Covert Kisses

by Jane Godman

  Cameron gave it some careful thought. He couldn’t remember Grant ever forming an attachment to a woman. Even during their teenage years, his friend had never seemed to experience the highs and lows of the agonizing crushes that gripped his peers. He shook his head. How had he missed this?

  “As far as I know, he never had a relationship. Never even dated. The first time I saw him pay any attention to a woman was when he asked Carla out that first time he met her. If I hadn’t been so mad at him for hitting on my date, I might almost have been pleased he was finally relaxing and taking time off from his job long enough to pay attention to his personal life.”

  “Except we now know his interest in Carla wasn’t normal.” Cameron’s fingers tightened around the stem of his wineglass at the words, and Laurie placed her hand on his arm, her face sympathetic.

  He relaxed slightly under the pressure of her fingers. “So we can look at the missing girls and see if we can make a link to Grant that way, or we can look at possible places he may have disposed of their bodies.”

  Laurie jumped up. “The lack of internet is a hindrance, but I made some notes about these girls. You may recognize some of their names.” She headed into the bedroom and emerged with a notepad. Flipping over the pages, she bent her head over what appeared to be a series of hieroglyphics.

  “Did a spider crawl over the page?” Cameron teased.

  Laurie frowned in mock annoyance. “If you can’t read it, neither can anyone snooping. Let’s start with the first girl to go missing. Lisa Lambert vanished two and a half years before Carla died. Age twenty-two, she was a clerk working at Palmerston Insurance in Stillwater, although she was barely clinging on to her job. She shared an apartment, had some problems with drugs and alcohol. She didn’t come home after a night out, which wasn’t unusual. When she’d been gone a week, her roommate reported her missing.”

  Cameron shook his head. “I didn’t know her. Don’t even remember anything about her disappearance, but—” he looked stunned “—my God, Laurie, that was only six months after Grant met Carla.”

  “If Carla had the sort of effect on him you described, who knows what that did to an unbalanced mind? He could have seized on anything about Lisa that reminded him of Carla. We know their coloring was the same. Eight months after Lisa disappeared, Kathy Sachs, a waitress working at the Stillwater Heights Hotel, didn’t turn up for her shift. She’d only been there a month or two, wasn’t local, had said she wasn’t happy in her job. She was quite open about the fact that she only came to this area to escape an abusive marriage, but she missed her family back home. No one took much notice when she didn’t show, except she left all her stuff behind, even her cell phone. The hotel manager decided to report her missing.”

  “Don’t tell me—she never got in touch to claim her stuff?” Cameron grimaced. Somehow, hearing there were five missing girls wasn’t as bad as hearing their individual stories.

  “If she did, there’s no record of it.” Laurie went back to her notes. “The next girl who definitely fits the physical type I was looking for is nineteen-year-old Tanya Horton. She was due to meet friends at the cinema in Stillwater. When she didn’t turn up, they went in without her. After the movie, Tanya’s best friend rang her mom to check if she was okay. Tanya was known to be something of a wild child, and it wouldn’t have been out of character for her to have gone off somewhere without telling anyone where. On this occasion, her mom confirmed she had left on time to meet them. She didn’t live in town. Her folks had a place out near Elmville. Her car was found on the road between Elmville and Stillwater. The keys were still in the ignition. Like Lisa, Tanya has never been seen since.”

  “I vaguely remember that in the news. When did it happen?”

  Laurie squinted at her scribbled notes. “A year before Carla was killed.”

  “And no one was linking these cases?” Cameron couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “These young women all went missing months apart in a specific geographical location and nobody was asking questions?”

  “Cameron, there are seven hundred and fifty thousand people reported missing every year in the United States. At any one time, there will be about ninety thousand people still unaccounted for. Some of those people will be dead, some don’t want to be found. The police do all they can, but the sad fact is, unless bodies start turning up, no one is going to make these sort of links.”

  “Moreton did,” he argued.

  “Moreton was a geek, a one-off. He found patterns where no one else did, and he used sophisticated technology to help him. Your local police don’t have that sort of equipment, and, don’t forget, they were actually hampered by the fact one of their own was doing all he could to throw them off the scent.”

  He was reluctant to let it go, but they could spend all night arguing over past mistakes. They needed to move this forward. “Who was next? Carla?”

  “No. The next one is intriguing and possibly doesn’t quite fit the pattern of a missing person. I added her to the list because of how she looks, but she was never reported missing. Not in this country, anyway.”

  “You’ve lost me.”

  “Marie O’Donnell was a young Irish woman who had been visiting her boyfriend on a tourist visa. When Marie’s visa expired, she had to go home to Ireland. The plan was she would return when she could get another visa. She never came back, and he never heard from her again. The reason her case made the headlines is the boyfriend was quite vocal about a system that could break up relationships. He became quite the campaigner.”

  Cameron had been doodling on his own notepad as he listened, but he looked up sharply at that. “What was the boyfriend’s name?”

  Laurie shook her head regretfully. “I didn’t make a note of his name. Is it important?”

  “If I’m right, I know it anyway. He chained himself to the railings outside the council offices, even though we explained to him the laws governing visas are national, not local. Ever since then he’s dropped into my office once in a while to tell me where I’m going wrong. Alberta, my secretary, even knows how he takes his coffee.” He grinned reminiscently. “His name is Toby Murray.”

  “Can we go and see him?” Laurie’s eyes sparkled.

  “I’m not sure it’s safe for you to leave the cabin.”

  Her eyes shifted again to the window. It was completely dark now. “Cameron, I’m a police officer. I’ve worked undercover many times. I’ve felt afraid before, but never like I did when I was here alone.” Her eyes seemed huge as they met his.

  Cameron rose and went to the window, closing the drapes and shutting out the night. “Then we’ll just have to take care we don’t bump into Grant.” He held out his hand. “Let’s get some sleep.”

  She rose, coming to him and placing her hand in his. “Sleep?” There was a trace of disappointment in her voice.

  “Among other things.”

  She rose on the tips of her toes, fitting the contours of her body intimately to his. “It’s the other things that have me interested.”

  Chapter 10

  “How do I look?” Laurie tilted her head so she could peer at Cameron from beneath the oversize baseball cap she was wearing. Her hair was tucked up inside the hat and she wore one of Cameron’s sweatshirts over her jeans.

  “Disturbingly sexy.” He ducked his head and kissed the tip of her nose.

  They had reached the lockup storage and were waiting for Bryce to meet them. Cameron had managed to get a phone signal here and had called his brother with instructions to bring them a rental car. To Laurie’s relief, Cameron had been right when he said Bryce wouldn’t ask any questions. Instead, his brother had promised to be with them as soon as he could. Before long, they heard the crunch of tires on the track outside.

  “Wait here.” Cameron went to the door and looked out. He nodded. “It’s Bryce.”

 
Laurie trailed behind him out into the bright sunlight. She wasn’t sure how Cameron’s brother would react to this situation. Even if he didn’t know the details, it must be obvious there was a problem and that she was the cause.

  Bryce brought the SUV he was driving to a halt and jumped out. He regarded his brother thoughtfully before his eyes moved to Laurie. “Is there any point in me asking what this is all about?”

  Cameron held up his car keys. “I need you to take my car and give me that one.”

  “That tells me what we’re doing. It doesn’t tell me why.” Bryce waited, and when Cameron didn’t elaborate, he sighed. “This makes me think you don’t want to be recognized by your vehicle. But that would just be odd, because who would be following you around the state highways...and why?”

  Cameron placed a hand on his shoulder. “If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”

  “That’s unfair.” Bryce shot the words back at him. “You’re my brother. You know I’ll believe what you tell me because I know you wouldn’t lie to me.”

  Cameron held up his hands in an apologetic gesture. “Let’s just say, I don’t have the time right now to explain it in any way that would sound credible.”

  Bryce exhaled, releasing some of the tension from his frame. For the first time, Laurie appreciated just how close the two brothers were. Bryce’s genuine concern for Cameron shone through in his expression. “Promise me you’re not in any danger?”

  “I promise I won’t put myself in unnecessary danger.”

  Bryce’s handsome face clouded over even further. “Goddamn it, Cam, that’s not the same thing. You know it isn’t.”

  “I swear I’ll give you the full story when I can. I just can’t do it now.” Cameron held out his hand.

  “But you’ll come to me if I can help in any other way?” Reluctantly Bryce handed Cameron the documents and keys to the rented SUV.

  “Absolutely.”

  Obviously feeling something more was required of him, Bryce turned to Laurie. “Nice to see you again.” Even though she got the feeling he had to work at injecting a note of enthusiasm into the words, she appreciated the effort.

  “You, too.” She tipped her head back to look at him. If he noticed her strange outfit, he didn’t comment.

  Cameron held the passenger door of the SUV open, and Laurie stepped up into the vehicle. When he had taken his place in the driver’s seat, Cameron pulled on his own baseball cap before starting the engine. Bryce watched them as they pulled away.

  “He pretty much said he knows you’re trying to avoid the police,” Laurie said.

  “Possibly he thinks we’ve robbed a bank or something.”

  “He’s not that stupid.” Stupid was just about the last word Laurie would have applied to any of the Delaney brothers.

  Cameron sighed. “You’re right, he’s not. But we both know the truth is just too far-fetched for anyone to make a wild guess at.”

  They continued in silence with Laurie alternating between watching the side mirror for signs of traffic behind them and checking her phone. The road was quiet, and although they did occasionally see other vehicles, none of them were patrol cars. Her phone was a different matter. After she had skimmed quickly through her first few messages, the screen suddenly went blank. From then on, nothing she did could restore it.

  “I don’t know what happened,” she said, gazing at it in frustration. Her final link with her true identity had just quietly died in her hand.

  “I don’t know much about these things, but I’ve heard about viruses being sent from one phone to another by SMS. Did you open any links?”

  Laurie groaned. “Yes. The last message I looked at seemed to be from the car rental company I used in Stillwater. There was a link to their website asking me to confirm closure of my account. I clicked on that and the screen went blank. Now I’ve lost everything. All my contacts, photographs, music, messages.” She gazed at her phone in frustration. Now it wasn’t even a clock.

  Cameron took his hand off the wheel and rested it briefly on her knee. “Once we get the evidence we need, we’ll find your captain’s number and call him direct.”

  Although he was right, she couldn’t help feeling another tie had been severed. Grant had won another battle. He knew which car rental company she’d used, because he had access to the vehicle itself back at the Paradise Creek vacation village, along with her records there. He seemed to constantly be one step ahead of them. He was deliberately cutting her off from the world, making her vulnerable. There had to be a way to shake him down from the superior perch he’d placed himself on. Gloomily, she slumped in her seat, lost in thought.

  After a while, she noticed the strange, funnel-shaped hill on the horizon, and it triggered a memory that still bugged her. So much had happened that she’d almost forgotten it.

  “I know you told me this isn’t one of your routes, but it was definitely one of your trucks that almost ran me off the road when I was driving back from Cody the day I went to see Moreton.”

  Cameron took his eyes off the straight highway for a second to glance at her. “You seem sure about that.”

  “I know what I saw.” Her eyes challenged him to disbelieve her.

  He frowned, scanning the road ahead and the rocky terrain to either side of it. “Let’s pick this up again after we’ve spoken to Toby Murray.” A few miles farther on, he took a right turn off the main highway and they bumped along a track that was uneven enough to make Laurie glad Bryce had chosen to hire an SUV.

  “How come Toby brought his case to you when he doesn’t live in Stillwater?”

  “He did at the time Marie left. He only moved out here quite recently.”

  “What does he do for a living?” As a series of low-level buildings came into view, it was clear Toby Murray had elected to live as far from other people as possible. This was taking getting away from it all to extremes.

  “Toby is a musician. He writes music for other people, to be exact. Quite successfully, I think. He certainly seems to make enough money to keep this place going.”

  When she alighted from the car, Laurie was able to see for herself what Cameron meant. The largest of the group of buildings was a house. Built on one level, it formed a semicircle, allowing each room to look out over a shallow valley where a number of beautiful horses had been turned out. Most of the other buildings were stables, although the purpose of some smaller units was less clear.

  A tall, fair-haired man with an easy smile was waiting on the step to greet them. Laurie had built a mental image of Toby from Cameron’s description, and she had expected someone uptight and intense. This good-looking, charming man was the complete opposite of what she had imagined he would be.

  His eyes quizzed Cameron good-naturedly. “Let me guess. You’ve either got a message from Alberta to tell me to stop hounding you over the proposed changes to the river road industrial complex, or you want to buy a horse?”

  “Neither.” As Cameron strolled forward, Laurie pulled off her baseball cap, and Toby’s eyes widened slightly as he watched her shake out her hair. “This is Laurie Bryan.”

  For a moment or two Toby didn’t speak, he just stared down at her. Then, as though rousing himself from a trance, he spoke directly to Laurie. “I’m sorry. Just for a moment, you reminded me of someone I once knew.”

  “I think that brings us neatly to why we’re here. Can we go inside?”

  “Of course.” He gestured for them to enter into the house before him. “Can I get you a drink?”

  They opted for soda, and Toby brought cold cans through to the open-plan seating area. “This view is incredible.” As they sat down, Laurie indicated the panorama of the valley.

  “It’s why I chose this location,” Toby explained. “Cameron already knows horses are my passion. One of my twin passions. The other one is my mus
ic. But what’s the point of breeding horses if you can’t actually see them, if you tuck them away somewhere? This way, I get the best of both worlds.” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees as he gazed at Laurie. “Are you related to Marie? Do you have news about her? Is that why you’re here?”

  Laurie shook her head. “But we do want to talk to you about her, if that’s okay.”

  Toby quirked an amused eyebrow in Cameron’s direction. “Okay? Hasn’t Cameron mentioned that, once I get started on the subject of Marie, it’s difficult to shut me up?”

  It was impossible not to like him, and Laurie continued with a smile. “How did you and Marie meet?”

  “We met in Dublin. As part of my master’s degree, I did a placement at one of the universities there. When I came back home, we kept up a long-distance relationship for a few months until Marie finished her course. Then she followed me out here. We knew we wanted to get married, but she needed to go back to Ireland and tie up a few loose ends there. She had an apartment she needed to pack up, friends she wanted to say goodbye to. The next time she came back to Wyoming it would be for good. That was the plan.”

  “But she never came back?”

  “She never came back.” His eyes were gray, and Laurie thought they resembled a stormy sky as he said those words. Theirs had not been some casual relationship.

  “Apart from starting a campaign to change the law, what did you do?”

  “I went over to Dublin to look for her, of course.” Toby seemed surprised at the question. “I’ve been back four times.”

  “Tell us what you’ve found out.”

  “Nothing. I’ve found out nothing.” He got to his feet, going to the window and gazing down at the valley. Laurie got the feeling he wasn’t seeing the sweeping valley and the horses. He seemed to be staring into the past. “Marie had no family. She was an orphan, raised in a convent children’s home. So there was no one to turn to, no one to ask. She didn’t go back to her apartment. She never contacted any of our mutual friends. If I hadn’t been one hundred percent sure she got on the plane at this end, I could almost believe she never arrived in Ireland.”