Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Ryan followed her to the upstairs hallway and stopped near the door to the apartment.
He wondered if Lila was in the room waiting to listen in.
He held back a smile. Wouldn’t surprise him one bit.
Lila loved gossip and he knew she was imagining all sorts of things happening between him and Charlie, but Ryan’s broken heart wouldn’t let him go there again.
Losing her had pretty much wrecked his heart. There was nothing left to give to her or anyone else. Instead, he’d thrown himself into his work. Boone planned to retire in a few years and was grooming Ryan to take his place.
Charlie stood close by, turned slightly toward him with her hands hugging her arms. “You found something?” she prompted when he remained silent.
He dropped his hat on a small table before answering. “Yes. Doug pulled a set of prints off the lock that was broken off the cabinet where Pete kept the journals. I’m guessing the intruder wanted to make sure it held the journals before taking the cabinet.”
Her gaze shot to his.
“They don’t match anything in our local database, but Doug believes they were left there deliberately to throw us off.”
“Wait, you think someone planted the prints? That’s diabolical.”
“I do and it is. Whoever took the cabinet with the journals wanted to lay the blame on someone else which makes me wonder if it’s someone local like Pete had come to suspect.
Your uncle never backed anything up in digital format.
If the killer has the journals and Pete found something, then it could be gone for good. ”
She turned toward the window that faced out. “He did find something. He hinted as much. Pete believed the person involved was someone never investigated before.”
Ryan didn’t hide his surprise. “You’re kidding.” He wondered why Pete hadn’t chosen to share this new detail with him. “I don’t suppose he gave you any indication who he was investigating?”
She shook her head. “Obviously, it was someone no one would have suspected.”
Ryan struggled to contain his frustration. “That could be any number of people in town.”
She didn’t answer for the longest time. Her strained expression slowly relaxed and she reached inside her pocket and brought out a folded piece of paper, handing it to him.
“What’s this?” he asked without looking at the paper.
“I’m not sure it’s anything, really.”
Ryan unfolded the paper, yellowed from time. It was a handwritten note.
If something happens to me, look in the blue container in the attic. You know the one.
The words spilled out before him, not making sense. But the date scared the daylights out of him. December 22. Fifteen years ago and a few days before Abby went missing.
He looked up and found her watching him with an unreadable expression on her face.
“This is Abby’s handwriting. I remember she used to dot her i’s with hearts back in the day.”
Charlie drew in an audible breath. “It is. She gave it to me a few days before she disappeared. I thought it was one of her games and didn’t think much of it.
Until she went missing. When I went to look for it, I couldn’t find it.
I thought it was lost for good until I found it earlier before I headed here.
It was in a box of Christmas decorations I brought with me when I moved away. ”
He flinched at the mention of the single event that ripped his heart out. His gaze returned to the note faded with time and tried to make sense of what he heard. “Why didn’t you tell anyone before now?”
She rubbed her hands down her arms. “I was fifteen, Ryan. My best friend had gone missing because I didn’t talk her out of going out that night. I was scared and didn’t know what to do. And I blamed myself for what happened.”
His heart went out to her. “It wasn’t your fault, Charlie. None of it.” Ryan could see she still didn’t believe it. “Do you know which blue container she’s talking about? Have you looked for it?”
“No and the family’s gone now. The house has been vacant all these years. What if it isn’t there anymore?”
He stepped closer, drawing her nervous attention. “What if it is? This could change everything.”
Silence stretched between them. “You think this means something? It wasn’t just one of Abby’s mystery games she liked to play?”
He held her gaze. “I do. I think this might be something important. And it scares me.”
She swallowed hard. “Because of what we might find?”
“Yes.” He thought about the days before Abby went missing. He and Charlie spent a lot of time hanging out with Abby. He hadn’t noticed anything strange about Abby’s behavior but then again, he only had eyes for Charlie. “You saw something different about Abby leading up to that night, didn’t you?”
She gave him an odd look. “She was down about something. And jumpy,” Charlie said at last. “I thought it was just because her parents were arguing, and she was stressed out by it. But I remember her looking over her shoulder a lot whenever we’d take a walk down the county road.
” Her eyes widened. “Oh, and when we were window shopping downtown, a car backfired, and she just about jumped out of her skin. Abby laughed it off but. . .”
“Something was troubling her.”
She nodded. “If that’s the case then this wasn’t a random kidnapping like Pete thought at the time. Someone was coming after her for a reason.”
“Maybe for something she saw or more importantly something she knew.”
Her eyes locked on his. Suddenly, the air between them crackled with an electrical current that had nothing to do with Abby.
She swallowed deeply and ducked her head. “I’m sorry.”
Ryan’s chest tightened painfully. “Why are you sorry?” His voice became a ragged whisper as he waited to hear her answer.
“I never meant to leave the way I did,” she admitted.
A breath escaped. “And I never meant to let you go.”
She looked into his eyes, and he couldn’t look away. The look on her face reminded him of the woman he’d fallen in love with all those years earlier.
Just for a moment, he thought she might close the space between them. He held his breath. All it would take was one gesture from her and he’d be right back under her spell.
The jarring sound of her ringtone shattered that hope.
Instead of stepping closer she stumbled backward as she pulled the phone from her pocket and stared at the screen. “No ID. It’s an unknown number.” She answered and placed the call on speaker. “Who is this?”
Static assaulted them followed by a whispered voice that was clearly altered.
“Stop digging.” Before she had a chance to respond, the call went dead.