CHAPTER EIGHT
Jace ended up spending the rest of the morning and early afternoon running off unwanted reporters from his property. It was incredible the way they’d just barged onto private land and parked wherever they wanted. They asked a litany of questions about the search being conducted on his property in connection to the investigation. He informed them they weren’t welcome, and that they would have to move to the road where his property line ended.
One of the crews had actually started to drive stakes into the ground for a tent by the time Jace had got over to their location and asked them to leave. Others pointed to those who hadn’t moved and had the audacity to say they weren’t leaving until everyone else had. He’d had to explain to them in minute detail that once the police arrived he would press charges on anyone he told to vacate and hadn’t. Thankfully, that got them moving.
Even after the initial mess, two of the crews had launched drones with cameras to fly over the property. The police had told Jace that they couldn’t do anything about the drones unless they flew directly over groups of people or below one hundred feet. Apparently, an Ohio Court of Appeals had already determined that a land owner only controlled that much airspace over their own land. Anything above that height was public, and therefore, controlled by the FAA.
By the time Jace had talked to the authorities about enforcing those rules, the drones had already run out of batteries and the crews had put them away. It never escaped his attention for a moment that his residence was no doubt going to be front page in tomorrow’s paper. In fact, he suspected that most of the news networks statewide would run a feature on the latest developments in their series covering the local murders and disappearances. The only thing he’d managed to successfully do was keep Shae’s presence hidden from prying eyes. Lance had eventually driven her into town without anyone taking notice.
That last option had left her vehicle at Jace’s house, but that was better than the reporters getting a hold of her and demanding a statement. It was a given that Shae would ultimately be cornered, especially after one of the reporters supposedly ran all of the plates on the vehicles near the property. No one said those bloodsuckers didn’t do their homework. That didn’t mean her presence being announced couldn’t be on her timetable. The vultures could wait.
“I would suggest grabbing a sleeping bag from Dad’s place and staying at your house tonight,” Lance advised after he’d taken a drink out of the water bottle he’d swiped from behind the bar. They were all gathered around a table in the corner of Tiny’s Cavern, with the exception of Shae. She was upstairs being interviewed by Detective Kendrick. “I’ve got a twelve-gauge and some shells in the truck. I’ll also give you the name and number of the security company Noah and I used to install our systems. Remember, I even had a break-in prior to my system being installed. A photojournalist broke in to get some sexy snaps of my furnace.”
“Trust us, you’ll need it.” Noah tossed a peanut shell back into the bowl with a scowl. “At least your walls didn’t have any bodies inside the drywall and your basement didn’t contain any evidence left behind. I’m not sure how that helps Kendrick with his case, but it does go a long way toward helping clear this fictitious Kendall connection.”
“The Kendall name was never in need of clearing,” their dad said with a stern look. “No one with half a brain ever believed any of that horseshit. We’ve done nothing wrong. That reporter—Charlene Winston—is the one who made it seem as if we had some kind of nefarious connection to the case. But you are right, Noah. This should bring that part of this horrible story to a close.”
“Charlene Winston?” The name wasn’t familiar. “I don’t believe there was a woman by that name with any of the media crews today.”
“That’s because that bitch knows better than to show her face around here ever again,” Brynn called out from behind the bar.
She was discussing something with one of her employees, reminding Jace of how many things had changed since he’d been gone. Tiny Phifer had been the owner and proprietor of the Cavern for as long as Jace could remember. He’d learned that Brynn had bought the bar from him and his wife, Rose. It wasn’t much of a surprise considering that the older couple had taken Brynn in after she’d lost both her parents. The place was truly shaping up.
What was astounding was all the upgrades to the place—such as the pool tables finally being refurbished and the added stage for live music. Even a nostalgic Rockola jukebox had been installed recently with the retro bubbling lights. It played thousands of digital recordings that Brynn could update with regular downloads. Tiny had been old school. His old Wurlitzer, which was still in the corner, probably even had the same CDs it came with. His motto had always been why fix it if it wasn’t broken.
That particular saying made Jace think of Shae’s confession today. She experienced guilt every time she looked at him. How could she not? She connected Emma’s death directly to going to see him the night she was abducted. It made him sick to his stomach. She’d driven into the city the night her sister had gone missing to be with him—and not to say goodbye. How could he have so badly misread her presence that night?
She was riddled with remorse, regardless of how unfounded those emotions were in the grand scheme of things. And she continued to carry that blame around with her to this day.
It made him wonder if she could ever look at him again without reliving that tragedy.
“You need to make a call to the Benson twins,” Gus advised around the toothpick in between his lips. He drew Jace back to the conversation at hand. It wasn’t any better than trying to rectify the past. Unfortunately, the two went hand in hand. “You had your things shipped to their storage facility, right? TMO paid for temporary storage and local delivery, so maybe they can fit in a delivery tomorrow. In the meantime, you can borrow one of those cots in the basement.”
“I’m waiting on a call back from Drew.”
The oldest of the Benson twins handled the administrative work while his younger brother supervised the truck crew. They’d taken over the family business, and rather successfully from what Jace had seen. Their site on the east side of town was a maze of modern climate-controlled warehouses now. They even had newer model trucks and security.
“Speaking of moving, how is Reese holding up?” Jace figured she would rather be with them than at school, but she’d started a new job and didn’t want to take advantage of the principal’s understanding nature concerning the current situation. There had been a few things she’d wanted to get situated in her classroom before Monday morning rolled around. “I overheard her talking to Detective Kendrick today about some state inspector?”
“Reese has been playing amateur detective.” Noah cracked open another peanut, the action itself giving away his opinion on the matter. “I’m not very happy about it. She needs to let the police handle it, especially after what happened with Deputy Wallace out at my place. He was murdered in cold blood, just like those girls. This isn’t a game for amateurs.”
Gus, Noah, and Lance began talking about the reason why Wallace had been killed, but no one truly had any answers that made sense. They could surmise all they wanted and the end result would remain the same. A deputy had been killed for stumbling onto someone who didn’t want to be discovered.
The comment about Reese getting too involved in the investigation hit home, though.
Shae’s sister had probably been the first victim, according to what Detective Kendrick believed from the timeline developed by the FBI. Apparently, he’d had some profiler take a look at his case notes. The BAU put together a detailed case file including the information they compiled and correlated from multiple other sources. Jace figured it was only a matter of time before the agency took over. The state had control over the case until such time that they requested the FBI take the lead with its virtually unlimited resources, but would their involvement come soon enough to prevent anymore murders?
Shae’s return to Blyth Lake was sure to stir up additional concerns. Jace couldn’t help but worry that her quest for answers would lead her down the same path as Emma. From what he’d heard about the residents in town, panic was taking hold and causing the townsfolk to act out in defense of their hearths and homes. Before the fairly recent discovery of Sophia’s body, it was rare to see a state police car even pass through Blyth Lake. Today, Jace had seen three parked outside the sheriff’s office.
“How sure is Kendrick that Clayton Schaeffer isn’t the guilty party?” Jace asked, wondering why his dad took a sip of the coffee instead of answering the question. As a matter of fact, everyone at the table fell silent. “I mean, he did try to burn Lance’s house down. Clay even admitted to having sex with Whitney within the last month. It’s not much of a stretch to think he’s involved.”
“Don’t you start,” Brynn warned with a pointed finger. She walked up behind Lance and rested her hands on his shoulders. Her blonde eyebrows were practically touching in her disappointment. Did Jace open a can of worms when he wasn’t looking? “Everyone in town is pointing fingers at someone. We’ve known Clay our whole lives. He might not be the most trustworthy guy, but he’s not capable of cold-blooded murder. Neither are Miles, Calvin, or Harlan, for that matter.”
Jace could see it meant the world to Brynn to believe in her neighbors, but he’d seen firsthand what happened between people who believed blindly in one another. It wasn’t pleasant.
“So you think it’s someone we don’t know?” Jace asked, pausing when Lance shot him a warning glance. He took the subtle caveat in stride. It was in Brynn’s nature to protect those she considered family. Jace respected that. “I hope you’re right.”
Detective Kendrick chose that moment to come downstairs from the studio apartment overhead. He appeared tired, but that was understandable. He’d driven in from the city early this morning and had been going nonstop ever since. It was evident he was committed to solving this case. He wasn’t going to lay down and let the FBI take over unless it was absolutely necessary.
“Detective, can I get you a coffee?”
“That would be nice, Ms. Mercer. Thank you.” Kendrick pulled out a chair from underneath the table and joined them, his gaze landing on Jace. “I had an interesting conversation with Ms. Irwin about the party you two attended on the night Emma went missing.”
“The party you’re referring to was thrown by Nick Caine, a friend of ours who graduated a year before us. I’m not even sure you could call it a party, but more of a get-together that got a little out of hand once the drinking started. I’d had to delay my ship date to boot camp due to getting mono in my senior year. I needed a doctor’s release before I could ship.” Jace explained again, having already gone over this with Kendrick on the phone. He’d reached out to each of the Kendall siblings after Noah’s discovery at the beginning of the summer. “I was flying out that Sunday, and Nick wanted to do something nice for me before I left.”
“In the list of names you provided me, you didn’t include Kyle Foster.”
“Deputy Kyle Foster?” Noah clarified, pushing the bowl of peanuts into the middle of the table. “He’s got to be…what? Four or five years older than Mitch? What was Foster doing in the city that night?”
“Kyle Foster wasn’t there, as far as I can remember.” Jace was confused as to why Shae would say something like that. Had she mistaken someone else for Kyle? “We were at a rental house near the college. One of those row houses. There was only supposed to be ten people in attendance, but you know how that goes when the word got out about a keg. One thing led to another, and maybe we ended up with around twenty or so friends. As Noah mentioned, Kyle was a lot older than the rest of us. I would have noticed had he come anywhere inside the house.”
“Shae said she had a brief conversation with him on the porch.” Detective Kendrick leaned back when Brynn returned to the table with a hot cup of coffee. The steam was evident as it evaporated into the air. “Like you, she didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
“Thought you might want one, too,” Brynn murmured in Jace’s ear before setting down his very own cup of coffee.
Her kind gesture reminded him of why family and friends were so important.
“What does Kyle Foster being in the city have anything to do with Emma’s disappearance, though?” Lance asked, doing so for all of them gathered around. It made no sense from Jace’s standpoint as to what connection Foster might have had with Emma. “He wasn’t even a deputy back then, and he was also a couple of hours away from Blyth Lake.”
“Shae came early.” Jace recalled seeing her come through the front door with Stephanie. The two were usually with Andrea, but she’d had other plans that night. He tried to put himself in the detective’s frame of mind. “And Foster being there matters because he would have had time to return to Blyth Lake had he known Emma didn’t have a car that night.”
“You think Foster—”
“There’s no way that—”
“I’m not saying Kyle Foster did anything,” Detective Kendrick interrupted the various denials going around the table. “I’m putting together a timeline of people’s actions and whereabouts, that’s all.”
“Did Shae say what she and Kyle spoke about that night?”
Detective Kendrick had drunk maybe half his cup of coffee, but he finished the rest of the contents off in one swig. Jace didn’t envy the long day ahead of him, but he did want to know if any of this new knowledge put Shae’s life in danger.
“I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon enough,” Detective Kendrick said wryly, telling Jace that he was now familiar with how small towns worked. He set his empty mug on the table and pushed the chair back as he stood. “Kyle Foster warned Shae that night that she might want to keep a close eye on her little sister. So if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to go find out why Foster would issue such advice.”