“Is that so?” I said, trying to keep my tone light. Matt was the kind of guy who could pick up the scent of a too-eager beaver fromwaaayacross the pond. “Why wasn’t that mentioned in the papers?”
“Who knows? Bad local reporting? But trust me, it’s true.”
Two thousand dollars. Since it now seemed pretty clear Page and Amyhadn’tintended to blow town, what was the money for? Buying drugs? As much as I’d been brooding over Alice’s death, I hadn’t lost track of the idea that if Amy andPage had begun dabbling in the drug world—despite Kayla’s protests to the contrary—they might have intersected with the killer there.
And that raised the question again about Shannon. Hadshetaken a step into that world?
If so, it didn’t mean she’d been a user. She’d been haunted by her cousin’s death and it was possible, I suddenly realized, that she wanted to learn who his dealer was. She could have started asking questions, maybe of the wrong person. She might have even stumbled on unknown details about Amy’s and Page’s deaths.
Before I followed this thread any further, though, I needed to confirm Page’s two-thousand-dollar withdrawal.
When I disentangled myself from my thoughts, I discovered that Matt was droning on once again about his TV prospects. Please, I thought, spare me. There were a lot of things I could say about the guy, but “He could be the next Anderson Cooper” wasn’t one of them. I glanced at my watch, faked surprise, and told him I needed to take a call from my editor atCrime Beat. I tossed more than enough cash on the table to cover my drink and Ben’s and said good night.
As soon as I was in my room, I dug out the business card Hank Coulter had given me, and despite the fact that it was nearly ten o’clock, dialed his number. I still didn’t have a read on how sincere he’d been about me reaching out anytime, but he was probably my best shot at confirming Wong’s revelation.
He answered on the third ring, his voice husky, as if he’d been quiet for a stretch.
“Chief Coulter, hi, it’s Bailey Weggins. I’m sorry to callso late, but I had a couple of questions. Do you have a minute now?”
He paused before answering. “How can I help?”
“I’m interested in learning more about the initial investigation into the disappearance of Amy Hunt and Page Cramer. Can you—?”
“Let me stop you right there, Ms. Weggins. I can understand your interest, and Iwasinvolved in that investigation, but as I’ve stressed previously, it’s not appropriate for me to be taking questions on law enforcement issues. The case has been reopened and there are other people in charge now.”
“What if I rely on you only as a deep background source? Meaning I won’t even quote you anonymously. I’ll simply use what you say to help me clarify my thinking.”
“Is this going to be about the authorities not trying hard enough to find those young women?”
“No, it isn’t. Because I know you had your reasons for believing they’d simply left town.”
Another pause.
“All right, deep background only.”
“Thank you. I learned from a source tonight that Page had withdrawn a fairly substantial amount of cash—two grand—before the camping trip. Is that true?”
“Yes, it’s true. And that factor contributed to our theory.”
“Okay, so we know now that they weren’t necessarily planning to leave town. What are the chances, do you think, that Amy and Page were using or dealing drugs?”
“There were definitely rumors on that front. Not so much about Amy but Page. The Oxy epidemic had kicked off witha bang around here, and we thought she might be trying to score a piece of the action. She had made a number of calls to a burner phone, one we couldn’t trace.”
“Drugs could explain how they ended up in Fort Ann.”
“Could.”
“So my next question is whether you think Shannon might have stumbled into that world, too.”
“No way,” he said, having barely let me spit out the full question. “Shannon was a total straight arrow.”
“I know this is crazy, but—but what if she was snooping around in order to figure out what happened to her cousin Destin, the one who overdosed? She might have heard rumors about the dealer, someone possibly right here in Lake George. And then ended up intersecting with the killer that way.”
“Shannon wouldn’t have intentionally exposed herself to drug dealers. She was too devoted a mother to have put herself at that kind of risk.”
“I—”
“Look, Ms. Weggins, you seem like a smart lady, and I can see why you’d want to explore different theories. And itcouldbe that Page withdrew that money exactly as you suggest—to buy drugs and begin selling them. But I’m sure you’ve read enough about serial killers—in fact, probably covered a few in your day—to know that they generally pick their victims at random. The average victim is someone they see walking along a street at night or crossing a deserted parking lot on her way to her car. It often comes down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
