Under the Moon's Shadow (21 page)

“I think that’s a good idea, Sheriff. Let me know if I can do anything. I can pull some strings if you need me to, and I’ll be glad to do it.” Gordon offered his hand, and Wyatt shook it.

“I know better than to tell you to stop looking for puzzle pieces, Beth, but promise me you’ll be careful out there?”

She promised him she would, and he left. As he walked down the hall, she looked from her brother to Gordon, and started pulling her papers together.

“Well, that was an interesting meeting. Not the least bit embarrassing, either.” After shoving everything into her briefcase, she turned to face them.

“Do you still want to have lunch?” Gordon asked.

She shook her head. “Sorry, but I don’t think so. You guys go on without me, and have fun. I think I’m going to head home for the day and crawl under my bed.”

They stood back to let her pass, exchanging a worried look behind her. Quiet, they all went out to the parking lot. To Chase’s surprise, Gordon pulled her in for a hug.

“Call me if you need anything, okay?”

“I will,” she told him.

As she drove away, the men stood there staring after her.

“Think she’s okay?” Gordon asked.

Chase shook his head. The last thing he’d expected when he’d gotten up that morning was watching his best friend break his sister’s heart, in public, no less. “No. Not by a long shot.”

Chapter Twenty Six

 By the time Ethan got home late that evening, his mood was vicious. He had spent an hour in Wyatt’s office, getting yelled at over the way he had handled the situation in the boardroom, and then several more hours trying to track down Mick Helton with no success. He headed straight for the refrigerator and grabbed a beer, twisted the top off, and drank it where he stood. Opening a cabinet, he grabbed a glass and the whiskey bottle, went back into the living room, and flopped down on the couch. After pouring a good amount of liquor into the glass, he took a long swallow. When he felt the alcohol hit his bloodstream, he relaxed against the cushions and kicked off his shoes.

“What a pisser of a day.” When his cell phone rang, he cursed. Ruby’s name came up on the screen, and Ethan debated long and hard whether or not to answer. Guilt getting the best of him, he flipped the phone open. “Hey, Ruby. Are you feeling better?”

She had called him early that morning, hysterical after having read Julius’ article, absolutely convinced Beth was out to ruin her life. On top of the sleepless night he had endured as he tried to figure out what the bag of underwear meant, her emotional tirade had set his off his temper. He had stormed out of the courthouse and straight to the newspaper, where he had proceeded to make an ass of himself. His cheek still stung from where Beth had hit him, and the fact that he was aware of how stupidly he’d acted didn’t help his temper.

“I’m doing alright. Did you talk to Beth?”

“Yeah. I found her in the boardroom at the paper with half the sheriff’s department, and I lost my temper a little bit. I thought Wyatt was going to take my head off. He chewed me out but good, threatened to put me on suspension.”

Ruby drew in a breath. “He didn’t, did he?”

“No, I managed to talk him out of it.” He told her more than he normally would have, the alcohol loosening his tongue. “I had to go see him after he got out of there, and I’ll be in the doghouse for a while. He’ll come around, though, especially once you and Mick come in and make those statements.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment before she responded, ignoring what he had said about the statements. “What was everyone doing there at the paper?”

He frowned as he thought back to the scene in the boardroom. “I’m not sure, really. I think it had something to do with that devil worshipping thing. They had a bunch of names up on the board, a timeline. Probably something Beth came up with, if I had to guess.” He refilled his glass with whiskey and sipped it. “Nothing to worry about, I’m sure. Anyhow, Wyatt knows about the underwear, and he’s got Stacy looking into it. Do you mind if we change the subject?”

Ruby heartily agreed, and the discussion moved on to the plans they had made for the evening.

“I know you mentioned doing something earlier, but would you mind if we didn’t? I think I just want to stay here and get drunk, to be honest.” Ethan missed the relief in Ruby’s voice as she replied.

“I’m okay with that. It’s been a pretty rough day all around, and staying in sounds like a good idea. I’ll talk to you soon.”

As Ethan sat on the couch drinking, he kept thinking about Beth’s face from earlier and the way Chase’s college buddy had moved to defend her. He laughed, a humorless sound, and touched his cheek where she had hit him. He knew he was lucky it hadn’t left a bruise. All that righteous anger, he thought, snorting.

A thought niggled somewhere in the back of his head, his subconscious trying to tell him things weren’t fitting together the way they should, but he ignored it. After pouring more whiskey into his glass, he raised it to his lips and was glad he had a few days off. With the mood he was in, he might not let himself get sober until Monday.

~ * * * ~

Across town, Ruby picked up the cigarette she was smoking, took a long draw, and held the smoke in her lungs until it hurt. As she exhaled, she cursed and flicked the ashes into the ashtray on the table in front of her. Tapping on the screen of her cell phone, she thumbed through the call log until she reached the number she was looking for. She took another draw on the cigarette as she waited for the call to go through. Ethan Moore might not have any idea of the importance of the meeting at the paper, but Ruby certainly did, and she knew someone else who would, as well.

Chapter Twenty Seven

 Jackie Hudson was worried. Sunday dinner was almost ready to be put on the table, and Beth still hadn’t shown up. She picked up the phone and called her daughter’s cell phone for what felt like the hundredth time, a frustrated growl escaping when it went to voice mail just like her other calls. She hung up as Jason and Chase came into the kitchen from the hall, both looking concerned. Sampson and Richard weren’t far behind.

“I don’t know where she is. She’s still not answering her cell phone.”

Chase frowned. “I talked to her last night around nine thirty. She was going to turn in early. She’s still pretty raw about the whole Ethan thing.”

“You don’t think she would have done something…” Jackie’s voice trailed off as Richard walked over and put his arms around her. Her arms slipped around his waist and she held on tightly as he smoothed his hands up and down her back, trying to reassure her.

“No, not Beth. She probably just forgot to charge her phone, stayed up later than she thought she would, and didn’t set the alarm clock.”

Jason pulled his keys out of his pocket and pushed Chase toward the back door. “We’ll go check her apartment. She may have had car trouble between here and there. Shoot, any number of reasons she isn’t answering her phone, and not all of them are bad.” He wasn’t quite able to hide his concern, though, and the speed with which he and Chase headed out the door belied his words. They all knew that Beth wasn’t the type of person to miss an appointment or date and not call, especially if it was a family event.

Sampson grabbed the cordless phone. “I’ll go call Marshall. He may have her off working on some story.” He went back to the living room, giving Jackie and Richard some privacy.

“Richard, something’s very wrong. I feel it in my gut.”

To his credit, he didn’t try to convince her otherwise, just held on tighter, and that scared Jackie more than anything.

~ * * * ~

As soon as Jason and Chase reached Beth’s apartment, it was obvious that something was wrong. The door was slightly ajar, and Jason held his hand up as he drew his gun from the holster at the small of his back. He knocked and called out Beth’s name, but got no answer.

“Stay here.”

Chase snorted. “Like hell.”

They eased into the apartment, and quickly checked the rooms. There was no sign of Beth. Looking around the open living area, Jason saw the drops of blood on the floor. He exchanged a look with Chase and urged his brother back out into the hall, pulling his phone off his belt as they moved.

“I’ll call it in. You call the folks?”

Chase moved away to make his call, and Jason dialed Wyatt’s number with shaking hands, not bothering with dispatch. When the sheriff answered, Jason explained the situation. “What do you want us to do?”

“I’ll head that way, and I’ll get everyone else heading there, too. Go ahead and start knocking on doors, see if someone might have seen something.”

Hanging up, Jason went to the apartment straight across the hall from Beth’s and leaned on the doorbell. As the door was answered, Chase and a concerned Raven Lynch came up behind him.

The woman who’d answered the door turned out to be Marilyn Smith, Marshall’s ex-wife.  Jason explained that they were looking for Beth.

“I’m sorry, boys, but the only person I’ve seen was that handsome young man who just moved in down the hall. He was taking some empty boxes downstairs to throw in the recycling.”

Raven was instantly alarmed. “What young man? No one has moved in there. The owner’s still away in Europe and won’t be back for another six weeks.”

Jason felt a chill run down his back, and he sucked in a breath. “What did this guy look like?”

“Tall, muscular. He had a cap on over his hair. I’ve never seen him before.”

Chase frowned. “How big were these boxes?”

“Pretty big.” She gestured with her hands. “And it was one big box with some small ones on the top. He had it on a dolly.”

Jason cursed and turned away. The box would definitely have been large enough to carry Beth’s body. “What time did you see him? And did you actually see him come out of that apartment?” he asked as Gary Collins, a police officer with the city of Leroy, came to the door behind Marilyn.

“What’s going on?”

Jason told him about Beth’s disappearance as the elevator bell chimed. He glanced down the hall and saw Stacy Kirchner getting off the car with a crime scene specialist in tow.

“It was about - I don’t know, ninety minutes ago? And I didn’t see him come out of that other apartment, no,” Marilyn said slowly, remembering. “He was stopped in front of Beth’s door, and I assumed the boxes had slipped to the side or something. Oh, my God.” She pressed her hand to her mouth. “You don’t think he had Beth in those boxes?”

Jason’s voice was grim as he answered. “That’s what we’re hoping to find out.” He excused himself to go meet Stacy, who was questioning Chase about Beth’s recent activities.

“Has she had any problems with anyone lately? Other than the stalker and the thing with Ethan?”

Chase shook his head. “There were some issues with the articles about the animal shelter, but that was a couple of weeks ago. I think it’s pretty much quieted down.” He looked over to Jason, his face almost gray with shock. “Do you need me here? I’d like to head out to the farm, let the folks know what’s going on.”

“Sure, go ahead. Your parents are probably pretty anxious right about now,” Stacy told him. He thanked her and, taking the keys Jason handed him, headed down the hall. He didn’t wait for the elevator, but took the stairs instead. Jason winced as his brother hit the door to the stairs with enough force to make the floor vibrate. He felt Stacy’s speculative gaze and turned to face her.

“He’s taking this pretty hard, for something we don’t know that’s happened yet.”

“When he was in college, his girlfriend was kidnapped and murdered. I’m sure this is bringing back some of those memories.”

Understanding filled her expression. “Did they ever find out who was responsible?”

He shook his head. “Never did. It’s in the cold case files now. It happened down around Lexington, Kentucky.” Knowing that she would look into the case on the off chance it was related to Beth’s disappearance, he told her the basic information, including the girl’s name and which department had handled the investigation.

When the elevator bell chimed again, they looked up to see Wyatt and Marshall stepping off. As they approached, Wyatt spoke. “Jason, I thought Chase was with you?”

“He went out to the farm, Sheriff. I think he needed a little air.”

Wyatt turned to Stacy. “Show me what we have, Detective.” She led him into the apartment, leaving Marshall and Jason behind in the hall.

“Wyatt’s looking at Ruby Sloane, and possibly at Ethan,” Marshall told him in a low voice.

“Looking at Ethan how? As a suspect?”

The editor nodded.  “I’m afraid so.”

Jason was stunned. “No, no. No. Ethan wouldn’t hurt her. He has feelings for my sister. Why would Wyatt think he had anything to do with whatever’s happened here?”

Marshall sighed. “Jason, you didn’t see the way he was at the boardroom meeting. He was so angry with her... you could see it in his eyes. If he could have gotten his hands around her neck, well... I don’t know what he would have done.”

Jason refused to believe Ethan had anything to do with whatever was going on. As Wyatt and Stacy came back out of the apartment, he asked the sheriff bluntly what he was thinking. “You can’t honestly believe Ethan did something to Beth.”

“I think it’s a possibility we have to at least consider. I know you all are good friends, but he’s had some serious issues with her in the last couple of weeks, and we have to look at that. I don’t like it, either, but he’s changed lately.”

Angry and scared, Jason put his hands on his hips and walked away from them for a minute, standing with his head bowed as he tried to make sense of what Wyatt had said. He ran his hands through his hair and yanked hard before he turned back to face the group, resigned.