by Mary Stone
Figured. Linc had only met Dina’s ex-wife once, but she was a curvy woman with long, dark hair, not unlike Kylie. Kylie stood there, tapping her pen on her chin, completely unaware.
Close by was that asshole, Jaxon, crossing his beefy, tattooed arms and looking like he’d rather be anywhere else, along with his girlfriend, who was staring at her long fingernails, looking utterly miserable. He scanned the rest of the room and nodded at Ranger Peck and the other SAR members of the team.
Except Will Santos.
That was odd. He’d said he’d be here. And what Linc had said to Kylie about Will being a good guy was truth. He was loyal. Dependable. And he cared deeply about his SAR work. It wasn’t like him not to show.
He’d remembered seeing Jaxon talking to Will last night, before they started back home, so he got Jaxon’s attention. “Hey. You see Will around?”
Jaxon scowled at the mention of his name. “Haven’t seen him today.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
Jaxon gnawed on the side of his fingernail with clear disinterest. “At the bar last night. Pussied out on a bar fight and begged out early because he said he had to go home. Who knows? He’s probably sleeping off his hangover.”
That didn’t sound right. Will may have been one to drink and have a good time, but he usually didn’t renege on his obligations. If he said he’d be here, Linc would trust that. A kernel of worry planted itself in Linc’s gut.
He lifted his phone and dialed Will’s number. It rang through to voicemail.
Kylie noticed. “Are you worried about him?”
He shook his head. The last thing he wanted was for Kylie to go off on another tangent with all her wild theories. And really, Atlanta’s traffic was shit. That’s what Will always said. Maybe he’d been delayed by a car accident.
A police officer at the podium began to speak into the mic, introducing himself and beginning the conference. He was Officer Morgan, the chief of police. “I want to thank you all for coming. I know you have all been closely following the events involving Amy Cooper’s disappearance, and many of you were on the scene for her search. For that, I thank you.”
Linc looked at the door, expecting Will to show up at any moment. But he didn’t.
Will wasn’t one to be late.
There were probably a thousand explanations for Will not showing up. Like Linc’d said time and time again to Kylie, he wouldn’t worry until there was something to worry about.
He typed in a text: Where u at?
Pocketing his phone, he told himself that if he didn’t receive a response by the time the conference ended, then he’d worry.
But all the weird shit that had happened in this park had him on edge. He was already worrying. And it looked like, from the way Kylie kept checking the door and wringing her hands, so was she.
16
The room was suffocating. Cramped, crowded, and not only that. Now there was the added weight of wondering what had happened to Will Santos.
From her spot between the other sardines, Kylie could only glimpse the top of Linc’s head. But she knew that Linc was worried.
He didn’t have to say a word. She could tell by the way he kept checking the door, and how the muscles in his neck tensed. The veins in the side of his temple were more pronounced too. That was a dead giveaway.
Kylie stood there, sweating in the crowded room, behind a wall of a reporter for Channel 6 News who was at least six-seven, listening as the police chief droned on about the “case in question.” As far as the chief was concerned, there was only one case they were actively focusing on—the murder of Amy Cooper. He said it appeared to be premeditated and asked that, if anyone had any information or had seen anything suspicious, to please come forward.
“Additionally, we feel that a homicide such as this requires special attention that is beyond our capabilities, so we’re calling in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and if they deem necessary, the FBI.”
People began to mumble amongst themselves.
Poor Kevin had really picked the wrong time to be shot at, because the police chief barely mentioned him. He did, at the very end of the press conference, say a brief thank-you to the rescuers who’d “risked life and limb to help bring Amy home,” then mentioned in passing that Kevin was in stable condition at the hospital, but still unconscious.
It boiled Kylie’s blood.
After that, the head ranger at the park, a tanned, hairy, muscular guy in a too-small uniform named Johnson, who reminded Kylie of Smoky Bear, said, “And of course, until the authorities have collected all the evidence they need, we’ve decided to close the park to visitors.”
More murmuring.
They thanked everyone for coming and started to get up.
“I have a question!” Kylie demanded, nudging aside the big guy in front of her. As she did, she thought she heard Linc groan.
All heads swung in her direction. The room grew perfectly silent.
Kylie looked around, suddenly embarrassed. “Um, I’m sorry. Weren’t you going to allow for questions?”
A couple of the reporters around the room nodded in agreement with her, but the two men on the podium shook their heads. “No, no questions at this present time.”
Well, that blew. She had about four hundred on her pad, and she knew the authorities up there had to have the answers to at least some of them.
She couldn’t hold her tongue. “But I just want to know,” she blurted, “by not mentioning Beatrice Crosby and Kevin Friedman, are you considering their cases to be separate from this murder?”
Chief Morgan frowned, leaned into the microphone, and said, “That’s correct. At this time, there is nothing to convince us they were anything other than unfortunate accidents.”
Some of the other reporters started to speak, but Kylie spoke over them. If there was one asset she had in life, it was a voice that steamrolled over all others. “But they’re both very suspicious, don’t you think? Beez Crosby had decades of experience in hiking that trail and could practically do it blindfolded, and Kevin Friedman was also an experienced SAR hiking in a very populated area of the park, wearing a safety vest.”
Chief Morgan exchanged a glance with Ranger Johnson. Then he leaned in and said in a look-how-cute voice, “We’re very well aware, Miss…?”
“Hatfield.” Kylie frowned at him. Why did he sound so condescending? Was it because she was young and a woman?
“Miss Hatfield. As of now, those are still considered accidents, but we’re not ruling anything out. We’ll lay all our evidence before the bureau and have them make the ultimate decision on how to classify those cases.”
“But—” Before Kylie could say more, an arm reached forward, pulling her back behind the wall of a man. She looked over, annoyed, to see Linc.
“I think your time for questioning is up.” His voice was gruff.
“But…” she tried to pull away, “I had more!”
“But you’re not asking now, Lee. It’s not the place.”
She ripped her arm free and peeked around the massive reporter.
But it was too late. When Linc let go of her arm, and the big guy moved toward the door, Kylie saw that the podium had already been vacated. They’d probably run away to avoid answering her.
“Why did you stop me? I was making headway!” she seethed at him. She wanted to strangle him.
“You were burning bridges you haven’t yet built,” he muttered and shoved a hand through his hair. “Look. I know you want to get to the bottom of things. But you have to understand that they can’t make connections when no evidence exists to connect the two, because they don’t want to cause a panic or incriminate someone who’s innocent. Calling the chief of police out in front of every news channel in the state isn’t a great way to get him to cooperate with you in the future.”
She sighed. Why did he always have to make so much sense? “All right. But I still think the question has to be asked.”
“And I’m
sure it will be,” he said, smoothing her hair. “Just take a step back and watch, okay? Have patience.”
Easy for him to say. But if there was a murderer out there, the longer they waited to get to the bottom of this, the more danger all of them were in. She hated having patience. She just wanted to act.
She grabbed her pad and pen and scribbled down Get contact at GBI/FBI on her long list of things to do. Then she looked at the top of the list. “I want to talk to Amy’s family.”
“You think that’s a good idea? They’re obviously distraught over—”
She blew out a long breath. She thought he knew her better than that. “You know I excel at talking to distraught people. I won’t be like the police, just barreling in there and asking questions. I have tact.”
“Yes. I guess,” he said absently.
Kylie looked up from the pad she’d been scribbling on to see Linc staring out the window. “So, Will didn’t show.”
Linc lifted his phone and stared at the display. “Didn’t respond to the text I sent him, either. Phone’s saying he hasn’t even read it,” he grumbled, stalking to the door. “I have a bad feeling about this.”
Kylie’s mind started to spiral. “You said that you, Beez, and Will were part of the search party looking for the inmates. Who else?”
“What does it matter?” When she just stared at him, he finally humored her. “Um. Dina was there. Kevin, I think—”
Kylie’s eyes widened. “Kevin Friedman?”
“Yeah, but—”
“Don’t you think that’s more than a coincidence? Two out of the five of you got hit, and now Will’s missing?”
Linc shook his head. “Yeah. Maybe. But we’ve all worked on cases together before. Lots of cases. And it’s dangerous work. There’s no telling what any of this—”
Kylie stopped listening. Her mind was in overdrive. “You said one died being brought in. But I wonder where those other two inmates are now.”
Linc held out his hands to get her to stop. “What are you saying? You really think that—”
“Well, what if? You think one of them might be the kind to hold a grudge?”
“No. And as for where they are? Probably still in prison. They killed a guard in their escape, which means they’re not getting out any time soon. There’re not too many options for them. Either they’re dead, or still in prison. I guarantee that they’re not free and prowling around the state park, looking for revenge.”
She sighed. When he put it that way, it did sound kind of ridiculous.
But they’d been on cases together before. Maybe there was some other case, linking them. Some other madman on the loose, targeting them. “Do you think you can give me a list of all the cases you, Kevin, Beez, and Will worked on together?”
He gave her a disinterested look. “You think I can remember them all?”
“Well, just try. Please. For me.”
“All right, all right. When we get to the hotel tonight.”
“What about now?” she suggested.
He shot her the evil eye.
“Fine, fine. When we get to the hotel,” she said, as in the corner of the room, that idiot Jaxon winked at her, ran his tongue over his lips, and blew her a kiss. She scowled in return and grabbed onto Linc’s jacket to whisper in his ear. “That Jaxon is a total jerk. Maybe he had something to do with it.”
He followed her line of sight. “What would make you say that?”
“Because he’s shifty,” she whispered. “He was here, helping us search. Also, he was one of the last people to see Will. I don’t like the way he looks around, his eyes darting to the side like that. He’s just…shifty.”
“And if I had a nickel for every person I ran across who looked shifty, I’d be a millionaire.”
She tapped her foot. “But he’s super-shifty. I’m telling you, my spidey sense goes wild around him.”
He cast a suspicious look down at her. “You sure it’s not something else going wild?”
Her mind stopped reeling as what he said dawned on her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m saying that he’s not an unattractive man,” he said, stroking his chin and assessing him.
She let out a breath. Was he, seriously, jealous? Over that? “Ew. He’s a caveman. And by the way, I have much better taste than that.”
He cocked an eyebrow at her. “Do you?”
She nodded and patted his chest. “Yes. Definitely.”
He smiled down at her. “All right. Just checking. But you need to rein in your theories, Lee. People don’t really take too kindly to being accused of something they didn’t do.”
She pouted, still furtively eyeing Jaxon. She just had a sense about him. The way he’d talked about Amy’s body with no sympathy, like it’d been a piece of meat. The way he looked at Kylie’s ass like it was there for his pleasure? Propositioning her, right in front of their significant others? And now, he was pawing Crystal in what looked like a high school PDA, making out with her as she sat on the ranger’s counter. He was downright creepy.
She’d have loved to be a fly on the wall at the bar Will and Jaxon had been at. She’d have loved to have interviewed him and found out what he knew about last night, but she didn’t want to get too close.
Linc was right; she shouldn’t go accusing innocent people. But Jaxon Mott was far from innocent. She wouldn’t tell Linc, but Jaxon was at the top of her suspect list.
As the crowd dispersed, Linc started to talk to some other SAR people he knew, so Kylie went over and took some literature from the bins the police had provided about the missing persons. As she was heading there, she saw Dina, the other SAR who Linc had said was part of the search crew looking for the inmates. Dina was also picking up literature, so Kylie decided to strike up a conversation.
“Hi, I’m Kylie,” she said. “We were introduced when we were looking for Beez? Remember?”
Dina gave her a smile that Kylie couldn’t quite read. “How could I forget you? You’re Linc’s girlfriend.” She leaned forward and whispered in her ear, “What are you doing with a guy like him?”
“Actually, um, he’s my fiancé, and…well,” she said, a little disappointed to be known as Linc’s girl instead of for her profession. And what was it about the SAR people questioning why she was with him? “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Don’t get me wrong. He’s a good guy. If you like that sort of thing.”
What sort of thing? She was lost. “I do.” She pulled out her business card and handed it to her. “I’m also a private investigator who was hired by Ollie Crosby to look into the death of his wife.”
Wrinkles appeared on the woman’s flawless brow. “Really? A PI, huh?” She scanned her, and Kylie once again had that feeling she was getting the same condescending look-how-cute treatment. From a woman too. “I always thought Beez’s old man was a crazy old coot.”
Kylie sighed in acute disappointment. “You think? I mean, he seems to think there’s no way Beez could’ve fallen since she’s been on these trails for decades and—”
“Listen, honey,” Dina said, all condescension again. What the heck was with the people around here, treating her like a lap dog? “There’s always something that can go wrong on the trail. It’s not like it’s an exact science. She slipped. It happens.”
Dina stepped away, but before she could leave, Kylie quickly said, “So, you don’t think there’s any connection between these cases?”
She turned back to Kylie. “No. I don’t.” She reached out and touched her shoulder, giving Kylie a squeeze. “But it’s so good of you to be exploring all the options.”
“But…” Kylie suddenly felt stupid. Like the people behaving condescendingly to her were right. Maybe she was a crazy old coot, believing all these conspiracy theories. And why did Dina still have her hand on Kylie’s shoulder, running her thumb over her collarbone? She stared at it, confused.
Dina noticed, then crossed her tattooed arms and said, “Okay, I’ll
humor you. What makes you think there’s a connection?”
“Well…Beez and Kevin worked on a lot of cases together, including the prison break. What if those inmates that you guys tracked down somehow…?” She shrugged, knowing how thin her theory was. “I don’t know…it just seems too odd to be a coincidence. And now with Will missing—”
Dina’s eyes narrowed. “Will? What?”
Kylie backtracked quickly. “Well, I don’t technically know that he’s missing, but he didn’t show up today, and he isn’t answering his phone.”
She shrugged. “Jaxon said they had a late night. He was coming all the way from the south of Atlanta too. He’s probably either in traffic or just sleeping off a hangover, knowing Will. He’s quite the partier.”
Kylie opened her mouth to speak. She knew there was more to her theory, but she couldn’t quite articulate what she was thinking. “Maybe, but I think you should be careful. Just in case.”
Dina smiled and clapped Kylie hard on the shoulder, sending pain spiraling up to her neck. “I can take care of myself. Besides, I’m getting all set to drive to California. My annual visit with the parents is this week. They’re about as boring as two people can get. I really think I’ll be fine.”
Kylie rubbed her arm, sure she’d have a bruise there later. “Oh. Okay,” she said, backing away, feeling silly.
“Thanks for your consideration,” Dina said, her eyes flashing to someone behind Kylie. Kylie cringed as she added, “Your girlfriend has some pretty wild theories.”
Kylie turned to see Linc standing there with an I told you so look on his face. He waved and tossed a, “See you,” over to Dina and then took Kylie’s hand. He didn’t say anything, but she knew what was on the tip of his tongue.
“I just told her to be safe. There’s no crime in wanting someone to be safe,” she said in her defense.
“All right,” he said. “What do you want to do now?”
Kylie looked at her list of questions. Right then, she wanted to go and tell everyone to fuck off. Her cheeks blazed from embarrassment, but it was already turning into anger. Strange things were happening, and if she was the only one who believed it, fine. She’d keep the torch burning all by her lonesome. For Ollie. For the victims.