Quinn:Yeah. It’s been a while since I’ve used it, but I’ll send you what I’ve got. You don’t think Bryant killed her, do you?
Me:Just part of the investigation. His name came up. We need to check out every avenue.
Quinn:I get it.
A moment later, I receive his number.
Me:Thanks.
Quinn:Anytime.
Pulling out my notebook, I flip the pages back until I’ve got my notes from my conversation with the women from Beedle Drive. Thumbing through, I get to the part where they reference a guy who Kara dated. The one who was a friend of Quinn’s. Susanna called him “Bradley,” and Robbi thought it was “Braxton.” I’d bet my badge they meant Bryant Falco.
Jotting down his name and number in my notebook, I tell the guys, “Got his number. Finch. Call him. We definitely need to bring him in for a chat.”
“I’ll get him in there.” Finch sounds confident, which is good. We need confidence right now because the more we work, the more suspects we seem to be gathering.
Reading through Kara’s journal again, I tell them, “She gave Falco an F.”
Poor bastard.
Reading on, I see two initials I’ve seen before. Starting over, I run through the first page to my current spot for something that indicates who it is. “Who’s DG?”
Dan turns to look at me. “That, I couldn’t figure out. The initials were mentioned several times starting last year—October or November, I think—but no clues as to who he or she is.”
I flip through several more journal pages. “Those letters are in here a number of times. Let’s keep an eye out for them as we search her room.”
“Agreed.” Finch says from the driver’s seat.
“So, what else are we looking for today?” asks Finch.
That’s a good question. “I’d say anything that relates to her life in Ames.”
“Are we talking to the father today?”
Dan takes this one. “Captain said kid gloves around the dad. We can ask, and if he wants to answer questions, he can.”
So that’s what we’ll do.
Chapter Fifteen
Daisy
As soon as my dad is gone, I take a moment to gather myself. No matter how cool and collected I seemed, inside I was shaking like a leaf. Based on the things he ransacked from my files and drawers, I can see he didn’t find anything that would indicate I was up to no good. And Iamup to no good—as far as my father’s concerned. No, I keep anything that would incriminate myself in another location. One he doesn’t have access to, and he never will. It’s taken me six years to put my plan into action, and this is it. As soon as that damn book is done,so am I.
Chapter Sixteen
Gage
“Well, how’d you fellas do?” Captain Billings asks us as soon as we walk back into the police station.
“We didn’t find much,” mumbles Dan. “And her father knew less about his kid than we do.”
“Now that’s not fair.” I glare at Dan. Then, looking over at the captain, I say, “He’s still really shaken by her death.”
“I can see that.” The captain has three kids himself. Hell, even if Kara had been my child, I’d feel the same as Becker, and that’s knowing the kind of person she was. She was still his only child. Well, I guess there was another one, but she died very young.
Setting a file box down on my desk, I explain, “We were given permission to bring back her school papers, notebooks, and anything from her life in Ames that we thought could give us some clues as to what she was up to. Finch inventoried everything, and we had Mr. Becker sign off on it.”
