CHAPTER 28
Hattie
It was a weekend, so that meant the whole squad was present and accounted for on the video call. I was hoping they wouldn’t notice I’d just gotten laid, but Poppy immediately cocked her head and looked at me with interest.
“Hey there, Hattie,” she fairly sang. “You look relaxed. Accommodations suit you?”
“Shut up.”
She snickered. The rest of them all laughed as they organized themselves and got ready to get started.
Abby cleared her throat. “I’ll start.” Abby was nothing if not succinct and on task. She was probably the most uptight of all of us, and I’d never been entirely sure what drew her into our circle. But I knew that everyone had their own paths and motivations that brought them here. “I’ve uploaded the backgrounds on Galloway and hisson. Nothing unusual stands out. The police chief isn’t the most organized with paperwork, and he definitely looks the other way sometimes. But this time, it’s an exception.”
Abby took a breath and started clicking her mouse. “Barry isn’t very notable. He’s below average on grades and below average in everything else.” We all chuckled a little as the images flashed up on screen that Abby had dug up of Barry flexing in the mirror. Geez, what a dweeb.
Nova held up a hand over her eyes. “I hope you don’t put up a dick pic. That’ll burn my eyes. Spare us, please.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you guys. There were some for sure. He seemed super impressed with his shlong, but trust me …” she shuddered. “It wasn’t anything special.” She rolled her eyes a little. “The main thing that sticks out is that he’s friends with Trent. There’s a connection, and text messages between them are mostly about the normal stuff. Fishing, drinking, and hanging out, but there are plenty of messages where Trent is complaining about Allison. Trent liked to do a lot of the ‘poor me’ routine, and Barry was more than willing to encourage it.”
“Anything that might mean something?” Nova jotted notes.
“Maybe. There were a few chat messages between Barry and Allison.” We all perked up. “They aren’t on herphone, but on her cam site, and he was hiding behind a fake profile. From the messages, I don’t think she knew it was him.”
“Well, that’s interesting. So he was listening to Trent complain, and then he was on Allison’s cam site sending her private messages.” Storm tapped his desk, voicing what we all were thinking. “He was a fan.”
“Yeah, it is interesting,” I agreed. “What else do we have?”
Storm pushed his glasses up on his nose as he sat forward. “I’ve merged all the backgrounds of the volunteers who showed up. Nothing much popped up that was super unusual. People were mostly from around the area, and there were some with criminal backgrounds, but none super suspicious.”
“Wow, you’ve been busy. I just sent you mine like …” Nova squinted at her monitor. “Two hours ago.
“Well, I was going to tell you that I’ll be,” he cleared his throat, looking suddenly uncomfortable. “I mean, unavailable for a few days. I wanted to get that out of the way. I should be back by Wednesday. Are you going to check the impound and do some more interviews? Keep things chill?”
“That’s the plan. The police department has refused all interview requests, and so has Trent, but I’m going to try to talk to Allison’s parents. Maybe I’ll see if I can get to Barry Galloway too, but I’m doubtful that he’s that stupid. Once we get further into the investigation, maybeI can see if we can move the needle and decide whether Chief Galloway is dirty. ”
It was one thing to fight for the police to reopen a case and pressure them with the embarrassment of spotlighting their incompetence. It was another thing entirely when the person in charge was negligent or, worse, actually crooked. I had no concrete evidence yet and no idea how to even pursue anything against an officer.
We signed off, and I took a deep breath, filling a water bottle and grabbing a couple of granola bars for the ride while thinking about last night. The urge to call Sydney and talk things through was strong, but even stronger was the desire to just let fate sweep me along. I was over thirty now, and I hadn’t had an apartment or a home of my own in over six years since I’d given up my beautiful place with its pretty kitchen. It had been swanky. Maybe I was ready to move on from always traveling? There might be a balance to be found between my search for justice and this sense of wanting a bed in the same place every night.
There had to be a way to honor both sides of me—one that wanted to fight for the missing and the other that wanted something for myself.
CHAPTER 29
Kipp
“So, where do you want to start?”
Hattie had come out of the cabin with a little skip in her step, looking so perfect in the sunshine that I would have taken a picture if she hadn’t been staring right at me.
My head was filled with images of her last night after she realized that I’d come inside her, those eyes still a little dazed from her orgasm, her cheeks flushed, and her hair loose around her shoulders.
It was a pretty big mistake to not have a condom on, one I’d never made before. I always took precautions. The one long-term relationship I’d had, I’d never even considered going ungloved. The very thought would have petrified me to my core. Marisa had been selfish and vain, and I’d always known she wouldn’t make a good mother.
Hattie, on the other hand… I slid my eyes over to her. She was loyal and fierce. She loved hard. I admired that. It hadn’t escaped my notice that she hadn’t run out for the morning-after pill. She hadn’t seemed so freaked out by the thought last night either, and that surprised me more than anything.
“Where to, Trouble?” I was already opening the door to my Jeep for her. We needed to be back for dinner, but wherever she wanted to go, we’d make it back no problem. She bit her lip, looking at her SUV indecisively for a minute. “You want to take your car?”
“No, let me just get something real quick.” She handed me her water and what looked like a couple of crappy granola bars and jogged over to her car for what looked like a tackle box. “Here’s my kit.”
