Chapter Six #2
“It has,” Lauren replied, keeping her voice even.
“And you’re both cops now.” He chuckled. “Gotta say, I didn’t see that in the cards. Maybe for you,” he added to Jesse. “Military hero and all. I served, too, but nobody ever called me a hero.”
Lauren couldn’t help but think he seemed bitter about that. Maybe he thought people hadn’t appreciated his service as much as they should have.
“Then, I heard you gave up a whole pile of money working for Strike Force just so you could pin on a badge,” Reardon added, still speaking to Jesse. “Good for you. You, too.” His gaze shifted back to Lauren. “Are you here on business or to catch up?”
“Business,” Lauren said.
A tightened muscle flickered in Reardon’s jaw, and he stood still there, clearly waiting for them to spell out that business. What he didn’t do was invite them to come inside for this chat.
“We came to ask you about a phone call you made earlier today,” Lauren said, swatting away a mosquito. “To Abilene Joyce.”
Reardon’s brow furrowed. “Abilene Joyce,” he repeated slowly. “Can’t say I know her.” He stopped. “Wait. Is that the name of the woman y’all found wandering around Outlaw Ridge, the one with blood on her and carrying a knife?”
“It is,” Jesse confirmed. “Your number was the last one to call her before she died.”
Reardon exhaled, shaking his head. “That can’t be right.”
“It is,” Lauren assured him. “We got the number from the hospital. They traced the call.”
Reardon scrubbed a hand over his jaw, looking genuinely rattled. “Then someone’s got my phone.”
Lauren exchanged a glance with Jesse to see if he had any doubts about this former cop. He did. So did Lauren. She might be chasing those shadows again, but something felt off about this.
“What do you mean?” Jesse pressed. “How would someone have gotten your phone?”
“I lost it about a week ago,” Reardon admitted.
“Somewhere in Outlaw Ridge. I figured it was long gone. It was just a cheap phone, no password or anything. I didn’t think much of it.
” He blew out a breath, shaking his head.
“Damn. I had no idea someone was using it. And especially using it to call that poor woman.”
The words seemed right. Seemed. But again, she couldn’t help but think they were a click off. “You didn’t report your phone missing?”
Reardon gave a dry laugh. “No reason. It’s not like I had anything sensitive on it—just a couple of contacts and a few messages. Didn’t seem like a big deal.”
“It’s a big deal,” Lauren said. “Because the call…upset Abilene. It sent her into an emotional tailspin.”
Reardon’s eyes went cold for a couple of seconds. “Are you saying that phone call is the reason she’s dead?”
“Yes, I’m saying it could have played into it,” Lauren replied, carefully choosing her words.
“Well, hell,” Reardon spat out. “I want the SOB caught.” He shook his head as if disgusted. And maybe he truly was. Lauren hated that she couldn’t tell for sure.
“It’d help if you could tell us where you think you lost your phone,” Jesse went on. “When was the last time you saw it? And where?”
Reardon was shaking his head before Jesse even finished. “I was all over town that day doing errands. The gas station and post office. The grocery store. Then, on the way home, I stopped by Arlo’s to pick up a pizza to bring home.”
Hearing Arlo’s gave her a jolt since Jesse and she had just been talking about it.
And Reardon would have no doubt recalled that it’d been where Lauren had been heading when she’d been abducted.
But then, it was the most popular pizza place in town so there was probably nothing suspicious about why it’d been a stop for Reardon’s errands.
Jesse used his phone to take some notes. “We might be able to use the bank’s and pharmacy’s cameras to track some of your movements. And we can contact all of those places to see if anyone found a phone.”
Reardon huffed. “If somebody in any of those places had found it, they would have used it to call me. Like I said, it wasn’t password-protected.
But I’m guessing since some asshole used it to put the fear of God into that poor woman, then that asshole wouldn’t have announced to anybody that he’d stolen my phone.
” He paused. “Did the sonofabitch do that to set me up?”
“We’re not sure,” Lauren admitted. “Think back to those errands. Did you cross paths with anyone who might have wanted to get back at you?”
He laughed again, but there was no humor in this one either. “Hell, Lauren. I was a cop for damn near thirty years. I’d imagine there are lots of people who hold a grudge against me. Maybe even you,” he added. “After all, I didn’t find you after you got taken. You had to save yourself.”
She looked him straight in the eyes. “I don’t hold a grudge.”
But she did have suspicions about that man. Still… going with the whole devil’s advocate again, Lauren had to admit if Reardon had indeed been the one to kidnap Abilene, then why would he have used his own phone to call her? Why not use a burner?
Unfortunately, she could think of a reason.
Because here they were, talking to him, and that made him part of the investigation. Reardon could be getting a cheap thrill from that and coming face to face again with one of his former victims.
Lauren studied him, looking for anything that could suggest he’d been her abductor. A scent. A tilt to the head. Anything. But it just wasn’t there. Then again, she could say the same thing about Dr. Graves. Her abductor hadn’t given much of himself away while he’d had her captive.
“When we drove up, we saw your wife in the yard,” Jesse said, cutting through the silence. “She went inside when we pulled up. But she might have some ideas as to where you lost your phone.”
Reardon’s mouth twitched, and he shook his head. “Belinda wasn’t with me for the errands, and she went inside because she doesn’t like strangers.”
Lauren glanced to her right just in time to catch movement behind the front window. A pale hand pulling back the curtain just enough to peek out.
“She’s watching us,” Lauren murmured.
Reardon didn’t look back. “She watches everything.” His voice was neutral, but there was something else beneath it, something Lauren couldn’t quite put her finger on.
Belinda might not like strangers, but was she afraid of them? Or was she afraid of what they might find if they continued to investigate her husband?
“How did you and Belinda meet?” Lauren asked a moment later. “Because I don’t think she’s local.”
Reardon stared at her as if this were a game of chicken.
“She’s not. She moved here when she married me.
And you didn’t come here to talk to me about my wife.
You want to ask me if I abducted Abilene and coaxed her into dying.
I didn’t,” he insisted. “But you and I both know who could have done that.”
Lauren kept her expression neutral, though her pulse ticked up a notch. “Who are you suggesting?”
Reardon huffed, followed it with a smirk. “Come on, you’re smarter than that.” He shot her a knowing look, then flicked his gaze to Jesse. “Both of you know who’s got the mind for this kind of thing. Who’s spent his whole career studying killers, learning how they tick.”
“You’re talking about Dr. Graves,” Jesse said.
Reardon snapped his fingers. “Bingo.” He took a step forward, his posture shifting, his voice low and insistent. “Look, I don’t know what kind of hold that man has over you, Lauren, but I do know this—he’s always been too interested in you. More than he should’ve been.”
Lauren kept on her poker face, but she couldn’t agree more. But being “too interested” didn’t make him an abductor or killer.
She decided to push a little, to see what Reardon would say, how he’d react. “Dr. Graves volunteered his services to you as a profiler. And after I escaped, he stepped up to help me.”
“Did he?” Reardon shot back. “Or did he step up so he could get inside your head so deep you can’t see him for what he is?”
Oh, she could see Graves all right. Could see Reardon, too, and both were suspects as far as she was concerned. Still, she played the cop game of not showing her distrust of the doctor while continuing to press the former cop for into.
“And as far as I know, Dr. Graves didn’t have access to your phone,” Lauren pointed out.
Reardon rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t mean he didn’t get his hands on it. Hell, he’s a manipulator. Probably didn’t even have to steal it himself.”
“The same could be said about any number of people,” Jesse remarked. “The abductor could have had help. Any experience with tattoos?” he tacked onto that, not pausing before the question.
There. She saw it again. That coldness that went through Reardon’s eyes. “Yeah, I got a few, but I didn’t whip out a tattoo gun and use it on girls I abducted.” He stopped. “Wait, did the SOB markup Abilene the way he did Lauren?”
“Sorry, we can’t discuss that,” Jesse was quick to say. Quick to add, too, “Can you go over your whereabouts for the past four days? Any trips to Austin or San Antonio?”
Reardon’s mouth curved, like he’d been expecting the question. “No. I was at home. With my wife. And no, I don’t have security cameras or a GPS tracker to prove it. But Belinda will back me up.”
Lauren studied him, weighing his words. Reardon was confident, but that didn’t make him innocent. Or guilty.
Reardon glanced out at the sun that was barely visible now on the horizon. “I gotta go. Belinda and me always take the dog out for a walk before we eat supper, and it’s getting late.”
Jesse nodded and slipped his phone back into his pocket before he swatted at a mosquito. “We’ll be in touch.”
Reardon smirked. “Yeah, I figured.”
As they turned and headed for the cruiser, Lauren felt Reardon’s eyes on her, like a weight pressing between her shoulder blades. Jesse unlocked the car, but before getting in, Lauren stole another glance at the house.
The curtain shifted.
Belinda was still watching.
Lauren slid into the passenger seat and shut the door, exhaling slowly as Jesse started the cruiser. The last sliver of sunlight had nearly disappeared, leaving the sky tinged in dusky purple.
“Well, that was interesting,” Jesse muttered, drumming his fingers against the steering wheel.
Lauren glanced back at the house. The porch light flickered on, casting Reardon’s silhouette in an eerie glow as he went back inside. “Yeah. He was quick to throw Graves under the bus.”
“He was,” Jesse agreed.
“Or maybe he really does believe Graves is involved,” Lauren muttered.
Jesse’s phone rang, the unexpected sound jolting her out of her thoughts. She glanced at the dash monitor and saw that the call was from dispatch.
“Deputy McCain,” Jesse answered on speaker.
“A woman just called here, asking to speak to Deputy Whitman and you,” the dispatcher said. “She says she’s Isabel Markham. Abilene’s stepsister.”
“Stepsister?” Jesse questioned. “That didn’t come up in a background search.”
No, it hadn’t. But it didn’t surprise her when Jesse told the dispatcher to transfer the call to him. They definitely wanted to talk to anyone who had a connection to Abilene.
From the corner of her eye, Lauren saw some movement and spotted Belinda in the backyard, the dog right by her side.
Belinda didn’t look in their direction but led the dog in the direction of some trees behind the house.
It wasn’t long before Reardon came out of the house, too, and went toward those same trees.
Moments later, Reardon, Belinda, and the dog disappeared from sight.
“I’m Deputy Jesse McCain,” he repeated once there was a click to indicate the transfer had happened.
“Isabel Markham,” the woman replied, and Lauren took out her phone to do a run on her.
“I understand you’re Abilene’s stepsister?” Jesse asked.
“Yes. Or rather I was. It’s complicated,” the woman said, sounding a little flustered.
“When I was seventeen, my father married Abilene’s mother.
Abilene was only four so she was more like my child than a sister.
Uh, her mother wasn’t very involved in her life,” she tacked onto that.
“Her mother only stayed married to my dad for a couple of years, but Abilene and I kept in touch.”
Isabel stopped, and Lauren heard the woman make a soft sob. “I just heard about Abilene’s death. Can you tell me what happened to her?”
Jesse sighed and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. “We’re not sure what happened, but we’re investigating her death and possible abduction. When’s the last time you spoke to Abilene?”
“A week ago when she came to my estate,” Isabel said, the words rushing out with another sob.
“I’m sorry. I can’t do this over the phone, but I need to talk to you.
Could I come to the Outlaw Ridge Police Station?
Not tonight,” she was quick to add. “But I could come in the morning.” She paused again.
“Deputy McCain, you need to hear what Abilene said to me.”
With that, the line went dead.