He held up the accident report and she stepped closer to view it.
“Says here that the roads were wet,” Ian said. “Your dad lost control on a curve, and the car plunged over an embankment then hit several trees—just like Reed said.”
“Yeah, it’s what we were told, but seeing it in print…” Malone choked up and shuddered.
Oh, man. Ian wanted to comfort her. Badly. She’d suffered so much, in many ways like the families he helped on a daily basis. Better to think of her like one of his victim’s family members and move on.
He took out the bill of sale for the Mustang and handed it to her. “The car was totaled, but the executor sold it instead of taking the insurance money.”
“To a Freddie Peck.” She looked up at Ian. “And the receipt has the VIN number. Can we look it up right now?”
“Sure,” he said. “I can access the information on my laptop.”
He escorted her into the house. Malone sat on the velvet couch, dropped the bill of sale on the table in front of her, and clutched her fingers in her lap. She nibbled on her lower lip, and he had to look away before he imagined kissing that very lip.
He grabbed his laptop, dropped onto the far end of the couch, and picked up the bill of sale. He logged into the department’s restricted system and entered the VIN number. Individuals could look up VIN numbers online, but no matter the money paid for such a service, the report would never reveal the owner’s name and address.
He clicked enter and sat back while the icon churned on the screen. When it opened to reveal the record for the Mustang, he caught Freddie Peck’s name.
He read down the record.
“Looks like we’ve got good news and bad news,” he said to Malone. “Which do you want first?”
“Bad news.”
“The records show the vehicle still belongs to Peck,” Ian said. “He was issued a salvage title at purchase. Means the vehicle wasn’t roadworthy at the time. A regular Oregon title has never been issued beyond the one your parents held, so he must not have rebuilt it.”
“What did he do with it then?”
“My guess, and it’s just that, a guess.” Ian kept hold of her gaze. “He scrapped it and never did the paperwork.”
“Like we thought.” She ran a hand through her thick hair. “You said there was good news.”
Ian nodded. “He still lives at the same address in Gaston, and we can ask him in person what he did with the car.”
Ian opened Malone’s front door two hours later, Clay spun, his hand on his sidearm.
“Stand down,” Ian said. “We’re just coming out to go to Gaston.”
“Roger that.” Clay informed his brothers over their comms unit that Ian and Malone were exiting the house.
Ian took a long look around before he led Malone down the walkway. He didn’t care if the super protection team was on her detail. He felt personally responsible for her, just like he had back in high school, and he would do his due diligence. Besides, all good law enforcement officers would do the same thing. Trust was something that went out the window not long after joining a law enforcement agency, and every moment of a workday was devoted to finding the truth and staying alive while doing it.
Brendan waited in front of the garage, his hair blowing in the crisp late afternoon wind, his eyes alert. Aiden had taken a stance at the vehicle by the open back door. If possible, his intensity beat Brendan’s.
Ian nodded at both men as he waited for Malone to slide into the back seat. He climbed in after her and quickly closed the door. Ian didn’t like leaving his vehicle behind, but it was easier to ride with the Byrds for the nearly hour drive to Peck’s place in the small country town of Gaston.
Aiden set off, and Malone’s leg kept touching Ian’s as she seemed more willing to sit closer to him than Clay. He should probably take it as a compliment, but her touch was bringing to mind all kinds of things not related to their upcoming visit.
Visit. Right. Focus on that.They hadn’t called ahead to see if Peck was home. Ian didn’t want the man to know they were coming. The element of surprise more often than not brought out the truth. When people didn’t have time to concoct a story, any attempt at lying was easily spotted. Not that Ian expected Peck to cover anything up.
A quick search by Nick confirmed there was no connection between Peck and the Rice family except for the car purchase. Peck had been a mechanic at the time and had been on social security disability since about that time and hadn’t worked at all.
Aiden pulled out onto the highway, and Ian relaxed a notch. With the armored vehicle, he didn’t have to be worried, but he wouldn’t let his guard totally when he was with Malone until the killer was behind bars.
He grabbed his phone to catch up on emails and texts. First email was from Londyn. “Londyn located Junior’s doctor. She’ll interview him and request the records.”
He got a murmur ofgood jobfrom Aiden, but Malone didn’t speak. She started chewing on that lip again. Ian wanted to ask what had her spooked, but he didn’t want to open that topic with the Byrd brothers in the vehicle.
