What We Found (21 page)

“I know. It bothers me that someone is harassing you. Why aren’t they going after my family, if this is about Bethany? Is it because you’re young and female, like Bethany was?”

I shivered. I focused on my glass of water as I lifted it and took a slow sip, trying not to imagine what had happened to Bethany at the end.

Kyle shifted forward in his seat. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—I shouldn’t have said that. Maybe they’re getting closer to an arrest, if they took Bain in for questioning. The police won’t say much about the case, but I know they’ve been keeping an eye on him.”

I hesitated. The image of Bethany was fresh in my mind, and there was something I wanted to know, even though I was afraid to find out. But if I didn’t ask, it would keep haunting me. I took another sip of water and glanced up at Kyle, fighting the urge to look away as I asked an uncomfortable question. “Have they told you how she died? I mean what exactly killed her?”

He looked at me a while. “Why do you want to know?”

“I just….” I looked away. I wanted to say never mind, forget it. But we’d been honest with each other so far, more honest than I’d been with nearly anyone. I needed to know something, and he had a right to know why I was asking.

I forced myself to meet his gaze. “I remember the way she looked. Of course some of that was … time. How long she’d been out there. But there was something wrong with her face, and I’ve been trying not to think about it, but I keep thinking about it.” I broke off and put a hand over my mouth, swallowing back the acid taste.

Kyle glanced around the room and finally leaned forward, dropping his voice. “She was shot in the back of the head. They haven’t released that information publicly, so don’t tell anyone. They’re keeping some things secret so they can judge the authenticity of tips that come in.”

I nodded. That explained the damage to her lower face. But I wasn’t sure knowing was actually better. I kept picturing Bethany kneeling in a ditch while a killer stood behind her with a gun to her head. I didn’t like guns. I pictured the shot, her falling.

I forced myself to breathe and tried to think logically. “Wait, if she was shot from the back, wouldn’t she have fallen facedown?”

“They don’t think it happened there. They haven’t figured out where she was killed, but they think she was moved to the woods afterward.”

The scenes in my head shifted. No one had been killed in the woods, which made the trees seem a little less threatening. But the idea of somebody shooting a woman in the back of the head and then calmly carrying her into the woods to hide her body was equally chilling. That suggested a lot of planning. And strength. From her pictures, Bethany had been plump. I couldn’t imagine tiny Lia Bain or even Nascha carrying a body that distance.

The waitress brought the check and Kyle put a twenty on the little tray. I wondered if I should offer to pay half, but he said, “I got it.”

“Thanks. And thanks for letting me talk.” He rose, so I did too. As we walked out I said, “You said the police are keeping an eye on Bain. Do you mean they’re watching him constantly? Or just checking in once in a while?” Were the police spying on us when Bain talked to me and Ricky at the festival? I hadn’t noticed them, but maybe that was the point. I wasn’t sure if it was comforting or creepy to think somebody might have been secretly watching us then.

“I’m not sure. They only said they’re watching him. I assume so he doesn’t try to run.”

That could mean anything. Bain couldn’t have slashed my tires, if he was at the police station, but he could have cut my brake lines if he’d followed me to Kyle’s. That was an unnerving thought. I imagined Bain sneaking around behind me, and the police sneaking around behind him, like some crazy spy movie. It wasn’t as funny as it should have been.

What about the prank phone calls? Had they tapped his phone line? That seemed like something the police would do with a suspect, but didn’t they have to have a warrant for that? I didn’t know much about the rules, or how hard it was to get a warrant, or anything. I’d never much cared before.

Kyle opened the door for me, and I climbed into his truck. It smelled slightly musty, of straw and dirt and old leather from the cracked seats. When Kyle got in, he added a spicy scent, pleasantly male.

He drove me home and I wondered how to say goodnight. What were we, exactly? Friends? Comrades in arms against Bethany’s killer? Was this simply “misery loves company,” or the start of something more?

Or was he trying to get information from me, keep track of me, the way Ricky and I had been investigating him?

That was an uncomfortable thought. I put it aside. I had decided to trust him, which didn’t have to mean complete and total trust, but it did mean I should hope for and expect the best. I liked him more all the time, and I wasn’t going to blow it by acting like my mother and assuming the worst.

He pulled up in front of my house. I debated asking him in, but that meant dealing with Mom, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to add that to the mix yet. “Thanks again,” I said. “I really did enjoy seeing the hawk at work.” I hesitated, then took a chance. “I’d love to do it again sometime.”

I couldn’t see much in the dark interior of the cab, but he was turned toward me and I thought he was smiling. “Any time. You should come out some morning when I take the falcon after pigeons. He hardly ever catches one. Pigeons are really tough prey.”

Who would have guessed? His pigeons must have been a different species from the mourning doves that stood on our birdfeeder trying to figure out how to get down to the opening. Those had not impressed me with their intelligence. “I’d like that.”

“I usually go out at sunrise, around six right now. I know it’s early, especially on the weekends when you could sleep in, but if you want to go out during the week, I could get you back to work in plenty of time.” He leaned closer and spoke in a seductive murmur. “I’d even bring coffee and some of Daniel’s muffins.”

I laughed. “I’d love that.”

“You’ve had a hard few days, so I don’t want to drag you out of bed early, but if you happen to be up some morning, call or text and I’ll pick you up. Or we can meet somewhere after you get your car back.”

“Okay. Thanks again for everything.”

I slipped out of the car and dashed up the front walk. At the door, I waved and went inside. He didn’t pull away until I was closing the door behind me.

Mom glanced up from the couch. “Hey, how was your dinner?”

“Very nice.” I braced for probing questions and critical comments.

“Good, I’m glad.” Mom’s gaze drifted back to the TV. I glanced at the screen and saw famous people dancing. She was a sucker for celebrities and reality talent shows, so the combination was a winner. “Want to join me?” she asked.

“Maybe in a few minutes.”

She nodded, her attention on the TV, and I had to smile. I dropped my purse in my room, remembering with a pang of disappointment that my new quilt and art print were still in the trunk of my car. At least the garage had said they’d have the tires on Mom’s car in the morning and should have my brakes fixed in the afternoon. I needed to give her that update.

First I headed to Ricky’s room, where music was playing from behind his closed door, and knocked. Ten seconds later the door opened a few inches and Ricky peered out. He opened the door wider. “Oh good, it’s you!”

“Who were you expecting?”

Ricky backed into his room and went around his desk. He leaned down to look at the screen. “It’s all right, it’s Audra.” He glanced up at me. “Come in and close the door!”

I did and started around the desk. “Who are you….” I trailed off when I saw the face on the screen. Richard. Ricky’s father.

“Hi Audra,” Richard said. “Is that really you? I can only see your elbow.”

I noticed the small camera on top of the screen. Ricky was having a video chat with his father.

“Who … how long….” I sat on Ricky’s bed, where I could still see the screen but Richard probably couldn’t get a good look at me gaping at him.

Ricky sat in the desk chair and looked back at me. “Mom doesn’t know, okay?”

“How long has this been going on?”

“I tracked Dad down a few years ago. We try to talk every week when Mom is busy.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

He shrugged and looked away. “I wasn’t sure if you’d tell Mom.”

Richard spoke from the screen. “Audra? Can you come closer so I can see you? I’ve missed you. Ricky tells me all about you, but it’s not the same.”

I shook myself as if coming out of a trance. All this time, I’d been worried about Ricky growing up without a father. And the little brat had taken matters into his own hands and found his. I shot him a glance, half amused and half disbelieving, and he gave me a lopsided grin. I stood and leaned down so I was in the camera’s view.

“You look great!” Richard said. “And hey, congratulations on the new job. Ricky’s been telling me about this murder. Audra, I don’t like it.”

“I’m not so crazy about it myself.” It was strange seeing him again after ten years. He looked older, a little heavier, his hair going gray. I remembered what Mom said about Richard having an affair. Did Ricky know? Had Richard explained why he’d left without trying to get shared custody, or even visitation rights?

“I want you two to be careful. I wish you’d drop this whole investigation.”

I stiffened. He might be Ricky’s father. He might even be right about the investigation. But that didn’t mean he could scold me after ignoring me for ten years. “We’re not the ones causing trouble.”

He frowned. “I know I don’t have the right—I can’t make you—look, please careful. For your own sake.”

“I’m always careful.” If he’d stuck around, he would know that. I put a hand on Ricky’s shoulder. “And I’ll look after my brother, too.”

He gazed at me, sadness in his eyes. I wanted to cry. I wanted to hit him, or hug him, or both.

“I hope we can talk again,” he said. “Ricky knows how to reach me.”

Yes, Ricky did. It was selfish of me to feel hurt. Richard wasn’t my father. And I had never bothered to track him down, had never even considered it. I pushed down the feelings and said goodbye with as much of a smile as I could manage. As Ricky said his goodbyes, I sat back on the bed and rubbed my stomach, right below the rib cage, where it ached.

Ricky turned toward me. “Audra? Is it okay?”

I forced the smile back on my face. “I’m glad you found him. I’m glad you two have a relationship.”

“We wanted to tell you. But you know you’re not good at keeping secrets from Mom, and if she found out….”

I stared at him. “I can’t believe you hid this from her! For years?”

“I think I was eight when I found his address online. It took a while to get to video chats.”

I started to laugh. “Come here.” I pulled him into a hug, and if a few tears mixed in with the laughter, who cared?

Eventually I told him about the hawk hunting trip, the slashed tires, and everything I’d learned from Kyle. When I told Ricky that I’d admitted we were spying on Kyle’s family, he rolled his eyes. “See, I said you couldn’t keep a secret.”

“Yeah, well. It’s done now, and I feel better. But I won’t tell Mom about Richard. That’s between the three of you.” I studied him, seeing a lot of his father in his face. “Is that why you wanted your own computer so badly for your tenth birthday?”

“Yeah, before that I sent him messages from the library computers, and sometimes he called me, but I couldn’t call him because Mom would see it on the bill.”

“You haven’t seen him in person?”

He shook his head. “He’s in Denver. But now that you know, maybe we could meet him in Albuquerque sometime? He said he’d come down.”

“Yeah, maybe.” I rubbed my hands over my face, suddenly weak with exhaustion. I needed an early night and preferably no nightmares. “I’m going to bed. Update our notes, will you?”

“So we’re not going to stop investigating?”

I glanced up at his grin. He might have his father now, but I could still be the cool sister. Besides, I was pretty sure he’d keep going without me. “We’ve hardly done a thing, and someone’s attacked two of our cars. So long as we’re careful and smart, I don’t see how we can make things worse. But I want you to keep it to online research. I don’t want anyone else knowing what we’re doing, so no following people or anything like that.”

“Okay.” He said it too easily. I narrowed my eyes at him, but he went on innocently, “I can tell you what I found out about the Bains.”

I sat back on the bed with a sigh. “All right.”

He looked down at some papers on his desk. “Lia Bain is eighteen years old. Her parents weren’t married. She lives with her mother and three younger kids. She’s the only one with the last name Bain.” He looked up at me. “That makes the others half-siblings, right, like us?”

I nodded. And she was the oldest. I didn’t really want to have anything in common with Lia Bain. One difference, though—she knew her father. Given what I’d heard about him, I didn’t think that made her luckier.

“She doesn’t do very well in school,” Ricky went on. “And she’s kind of a troublemaker. She got suspended for fighting once.”

“You got all this online?”

Ricky hesitated. “Mostly. You should see some of her profile pictures. They’re kind of … um … Mom would say she doesn’t respect herself.” He looked away, blushing.

“I’ll bet. What do you mean about mostly online?”

“You know my friend Josh? No, I guess you haven’t met him ‘cause we’ve only been hanging out this year. Anyway, his mom is kind of a gossip, so I heard some stuff there.”

That wasn’t so bad. I’d been prodding Eslinda for gossip, too. So long as the gossips didn’t gossip about us gossiping about—I was too tired to think about it. “Okay, so Lia is an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree. So what?”

“So she’s Thomas Bain’s alibi. Which means that he’s
her
alibi, too, if they’re claiming they were together the weekend she disappeared. You said you didn’t think she could carry Bethany’s body alone. But what if they did it together?”