“Yeah, Abby is running that. Trent seems to hang out with some other guys from his shift work at the mill, but Barry is still a friend. They were paired up during search and rescue.” Storm’s voice was thick with suspicion, and I totally agreed. “Leo is working on financials. He thinks he’s onto something big. Allison had a bank account of her own in Briar Falls that he’s digging into.”
“So, maybe we’ll have some leads there.” I put Leo and Abby’s information in the pending column. “Let’s go over what else we have.”
Tapping on my notebook, I checked off another item. “Did we find the car yet?”
Nova perked up. Her expertise was in crime scene reports and related matters. She’d been the first one to bring up the reports and how light they were for a missing person, and the search that had gone on afterward. “We probably got lucky. It’s still in the impound lot, but it was registered only in her name, so that might be why the husband hasn’t picked it up. She hasn’t been officially declared dead, so …”
My heart clenched slightly. I knew this scenario only too well. Someone has to be missing for seven years before you can declare them dead, even if your gut tells you they’re gone. Nolan chaffed under that time limit. He had already moved on, even though my suspicions sure hadn’t. The anniversary was approaching, and I suspected Nolan had the paperwork ready to put in to declare her dead. I was bracing for it. It’d be the final nail in the metaphorical coffin.
Forcing myself to focus, I agreed, “That is lucky. I’ll see if I can bribe my way into the impound lot or something. Text me the address, will you? Maybe I can get a sample of that seat.”
We had a guy who worked at a DNA lab as part of his real-world job. He’d occasionally do side jobs for us. Usually, we hacked results discreetly and analyzed the data we had, but our contact loved the idea of detective work. Was it going rogue? Probably. Definitely. Typically, I would work with the local police to uncover new evidence or guide them in the right direction, but thatclearly wouldn’t be possible here if we suspected the police had overlooked evidence, so this was the perfect case to work with our lab contact.
“Will do, just be careful, yeah?” Nova frowned at me right before my phone dinged.
Instead of bothering to answer her, I asked, “How are you doing on going through backgrounds on volunteers during search and rescue days?” Most of the regular SAR operations the police chief would have called in would have undergone background checks, but there would still have been community volunteers.
“Here’s the thing, Hattie. He noted in the reports that he didn’t call in any SAR team because the area was small and could be handled by volunteers.” Nova leaned over her new binder, which was designated for Allison’s case. I knew that it contained printed copies of police reports, and she was filling it with all the information as we were getting it. She liked to make a binder for each case, and by the end, it would be riddled with sticky notes and packed with documents she printed out. “It could have been reasoned if it was like a couple of fields or something, but this backs up to wooded areas, and she was never found. It was a bad decision all the way around. Or …”
“Or … yeah.”
It was up to the locals whether to call in external resources, but it was, to say the least, unusual. Search and Rescue was usually tied to either the counties, or therewere local groups that mobilized on request, but they wouldn’t come unless they were called.
“There were eighty-four ground-pounders on the list, and we split them up like we usually do. We’ll give each of them a surface-level review and then run them through together to see if anything strange pops up, right, Storm?” Poppy was our group’s organizer. She mothered us during our cases, which was appreciated most of the time.
“I’ll have mine done today for sure. It’s just been a long day.” Storm ran his fingers through his dark hair and pushed up his wire-rimmed glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose.
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask if there was something I could do to help, but that wasn’t what we did in this group, and Storm had made it clear where his boundaries lay. Nova clearly wanted to ask, but she pinched her lips shut.
“Sounds good. I’ll update you all later. I’m not sure if I’ll go back there today or try to set up some interviews while I wait to hear from Leo and Abby.”
“Don’t be in too big a rush. Looks like such a beautiful place. You really lucked out this time, especially compared to the last case. Take a hike or something and enjoy yourself. Arizona was a lot.” Poppy gave me a concerned look.
It had been more than a lot, honestly, from an emotional standpoint. My career was sometimes extremely demanding; talking to parents, children, or partners affected by crimes. We were proud to help solve some cases and bring closure to families, but it was by no means easy for us. In the beginning, I had hoped that we would find victims alive and well, but that hadn’t really been the reality. Justice had become the focus. That was something we’d been able to strive for.
“Maybe I’ll do that.”
We finished up with assignments and reminders, and when the call ended, we all had a clear idea of where we stood with the case. Closing the laptop, I sat there for a moment, fingers wrapped around my coffee cup, listening to the silence around me. Thinking about Allison Finch and what might have happened to her.
I had my own work to do. My job mainly involved interviewing people on the ground and visiting areas where we thought clues might be found. Nothing we did was simple or happened in a vacuum.The J & J Hourworked well only because we had a team of volunteers passionate about the topic.
It had been really hard for me at first to talk to people, so I came up with a system that worked for me: a bullet-pointed list of questions to ask about specific topics related to the case. Whenever I didn’t prepare in advance, it was noticeable (or an absolute shit-show).
I really wanted to get the information from Abby and Leo before going back to Briar Falls or talking to Allison’s parents. Just the thought of facing Allison’s father made me a little nauseated, so it was possible that I was procrastinating a little. Going for a hike wasn’t appealing, but the bookstore was calling to me. I hadn’t had time to explore Chapter & Crumb the way it deserved.
Grabbing my keys and my notebook, I drove toward the main road where the trees thinned out as the road widened. Wildwood Meadows was totally the type of town where you could come and raise a couple of kids. There were very few towns that I’d been to that had such a naturally welcoming feel.
It was hot today, so much so that you could almost smell the asphalt as you stepped out of the car. A family unloaded kids two spaces over, chatting and laughing as the father juggled a big floaty in the back of a Subaru, before they all headed towards an ice cream shop. It was such a normal place, and wasn’t that the point?
The tables outside Chapter & Crumb were all full, but that was okay. Today was a good day for air conditioning, and I wanted to browse before I sat down with my notebook and a snack.
Maybe I’d take a few pictures of downtown and put them on my website, or even one of the infamous (by now) confetti sprinkle cupcake with extra frosting.
CHAPTER 14
Kipp
The office was always a challenge when it came to using my social skills. Cinda was okay, but Roger grated on every nerve I had left. By the time I clocked out, I could have gone and driven out to Alder Valley and done a loose patrol, but instead, I decided that since I’d missed lunch and I’d already put in overtime earlier in the week, I’d go ahead and circle around town and bother my brother.
