Not that logical reasons were required for people to do shitty things to other people. It was the world they lived in, the one that benefited from task forces dedicated to locating missing persons. Had there not been fucked up people, there wouldn’t be a need for those who wanted to help.
“If they did, they timed it right,” Evan continued. “With the real estate deal, it has us looking in other directions.”
“They’ve got solid alibis.”
“Sure they do.” Evan cleared his throat. “For their own husband’s disappearance. But do they have alibis for the others?”
Reese shot a look at the detective as he understood what he was saying. “You think they took each other’s husband out?”
“Why not? It wouldn’t be the first time.”
No, it wouldn’t.
As he drove, Reese tossed that around in his head.
“I’ve only got one problem with that theory,” he told Evan as they were pulling down the driveway toward the house and HQ.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t see Annie Hawkins getting her hands dirty.”
Then again, Reese hadn’t thought he’d ever come across a cop with multiple personalities who locked women in rooms and killed them for kicks, but he’d come face-to-face with exactly that.
“Did she hire someone?” Evan asked.
“I’d say that’s more feasible, sure. But who?”
“Question of the day,” Evan stated.
“No, the question of the day is where the hell is Cedric Hawkins?” He glanced over at Evan. “Because if you’re right, if they’ve taken out each other’s husbands, we need to find Nancy Wright.”
Evan nodded. “You’re right because if Annie took out Seth Jacobs, then Mallory took out Brian Wright.”
“And that leaves Nancy to take out Hawkins,” Reese completed for him.
Shit.
Was there even a small chance the man was still alive?
*
“This has netted us nothing,” Allison bitchedas Baz pulled his truck into the parking lot where Cedric Hawkins’s Mercedes had been abandoned.
Baz shot a glance her way. “Tell me, how many times have you worked an easy case?”
“All of them,” she countered.
Pulling the truck to a stop, he stared at her. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah. I am. Every case I’ve worked involved luring someone in. There was rarely a lull because there’s always someone to reach out to, to watch, to talk to.”
Baz sighed. He honestly didn’t know how to respond to that. He’d been a cop for far too long to know that there was rarely anything that came easily on the job. He had no idea how Allison had been sheltered, but she clearly had.
“Go in and talk to the clerk,” he instructed her. “See if they’ve got surveillance cameras.”
“Surely they do,” she muttered as she climbed out.
Baz got out of the truck, pulled on a pair of latex gloves as he scanned the parking lot. He noticed a couple of cameras installed on the side of the building, but who knew if they worked or if they were merely there as a deterrent.
