“What do you mean?” she said. “Are you saying I can’t work this case anymore?”
“Gav is going to update you.”
“How long has Sydney been dead?”
“I don’t know.”
“An estimate. Recent? Twenty-four hours or longer?” she said.
“If I had to guess by her condition, yes, within twenty-four hours.”
“No…” Katie’s heart raced and everything became blurry. At first, she thought she was going to faint, but she took slow deep breaths until the scene came into view again.
“You okay? C’mon, sit back down.” John tried gently to get her back in the ambulance.
“No.” Katie turned to look at him. “I can’t. I can’t rest until I know my uncle’s safe.”
Reluctantly, John said, “Okay, but you have to do what we say. You’ve had a traumatic experience and need to rest.”
“I have to be part of this.”
John gently touched her face. It was clear he was upset as well. “We’ll figure this out.”
Katie tried to smile because she knew that John always had her back and her best interests at heart. It was his way of caring. She walked to McGaven who had just updated the patrol officers on their search. They had to be sure there weren’t any other bodies or evidence in the park.
“Gav,” she said, pulling him aside. “What’s going on?”
“We don’t know yet. Right now, we can’t contact the sheriff, but that doesn’t mean he’s missing. We found a friend of his dead and we don’t know if it’s connected to our cases.”
“Of course it is.”
“You know more than anything that we need to follow the facts and clues.”
Katie was angry, frustrated, and concerned about her uncle. “So how can the sheriff suddenly disappear? We’re talkingabout the top law enforcement officer, and we don’t know where he is.”
McGaven paused, obviously trying to find the right words to support his partner. “We have to finish up here.”
“Give me the keys. I’ll drive the sedan back and pick up my Jeep.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“My orders come from the sheriff,” she said adamantly. “You can catch a ride from Hamilton, right?”
“Well, of course, but…”
“Shouldn’t someone be at his condo to wait until he returns? Or I could wait at my house with Cisco in case he comes there.” She looked at her partner and could see by his expression that he thought she was right, but didn’t want her to be alone for a number of reasons.
“I can’t just let you?—”
“Sure you can,” she said. “Can I have the keys?”
McGaven hesitated as he glanced around the area that was under a complete search mode of activity. “Katie, you have to be careful and you can’t just go off on an investigation by yourself.”
“Of course. Catch up with me when the scene is completed.”
McGaven retrieved the keys. “Be careful and check in. Okay?”
Katie kept her composure. She could only think about her uncle now. “I will be careful.” As she walked away, she wondered how on earth this could have happened. Had Sydney been killed because of her uncle? Because of her and the case? She had no doubt someone was watching their investigation. She just wished she knew who and what it was they wanted.
