CHAPTER FOUR

Stevie rolled her eyes again.

Terry Reece, the arrested owner of Knight Products, was being as difficult as possible during their phone interview. She and Zane sat in his police department office, listening to the man stall on the speakerphone.

Both of them had slept poorly and barely made it to the office by seven for their phone call, each with a steaming cup of coffee. The streets of Solitude were deserted, and water flowed like a small river through several of them. Zane had detoured three times to avoid driving through dangerously high water.

Terry had agreed to talk to the two of them once he had heard that Liam and his uncle Marcus had disappeared. No doubt, Terry’s lawyer would object to the interview, but Terry said he didn’t care.

He’d just told them that he had no idea where to find the $10 million Wade had stolen. Hence Stevie’s fourth eye roll.

The police and the FBI knew that Terry had traced the missing money to an offshore account. He simply didn’t have the codes to get it back. His whole motivation for kidnapping Wade’s son was to blackmail Wade for the codes.

Stevie and Zane didn’t care about codes. They wanted to know if Marcus could have committed murder and taken the boy.

They’d agreed not to tell Terry about the two dead FBI agents.

“Did you know Marcus Wilkins very well?” Zane asked.

“Wade’s brother-in-law? I didn’t meet him until after Wade ripped off my company. Marcus was looking for Wade and the boy, and we were searching to get our money back, so yeah, we crossed paths several times. He’s a hothead.”

“What makes you say that?” asked Stevie. She exchanged a confused look with Zane. Seth and her mother had said the exact opposite about Marcus, calling him a kind man who clearly loved his nephew, but Stevie knew they’d only met him for a matter of minutes.

“He wanted Wade worse than we did. The death of his sister had shaken up Marcus something fierce. I worried that he’d get to Wade before we did, and then we’d never find the money because Wade would be dead.”

“So he was tight with Liam’s mother?” Zane restated Terry’s comment in a question.

“Must have been. He was out for blood.”

Stevie bit her lip. Is Marcus still after Wade? And took Liam with him?

But now everyone knew that Wade hadn’t killed his wife. Terry’s right-hand man, Shawn, had done it. Marcus couldn’t blame Wade anymore.

She crossed out her theory that Marcus was out for revenge.

“Do you think Marcus is capable of murder?” Zane asked.

“Shit, I don’t know. I barely knew the guy. What kind of question is that? I didn’t really think he’d kill Wade if he found him . . . maybe mess him up a bit. He wanted Wade thrown in prison for the rest of his life. That’s all I wanted too. After I got my money back.”

“You went about hunting Wade in a very aggressive and illegal manner. Not to mention immoral,” Stevie pointed out. “I don’t know what else to call hiring someone to kill his wife and kidnap his son. Why didn’t you leave it to the police?”

“The police were doing their thing, and I was doing mine. I couldn’t sit on my ass and hope for my money to come back.”

“Why did Wade steal from your company?” Zane asked.

“Beats me. Must have wanted it. Maybe he was tired of the rat race.”

“Don’t you think he would have taken his wife and son with him?” asked Stevie.

“You’re asking me if I knew what was going on in Wade’s head. Clearly I didn’t know the man at all.” Anger infused Terry’s tone.

He takes the theft from his company very personally.

Or is it something personal between him and Wade?

“There’s another thing I’m fuzzy on,” Zane said in a slow voice, which Stevie knew was a deliberate ploy to set a guilty interviewee at ease. “If Kandi and Peter were hiding Liam for you, why did Shawn kill them?”

Silence.

“Terry?” Stevie asked, wondering if they’d lost him.

“Hang on. I’m thinking this through.”

“You need to think about it?” Zane asked.

“You told me you’re recording this. It’s bad enough I’ve gone behind my lawyer’s back. I need to watch how I phrase things.”

Stevie refrained from rolling her eyes this time. For a man who was all about covering his ass, it was odd that he would talk to them at all. She suspected it was an ego thing. Some people loved to believe that the police were in dire need of their help. Even at the risk of incriminating themselves.

“I’ll put it in one word. Greed.”

Zane’s brows shot up and Stevie nodded at him. “Blackmail,” she whispered. Kandi and Peter must have asked for more money. A lot of money, since they’d died for it. Stevie wondered if they had threatened to turn the boy over to the police and implicate Terry and Shawn.

It didn’t matter now. Shawn was dead, and Terry was up to his neck in charges.

“Back to Marcus. Why do you think he vanished with Liam?” Stevie asked.

“Has to be money in there somewhere,” suggested Terry. “No one does anything without getting paid for it.”

Maybe in your world.

“I’d guess he went to join Wade, and the three of them are leaving the country,” said Terry. “Wade isn’t totally off the hook even though he didn’t kill his wife. He’ll still be prosecuted for stealing from me.”

“But the FBI can keep Wade from getting into the offshore account,” Zane pointed out. “How will they run without money?”

“He’s probably been stealing from me for the last decade,” Terry stated. “Once a thief, always a thief. I bet he’s got accounts all over the Caribbean.”

Good point.

Zane’s gaze said he agreed with her.

Stevie changed the subject. “Terry, are you familiar with Defendicon?”

“Of course. One of my biggest competitors.”

“Do you know the owner?”

“Dawn Hazelwood.” He nearly spit her name.

“What’s your opinion of her and her company?”

Terry was silent for a long moment. “Why are you asking?”

“Does it matter? I assume you keep a close eye on what your competitors are doing in the field, right?”

“That’s just good business sense. We keep our research and development under wraps. Ideally, by the time we put a new or improved item on the market, our competitors can’t scramble fast enough to keep up.”

“Sounds like a game,” Zane observed.

“In a way, it is. You have to act quickly and constantly improve to stay ahead in this business.” His tone had soured, and Stevie raised a brow at Zane. He nodded.

“Sounds like you might be a little burned out?” Zane asked. “It must take a lot of energy to hold the lead while other companies are nipping at your heels.”

Terry snorted. “You’ve got that right. And some companies will play dirty to find out your secrets.”

“Explain.” Stevie and Zane waited as Terry went silent again.

“I’m pretty sure Dawn planted a mole in my company a year ago. I fired him two months ago.”

I didn’t expect that.

“You’re right,” Stevie said in a sympathetic voice. “That is dirty. How did you find out?”

“I was never positive Dawn planted him, but security said he was accessing documents and e-mails that were off-limits. It was enough to fire him.”

“Wow. What did he see?”

“Do you really think I’ll share my private records with you? I’ll just say that it was none of his business, but he had way too much interest in things that didn’t concern him. I didn’t talk to Dawn about it because I don’t have proof, but I had security keep an eye on him after he was fired, and he moved to Las Vegas within weeks. I only have one competitor in Nevada—Defendicon. But it doesn’t matter. My company is done. It’ll never recover.”

Stevie was confused. “Aren’t you a publicly held company? Primarily run by a board of directors? I know you started the company, but I assume they’ll appoint another CEO.”

“It’s not going to survive.”

“Survive what?” Zane asked.

“I think this interview is over.”

Stevie and Zane asked a few more questions, but Terry was done being generous.

They ended the call and sat thinking for a few moments.

“Why does he think his company is finished?” Stevie asked. “Did the missing ten million hit them that hard? They’ll eventually get it back since the FBI got the codes.”

“I didn’t understand that part either. Maybe his ego believes Knight Products can’t survive the scandal of him going to prison.”

“I feel like Terry is waiting for another ball to drop. I was surprised by his matter-of-fact tone about something so big.”

“What’s worse than losing ten million and going to prison?”

“Losing twenty million?” Stevie shrugged. “Do you think Dawn planted someone in his company? He sounded really bitter about it.”

“He says he didn’t have proof. It’s all speculation. I wonder what information he’s worried about Defendicon getting its hands on. I noticed Terry never said a word about Dawn being in Solitude. I don’t think he knows.”

“Or he’s keeping us from looking at a different angle.”

Stevie couldn’t make heads or tails out of the presence of the two companies’ leaders. Neither could Zane. They set aside the odd situation to focus on the first part of the interview.

“I guess Wade could have been the one who killed the FBI agents to get Liam and Marcus out of there,” Stevie said. “Marcus could have called to let him know he finally had Liam. Maybe it was a rendezvous that went bad.”

“That still means we have a murderer on this side of the water,” Zane pointed out.

“Are we doing the wrong thing by not warning the town?”

Zane sighed. “I think it’s time to contact the press. I’ll get something typed up in time for the local noon news and ask Sheila to update our social media accounts with photos of Wade Pierce and Marcus Wilkins.”

“Will it say we suspect they killed two FBI agents?”

“I don’t think we have any choice at this point.” Zane pressed his palms against his forehead. “Did I fuck up by not releasing that fact yesterday morning? I don’t want anyone else to get hurt.”

His guilt and indecision weighed heavily on Stevie. “Nothing has happened,” she said. “I think we were prudent to search out more facts first.”

Did we do the wrong thing?

###

Back at the police station, Stevie held her breath as Sheila switched between the noon news shows on three networks. They were broadcast from small affiliate stations out of Medford. Solitude rarely made the news, but today the channels ran the photos of Marcus and Wade after their lead stories on the flooding. Flood coverage consisted of reporters standing in front of the worst damage they could find and describing the scene for the viewers . . . as if they didn’t have eyes for themselves.

Zane had written up a vague statement that the two men were being sought as persons of interest in a double homicide and that they were likely armed. The public was warned not to approach them but to call the police. The report also stated a young boy might be with one of the subjects because Zane had worried that the public would discount a man with a child. To fend off any wannabe heroes, he’d also added that the child wasn’t believed to be in any danger.

Beside her, Zane blew out a breath as one of the news anchors read his press release. “I think we did the right thing. People need to know that there’s a chance of danger in town.”

Sheila sighed and tapped her fluorescent green nails on her desk as she watched. “I’ve already had three calls because of the social media posts. People want to know who was killed in the double homicide. I’ve told them it was no one local, and that seems to satisfy their curiosity. I can’t decide if it’s a good sign or not that our residents care about each other but not about the murder of anyone else.”

“I don’t think it’s that,” said Stevie. “They just want to know it wasn’t a neighbor.”

The phone rang again, and Sheila’s attention was diverted.

“Do you think we’ll get any leads from the broadcasts?” Stevie whispered to Zane. In her mind, she continued to see Liam fall into the river and get washed downstream, but she held out hope that he was hiding with his uncle. Somewhere.

“Hope so. I’d like to find them before a road opens up. I know it’s a pain, but I think the town being cut off helps in our hunt.”

“It definitely decreases the search area. If a road is restored, we might never find out what happened.”

“Boss, you’ve got another bar fight at Fletcher’s,” intoned Sheila as she hung up the phone. Her green eyeshadow flashed as she rolled her eyes.

“Again?” asked Zane. “That’s the third one this week.”

“I think people are just sick of the rain,” Sheila said pointedly.

“Amen,” muttered Zane. “Is Carter available?”

“He’s helping the Swansons evacuate. He’s using their boat and paddling it right down the street.”

“Does he need help?” Stevie knew Mrs. Swanson had lost her husband two years ago.

“No, he said he and the three teenage Swanson boys have it under control. Those boys take good care of their mother.”

Stevie looked at Zane. “Guess it’s you and me.”

“Don’t kick anyone in the groin this time,” he ordered.

“Only if I need to.”

###

“Isn’t that—”

“It is,” Zane answered Stevie.

Dawn Hazelwood’s white Escalade sat in the parking lot at Fletcher’s Bar. It stood out next to the other beat-up pickups and nondescript sedans in the gravel lot. A diamond among the pieces of coal.

“There’s no way she’s inside this place,” Stevie argued. “She wouldn’t let her dog go into Fletcher’s. Someone must have stolen her SUV.”

Zane laughed as she’d hoped he would. He’d been a ball of stress for over twenty-four hours. They were both tightly wound, but Zane had carried a shadow in his eyes since the search for Liam had ended at the river.

She didn’t like it. The case was hitting him at a personal level, and she felt powerless to pull him out of it.

Shouts came from inside the bar. Maybe a good bar fight will perk him up.

Stepping into the dim light of Fletcher’s, Stevie spotted Jake Powers supervising a brawl. He casually held a baseball bat at his shoulder, but it appeared he hadn’t used it. Yet.

Two men thrashed on the floor, their blows missing more than making contact. Their movements were slow and jerky as they shouted slurring insults.

They were fall-down, can’t-walk, stupidly drunk.

Jake made his way over to Stevie and Zane. “I don’t think they can hurt each other,” he told them, after a nod of greeting. “They’re too wasted.”

“You need to be better about cutting them off,” Stevie lectured. Any apprehension she’d harbored about breaking up a bar fight fizzled. The scene in front of her was pathetic. “What happened?”

“They were arguing about who got to buy the lady a drink.” Jake nodded in the direction of the bar.

Dawn Hazelwood was perched on a stool, disinterestedly watching the fight, leaning on an elbow on the bar, boredom in her posture.

“What’s she doing in here?” Zane asked.

“That’s what I wondered,” admitted Jake. “We don’t get her type. I figured she was slumming. Sometimes rich women like to live a little dangerously. Although lunchtime here isn’t exactly the time to troll. Especially with the storm going on. She asked me if I’d seen a couple of men she’s looking for.”

Zane straightened his shoulders. “Again? Did she ask about the Dodge brothers?”

“She didn’t say names. Just described them as elk hunters. Big guys with dark hair.”

“Have you seen them?”

“I think they were in earlier this week. I told her I got the impression they were staying out at the old resort.”

“What’d she say to that?” Stevie asked. She glanced across the room. Dawn looked directly at her and held her gaze. She held up a glass in toast to Stevie and took a long drink.

“Wanted to know if I’d seen them today. I haven’t.”

Stevie glanced at Zane. “I think we need to talk to Dawn somewhere quieter.” The men on the floor had stopped fighting and lay on their backs, panting. One had a bloody nose and the other a bloody lip. Other than that, they looked intact.

“Not blood again,” muttered Jake. “I hate cleaning up that shit.”

“Could be worse,” Zane offered with sympathy.

“True. I think I’ve seen it all. One time in the men’s room—”

“We’ll get going now, Jake.” Stevie cut him off, her imagination filling in the rest of his story. “Unless you want us to haul them out of here.”

“The holding cell is still unusable because of the backed-up drain,” Zane reminded her.

“We could give them a neighborly ride home,” Stevie suggested. “As long as they don’t puke in the back seat.”

“I’d appreciate that,” answered Jake. “I’m trying to run a cleaner place these days. Blood and idiots don’t help the image.”

“Keep it up. You’ve made some good changes,” Stevie told him. She meant it. Jake had transformed the bar and himself for the better since she’d moved back to Solitude. “But you’ve got to do something about the number of fights we have to respond to. Cut off the drunks. It’s the law.”

He bobbed his head. “Will do.”

“Do you want to invite Dawn to the station for a talk or should I?” Zane asked.

“Definitely you. She doesn’t care for me, but she seems to like you a lot.”

“She does?”

Men are so oblivious sometimes.

“Trust me.”

Zane looked skeptical.

“Hold her gaze and smile as you slowly walk over to her,” Stevie advised. “She’ll do whatever you ask.” She looked at the two men awkwardly pulling themselves up off the floor. “I’ll take Bloody Nose home, and you can drive the other.”