Chapter 4
Four
By the next morning, the entire office buzzed with a low, restless current.
Yesterday’s chaos, beginning with the judge’s disappearance and ending with the investigation into the downed plane, still clung to Aubrey’s nerves.
She sagged against her chair and massaged her temples as a dull ache crept up the back of her skull.
She’d only been here an hour.
While she was waiting for the Marshals office in Washington, DC, to send her the list of prison transports that had been scheduled this past month, next on her to-do list was to contact the Marshals office in Denver.
Although she didn’t think they would be any help, she picked up the receiver and dialed the number anyway. Someone had to have an answer.
“US Marshals Service, Denver. How can I help you?”
“This is Aubrey Richardson from the Renegade office.”
“Aubrey! It’s so good to hear from you. This is Marissa Logan. What can I do for you?”
Finally, someone she knew who might be able to help. She’d met Marissa a couple of years ago when they’d had mandatory training for some new office systems. A few years younger than Aubrey, Marissa had paired up with her during the hands-on sessions.
Aubrey exhaled. “Do you know anything about a transport plane bound for Renegade or leaving the area recently that’s unaccounted for?”
“Let me check.” The sound of computer keys clicking in the background bled through the line. “No, sorry. We haven’t had any transfers for Renegade in over a month. Why?”
Oh, this wasn’t good. Aubrey forced a calmness she didn’t feel. “We received a message about a social media post featuring a downed plane. It looks like the aircraft belonged to the Marshals, but we never received any information about a prison transport plane heading this way.”
“Oh my. That’s scary,” Marissa said.
“I’m praying that it’s not one of the Marshals’ prisoner transports.”
“Me too,” Marissa said. “I’ll call if I have any information for you.”
“Thank you.” Aubrey hung up the receiver as Howard strolled into the office from the hallway.
“Richardson, where is everyone?” He glared at her as if it was her responsibility to keep the deputies in line.
“Supervisor Howard.” She forced herself to smile, her jaw locked in place. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of letting him see how much she disliked being called by her last name. She wasn’t one of the dudes in this office.
“Deputy Marshal Butler is in his office, working to find some information on a downed plane that was reported earlier today. He assigned Deputy Marshals Montgomery and Roberts to work leads in the field.”
“Why wasn’t I called immediately about this plane crash? I had to find out about it from the police chief.”
“Supervisor Howard, I tried calling your phone several times. I sent multiple texts and left you a voicemail message.”
Just then, his phone beeped, and Howard grunted as he glanced at the screen.
“Huh. Well, what do you know? I’ll check in with Butler.
” His gaze lifted again, and he pinned Aubrey with a steely look.
“I heard about your run-in with the local PD yesterday. The optics aren’t great for our office—you being such good friends with the judge, and now there’s a dead woman and a murder investigation. ”
“Sir.” Heat rose up Aubrey’s neck. “It’s not what you think…”
He held up a hand. “Maybe not, but the Renegade PD chief told me everything.” Sympathy softened his gaze.
“I know you and Mullinax have history and he’s a big part of your life, but for everyone’s sake, please stay away until we figure out what’s going on.
The police will find the judge, so you don’t need to worry.
They’ll locate him as part of their ongoing murder investigation. ”
She nodded. “Fine.”
As much as she didn’t like it, Howard was right. She had to let the police do their job. She bit her tongue to keep herself from saying something she shouldn’t. Where would she be if she got fired?
Aubrey waited until Howard’s footsteps echoed down the hallway and then a door slammed. She exhaled.
Why would someone kill the judge’s housekeeper, sweet Mrs. Silano? And where was the judge? For the second time today, she prayed for the judge’s safe return and for the killer to be caught.
The office door swung open as Liam and Adam entered.
“You’ll never guess what we found out.” Adam sipped from a bottle of water, a half-eaten doughnut in hand. This guy was a bottomless pit.
She rested her chin on her closed fist, trying to regain her composure with this constant revolving door of people. “I have no idea, but I’m sure you’re going to tell me.”
“Those kids are locals. They all go to Renegade South High School,” Liam said. “They have some kind of hiking club, and they also like to visit abandoned mines, houses, and wreckages. That sort of thing. They record what they find and post it online.”
“Wait. So they discovered the plane while out hiking?”
“They sure did,” Adam said. “Sort of.”
Liam shifted his weight. “What Adam is trying to say is that we talked to the kids, but they couldn’t remember the exact location of the crash. They gave us a general area to search.”
“Hang on a second. Let’s get Howard and Ethan out here. I’m sure they’ll want to know.” Aubrey buzzed Howard’s phone.
“I’m a little busy, Aubrey.”
“Sorry, sir.” She made herself smile. “But this is important. Liam and Adam are back and have some information you might want to hear.” She sent an instant message that said the same to Ethan.
Howard and Ethan appeared in the hallway, striding over to stand in front of her like two towering pines.
Howard said, “Okay, tell me what’s going on.”
Adam and Liam took turns explaining everything they’d learned about the teenagers and their discovery.
Ethan frowned. “How did no one know what they were doing? And why didn’t the parents report the crash?”
Adam sat on the edge of her desk, as if Aubrey needed him in her personal space.
“It seems our young adventurers didn’t divulge all their secrets.
They simply posted the video footage days later.
The kids explained away the crash by telling their parents it was an old plane they’d found and there were no victims on board anyway.
The parents are more than willing to let them go out unsupervised since they’re experienced hikers. ”
Liam said, “I guess they thought they could become TikTok famous.”
Aubrey shook her head. “Obviously, they weren’t thinking. Maybe the kids thought the police already knew about the plane.”
“It’s possible. From what we could tell, the plane looks to be in bad shape.” Ethan turned to Liam. “When was the video posted, and how long has it been since they discovered the plane?”
“The kids we talked to said they found the plane about three days ago and then posted the recorded footage yesterday,” Liam said.
A sliver of fear coiled low in Aubrey’s stomach.
Nonsense. The man she’d testified against was sitting in a federal prison far from here.
There was no way he was ever getting out.
Over the years, she’d learned she couldn’t freak out over every escaped prisoner, and thankfully, it didn’t happen often.
Still, the trauma from her past haunted her at inopportune times.
“Did you uncover anything about that plane yet?” Howard asked.
Aubrey shook her head. “I called the Washington office and am waiting on confirmation from them about any recent or upcoming prisoner transports.” She flipped through her notes, frustration tightening her voice.
“I just got off the phone with the Denver office, and no one there seems to know anything either. What we do know is this—there haven’t been any scheduled prisoner transfers in the last two weeks.
” She looked up. “I’m still waiting for additional information.
Either this was a flight so classified it didn’t hit the usual channels… ”
“Or something went wrong.” Howard’s gaze bounced among the group.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. Montgomery, Roberts, track down the parents.
I want consent to pull cell phone data and see which towers their phones pinged off.
The kids couldn’t give us an exact location, but maybe their phones can narrow it down.
See if they can retrace their steps, show us where they think the wreckage might be.
” He turned toward Ethan. “I want you to work on finding Judge Mullinax. I received a phone call, and the DOJ now wants us to investigate his disappearance, since Judge Mullinax has a high-profile case on the docket.”
“Got it.” Ethan nodded.
The room stilled, everyone unwilling to voice what was on their minds. Adam broke the uncomfortable silence. “So, where does that leave us?”
Liam snorted. “It’s not good, that’s for sure.”
“A downed airplane. Possibly some missing prisoners,” Ethan said. “And a missing judge.”
“If there are missing prisoners, we have an even bigger problem on our hands,” Howard said. “This will be a publicity nightmare once the story gets some traction. We need to find the plane before that happens.”
Aubrey’s stomach churned. “So, um, what are we going to do?”
“I’m sure there will be phone calls from reporters,” Howard said. “You’ve been here long enough, Aubrey, to know how to handle those types of things. Follow office protocol.”
Yeah, she had. She didn’t like to keep the truth from the public. But sometimes, informing the general public of the entire truth would only make the outcome worse.
“All right.” Howard clapped his hands once. “You all have your assignments. Report back here by four this afternoon.”
Everyone dispersed except Ethan. He sat on the edge of her desk, and she tried not to fidget in her seat. His intense stare caused goosebumps to pebble on her skin. What was with these guys and sitting on her desk?
She finally broke his gaze and turned back to her monitor. “What do you want, Ethan?”