19
Kinsley forgot all about the puzzle she was doing with Jada and Colin and stared open-mouthed at Russ. As matter-of-factly as reporting tomorrow’s weather, he’d stepped into the dining room and announced that he knew their suspect’s name.
He stopped at the table and rested his hands on his hips. “Sierra said video from the drone returned a facial recognition match.”
Kinsley lurched to her feet and planted her hands on the table. “You have a name? Really? The name of the person who’s been stalking and trying to kill me?”
“I do.” His eyes narrowed. “Guy’s name is Harry Yapp.”
Colin scratched his beard. “Not one of our suspects, then.”
“No.” Russ studied Kinsley. “Does that name mean anything to you?”
Did it? She searched her memory. “No. Not off the top of my head anyway. It sounds familiar and is pretty distinctive. I should remember if I’ve crossed paths with him, but I don’t think I ever did an investigation that included a guy with that name.”
Russ grabbed his phone from a holder on his belt next to his sidearm. “Let me show you his mugshot. Maybe that’ll ring some bells.”
He swiped down the screen and held it out.
Kinsley took one look at the guy with a gleaming bald head and dark eyes and spun to Jada. “Look at this.”
Jada jerked back. “You know him?”
Kinsley shrugged. “Maybe, and I think you might too.”
“Me?” Eyes wide, Jada got up from the end of the table and joined Kinsley.
Jada stared at the picture, and her body stiffened. “Oh no. He’s the guy who stayed at the Bluebird, and we played pranks on him when we were kids, right?”
“Yeah, it’s him,” Kinsley said. “And now that I think about it, I remember joking about his last name and wanting to tell him to shut his big Yapp when he insisted on having the Bluebird Cabin, and we had to hold our sleepover next door instead.”
“Mind clarifying for me?” Colin asked.
“Jada and I were scheduled to have a weekend in the Bluebird Cabin,” Kinsley said.
“I remember,” Colin said. “It was your favorite place to stay, but it wasn’t any different than the other cabins, so I don’t know why.”
“It was the most secluded place on the property and gave us more privacy,” Jada said.
Kinsley clasped her hands together. “But then this guy shows up at the last minute, takes a drive around the campground, and then insists on having the Bluebird Cabin or he was leaving. Sandy agreed because the cabin wasn’t rented for the weekend, and she needed the income. So she moved us next door instead.”
“And you played pranks on him?” Colin asked.
Jada nodded. “We did a few things before Mom found out and made us stay at the house instead of the cabin next door.”
“But these were just childhood pranks,” Kinsley said, thankful Sandy had gone to bed and wasn’t in the room to hear this. “Certainly nothing worth shooting at us for. Especially after all these years. I mean if he wanted to get back at us, why wait so long?”
“When did he stay at your campground?”
Jada looked at Kinsley. “It was August, that much I remember because school was about to start. You were going to be a freshman that year, and I was starting seventh grade.”
“So, let’s see.” She tapped her chin and then gave Russ a year.
Russ swiped the screen on his phone. “That makes sense then. He was arrested for burglary in September of the same year and has been in prison ever since. He was only released two weeks ago.”
Colin shook his head. “Still, seems pretty farfetched that any person would wait more than ten years to get revenge for a few silly little pranks.”
“Think about it, though,” Jada said. “We’ve been considering the shooter is only after Kinsley, but maybe the shooting on Main Street wasn’t a warning to Kinsley but was directed at both of us because he was out to get me, too. That would fit, right?”
