Asa had full plans to follow that skateboarder’s footsteps. She had made that very clear, and had a poster of that girl in her bedroom, the pink skateboard still in the hallway was branded by that skater, as were a third of Asa’s damned clothes. Cass had bought her a knit hat for her birthday with that girl’s emblem on it, too. Now Asa wore it almost everywhere. She’d just about had a total meltdown recently when something had happened to that skateboarder down in Texas a few weeks ago. She’d even been crying when he’d told her good night. It had taken him fifteen minutes to calm her down.
“What did he want to know?” Cass didn’t know much more about the FBI than anyone else in town. She didn’t like to talk about that stuff, and Bryan had never made her, either. She knew he’d been in contact with some of the agents, but other than him telling her he’d shown them the Gibson property, she hadn’t asked.
"Yeah. He wanted to know if Mom knew anything about why they were in town. If she'd heard anything. Mom told him she didn't know much. Just that they were staying at the Baymont or something over by Walmart. We saw their cars when they got gas. There is this really tall guy in a suit just like the FBI guys in charge wear on TV.”
"What else did he ask?" It wasn’t like John to just gossip, but his brother could be weird sometimes. Saying things to get a rise out of people. Upsetting them. Especially women. It was the main reason Bryan didn’t want him around Cass. John had enjoyed upsetting Cass so much because he knew she was sensitive to things like that.
"He wanted to know if they'd talked to anyone yet. Like, canvasing people in town. If anyone had been interrogated or whatever. Or even arrested. They have to have suspects, right? Or new stuff. They wouldn’t be in town if they didn’t have new evidence to reopen the case, right? Why didn’t you ever tell me you knew them? Mom said she didn't know. Then Uncle John asked if you'd talked to them."
Hell, maybe John had been looking for him. Bryan still hadn’t paid him for helping with that clogged line at the apartment complex last week. John was a damned good plumber. If he just had a head for business, he’d have been all set. He’d been on the right track for a long while there, too. But…everything had changed for John when he’d lost his kids like he had. Hell, of course Bryan understood. His kids and Cass—they were his everything. And always would be.
"Yeah. He said you owned the house where it happened. The Gibson house. The actual house where they died. He wanted to know if the FBI had been out there, if they'd talked to you about it."
"What did your mom tell him?"
"She said she didn't know anything about your properties, or who you talked to during the day. She told him if he wanted to know that stuff, he'd have to ask you himself. But doesn’t Mom like do all the insurance stuff for your business? So she knows, right? Did she lie to Uncle John? Mom had told him to leave like four times and he wouldn’t. And she was getting really upset. Finally, B.J. came into the kitchen and kind of chased him off. I was at the bar, doing my math stuff. Uncle John asked her not to tell you, but well…B.J. and I both heard it, and it made B.J. mad too. Is he really that stupid to think we wouldn’t tell you he was bothering Mom?”
“I don’t know. Sometimes, your uncle just gets fixated on stuff. He’s always been that way. Finish your homework, then clear the table. Dinner will be ready in about twenty.”
“Okay, Daddy. But…can you show me that house sometime? Maybe I can find some evidence or something.”
This kid gave him more gray hair than his three boys combined.
Chapter 26
Wow. Shayna was getting loud. Someone had contaminated one of her veterinary samples with…some sort of…well, there was a reason Dani didn’t work biological forensics. This was on top of that same someone having inadvertently destroyed six of Shayna’s most recent samples.
On an active investigation involving two missing children.
Dani could read the biological reports just fine, and that was a major part of her job for her team—but actually dealing with the samples…yeah, not her thing. She had helped a time or two, though—it was how she’d ended up with her little canine baby girl waiting for her to get home. Her dog’s owner had been brutally murdered. Dani had somehow ended up keeping that little fluffy ball of evidence. They took care of each other, Dani and Sadie Gayle Lindsay—as her former owner had named her. And Sadie wasn’t bothered by the wheelchair Dani spent much of her time in.
Now, though…Dani was starving. She’d meant to hit the cafeteria for lunch almost two hours ago. Hailey Gibson's background check was taking longer than expected. Miranda had specifically asked Dani to go over every connection to events in all the Gibson children’s lives back then. Miranda was convinced that Aimee spent the majority of her time with her children, when not working. Which upped the odds that the unsub had connected through the children. Cruz and Terra’s activities had been thoroughly investigated, but Hailey’s had been more numerous, as she’d been older.
Dani was working her way through everything, one file at a time. Dani stopped on one particular result on her screen. She clicked the link. Why would a sixteen-year-old girl have a coroner’s inquest interview?
Dani read through the document. Hailey had been one of the last to see the dead girl alive. The ruling had been accidental drowning.
Dani ran a search on the drowning victim’s name and West Boggs Lake.
Five articles came up. Local news archives from a small regional paper. Dani opened the first one.
The headline was straightforward. Local Girl Drowns at Church Picnic. Kora, thirteen, had been attending a church gathering at West Boggs Lake with her family. Dozens of people present. Hailey was listed as a witness because she and the victim had been close friends, and had been seen together the day the girl had died. That was about it. Dani’s heart hurt for what teenage Hailey had gone through. Apparently, she’d lost her best friend not even two years before losing most of her family. That had to have shaped her in so many ways.
That girl had learned early that tragedy did not discriminate based on age.
Trauma of any kind—yes, Dani understood just exactly what that could do to someone. She kept going—the rest of what she’d found on Hailey circled around anniversaries of the murders. A few police reports of Hailey being harassed or trespassed, two speeding tickets, and a baby contest photo for Hailey’s little girl Amerra. Just normal stuff.
Next was the landlord. Miranda had just wanted confirmation of his movements back then, but he really wasn’t a suspect at this time. Hot Guy Asher had made that clear in his notes. Bryan Stenson had been in an auto accident in a totally different county. Hailey’s mother Hannah was also in the clear—and she hadn’t been dating anyone at the time of the murder, so no ex with a grudge.
No. The Gibsons really did seem like normal, average people. Who had brushed up against a murderer somewhere. No one was truly safe anywhere. Dani believed that to the bottom of her soul.
“Hey, found anything?” A male voice asked behind her.
Dani fought jumping out of her skin. Why was the man so instantly recognizable, even when she wasn’t looking? Ian Ward was starting to become a major problem here.
“Just normal, average family things. Other than Hailey’s best friend dying a few years before the murders. Hailey was a witness. Girl drowned at the lake during a church picnic. I think the Gibsons were big into their church. Their social activities leaned that way.”
“I’ll tell Knight. Maybe we’re talking about a religious fanatic going off the deep end. Wouldn’t be the first time.” He was looking at her that way again. The way that told her he had probably been standing there staring at her for a while again. Sometimes, she zoned out when focusing so hard. She missed the things going on around her. Including…people.
