that he saw any man near her as a threat.
“Well, several of these places have security cameras,” she said. “Let’s start calling around and see if we can find him in any of the footage. It sounds like Maloy is trying to remove suspicion from himself, but we have to look into it. I seriously doubt we’ll find him anywhere on them, but we can use the footage to nail Maloy on more violations of his restraining order.”
Matthews sat down at his desk and started calling the businesses Maloy had listed. Rilynne decided to take advantage of the few free minutes she found herself with and went downstairs to get them something for lunch. She was sure that, like herself, Matthews was so caught up with everything that he would forget to eat unless something was placed down in front of him.
The diner across the street was busier than normal. As she looked around, she saw that the majority of the customers were members of the department. Nearly all had tired eyes as they nursed their large cups of coffee. Even without the chief of police requesting it, nearly every officer in the station came in to help with the search, even the ones out on sick leave or vacation.
Rilynne grabbed the two sandwiches to-go, which the cashier refused to let her pay for, stated all orders made by the department were on the house until the search for Kim was finished, and walked back up to the office.
“The footage is all on its way over now,” Matthews said when she tossed him the bag. He pulled out the sandwich and took a large bite. He chased it down with a quick drink and continued. “If we can see Lori and Kim in the tapes during the times Maloy gave us, we can get him on following them, which is a violation of the restraining order. It won’t really help us out with Kim, but we can at least see what we can do about keeping him away from Lori. It will also allow us to hold him until we know for sure whether or not he was involved in the kidnapping.”