Mason pinched the bridge of his nose. “I appreciate that, son. About your mother, too, whom I loved dearly, just as you did—and still miss very much.”
“Same here,” Campbell told him.
“I kept some info from my investigation,” Mason said. “I’ll go through it and see if anything comes up that may be of use to you in your case—”
“Okay.” Campbell finished off the drink, happy to have his help. He hoped to return the favor by making a more concerted effort to visit the ranch more often, now that he was a resident of Reston Hills again. “I’d better go,” he told him, getting to his feet.
Mason nodded. “I’ll walk you out.”
Campbell grinned at his childhood memories. He’d loved spending as much time as possible with his dad, and those moments had seemed like they would last forever. Till his mother passed and everything seemed to change. Now they were back on the right track, more or less, and trying to start building new memories.
* * *
MASON STOOD NEXTto Hopper as they watched Campbell drive off. Having Lynda Boxleitner’s strange death brought back to the surface had thrown him for a loop, as he digested what his son had come there to say. The fact that another woman had died pretty much the same way and was left naked in the park like trash was disturbing,to say the least. Having it occur on Founder’s Day was all the more troubling.
What was up with that?
Was someone trying to tell him something? Perhaps Lynda or even Wendell Braison—from the grave—wanted to show there was a real connection between the past and present that couldn’t be ignored?
Had Kenneth Braison truly decided to walk in his father’s shoes, killing one of his followers that he considered uncooperative? Someone threatening the cult’s very existence?
Can I really find the answers to Lynda’s unfortunate death that have eluded me for over twenty years with the help of my son?Mason asked himself. Or did one death really have nothing to do with the other? He wondered what he had missed and if it could ever turn back the hands of time in delivering justice for Lynda, who didn’t deserve to have her life ended that way.
It occurred to Mason that perhaps he had been looking in the wrong direction by going after Wendell. Maybe the same was true for Campbell as he focused on Kenneth Braison. Maybe someone else was the true enemy and was intent on throwing them off the trail.
Or maybe they were definitely on the right track with the Braison Family and only needed to make their case.
When he heard the front door open, Mason turned and saw Sally walk out toward him. Hopper ran up to her.
Sally had a worried look on her face as she regarded Mason and asked him, “Everything all right?”
He thought about it, wanting to just give a pat answer. But knowing how much she had come to mean to him as his partner in life and the closest thing Campbell had toa mother with Alyssa no longer in the picture, Mason regarded his girlfriend and responded truthfully, “Not so much, really. But maybe it can be.”
“How?” she asked ill at ease.
He put his arm around her shoulders and replied, “I’ll explain inside…”
* * *
STEFANIE WASN’T QUITEsure what to expect when she drove through the gates and into the Braison Family compound. Was it a mistake to go there and try to get a read on presumably the last place that Mia O’Dell had spent her final hours prior to ending up at Reston Hills Park?Maybe I should leave the sleuthing up to Campbell and the police department, Stefanie thought. Then she half joked to herself,What fun would that be?
Truthfully, she considered this anything but an exercise in fun and frolic. Beyond that, she would just have to play it by ear.
After parking, Stefanie exited the car and was met by Jasmine and a tall, brawny Hispanic man in his thirties with a bald head and crooked nose.
“Greetings,” Jasmine said spiritedly. “Stefanie, right?”
“Yes, good memory,” Stefanie told her, considering all the people she must regularly try to recruit.
“I make it my business to remember anyone I get a good vibe from,” she said sincerely, and looked at the man. “This is Juan.”
Stefanie smiled. “Hi.”
He didn’t smile back, as if resistant to any outsiders. “Hello,” he said stiffly.
“Anyway, I wanted to take you up on the invite, Jasmine,” Stefanie told her, “and check out the place.”
Jasmine beamed. “I’m so glad you did.”
