“Gary Ward,” she added.
Harlan let out a low, whistling breath. “Yeah, he’s my choice for a person of interest, too. He was part of the Timberline extraction team.”
Colt gave a tight nod. “He was supposed to cover our exit, but he never showed.”
“He claimed he got delayed because of car troubles,” Brenna said. “But he might have been involved with tipping off the killer. I looked into him. He had serious money trouble. Gambling. A failed custody battle. He was barely holding it together back then, but he came into a small windfall shortly after Timberline. He claimed it was repayment of a personal loan, but I don’t like the timing.”
Colt frowned. “So he failed us once. That makes him bitter, maybe guilty. But what’s the motive now? Why start killing again after all this time? As far as we can tell, he’s not demanding money or anything else from those people on that list.”
Harlan washed down more of his sandwich with some coffee. “Maybe he’s not operating out of guilt. Maybe it’s a twisted sense of justice. We now know that the original hostages all did something either immoral, illegal or unethical and weren’t punished. Maybe Gary feels their families should keep paying.”
Brenna nodded. “And the timing of that new outlook on life could be tied to whatever recently broke him. Something that pushed him over the edge.”
Colt’s gaze flicked back to the screen where Leah’s lifeless body stared out at them. “So now he’s finishing the vendetta that was started at Timberline.”
Harlan’s voice was grim. “Making sure none of us walk away this time.”
Brenna had to consider that was indeed possible. What she was lacking though was any kind of concrete proof. Gary’s debts and his no-show at Timberline weren’t enough to get search warrants or to make an arrest.
“So, could Gary have killed the original hostages?” Colt asked.
That was the million-dollar question. Brenna didn’t have the answer and had to shake her head. “If so, then this justice vendetta must have had a source. A trigger. And I can’t find it.”
Harlan glanced at her. “You’ve spoken to him?”
“A few times. Not recently though. He’s always stuck to his story of the car trouble and never offered up anything that could be used to pin the murders on him.” She stopped, sighed. “Because he might not have killed anyone. Still, he could have been the one who tipped off the real killer, and that’s why he’s still a person of interest. If he didn’t pull the trigger, he could have given the killer time to do that before we arrived on scene.”
Harlan was already moving, setting aside his breakfast and grabbing his go bag from under the desk. “You really think it’s him?”
“I think he’s a solid possibility,” Brenna verified. “I’ve got others that I’m looking at, but Gary is at the top.”
Colt started moving, too. He pulled on his tac vest and checked the sidearm at his hip. “Then let’s go pay him a visit. Along the way, you can fill us in on the others who might be behind this.”
Brenna turned to her laptop, double-checking the last known address she had on Gary. “He’s still listed at a place just outside Crossfire Creek. Hilltop rental property near the old quarry. No sign he’s moved.”
“Good,” Colt said. “That keeps this local.”
As they finished gearing up, Brenna slid her tablet into her backpack and glanced toward the screen one last time. Her eyes caught on Leah’s photo.
“We need answers,” she muttered.
Colt looked over at her and nodded once. “Then let’s get them.”
Brenna was halfway to the door when her phone buzzed in her back pocket. She yanked it out and saw the caller ID.
“Wallace Kemp,” she blurted on a rise of breath. The relief, and the fresh worry, fired through her.
Harlan stopped beside her, alert. Colt turned back, already pulling his own phone out.
Brenna answered, hitting speaker. “Wallace? It’s Brenna. Can you hear me?”
There was a garbled sound, like a weak groan. Then mumbling.
“Wallace?” she pressed, heart pounding. “Where are you?”
The moaning grew louder, more desperate. “Hurts,” he mumbled. “I can’t… I can’t move.”
Colt tapped quickly on his phone, trying to trace the signal. “Keep him talking,” he said without looking up.
