“You could have just trusted that, having seen no evidence that we harass any residents, regardless of the trouble they cause.”
“I was retained to represent Conrad in his case. It’s now apparent that he has no case, so I am no longer his legal representative.”
“His guilt only became certain after he confessed—a confession I obtained without checking with you. I interviewed him in the clinic while he was recovering from head trauma. Questionable tactics.”
Her brows rise. “You’re admitting it?”
“Why not? The town’s shutting down. It’s not as if you can file a complaint. I also recorded the interview, presuming you’d raise hell. Yet you haven’t asked us about it.”
“Your point?”
“Just that it’s interesting. You were dead set on representing the guy who attacked you. Then you lost all interest in his case after he was nearly killed.” I wave a hand. “Not that it matters. I’m here about Jolene.”
She’s obviously flustered when she says, “I don’t know anything about Jolene.”
“I’m not asking whether you do. I’m asking what you two were doing together last night.”
“Nothing.”
“You were seen talking. Two witnesses—”
“I mean that we were doing nothing. We talked. That’s it.”
“Talked about what?”
Her lips tighten, as if locking down a response.
“Marissa,” I say. “I was asking in hopes that whatever she said might give me a clue to her whereabouts. That’s it. But now that you don’t want to answer the question, you’re going to force me to look deeper at you as a suspect. You get that, right?”
“A suspect in what?”
I throw up my hands. “Who knows. She’s disappeared.”
“Well, since she isn’t in town, maybe you should start looking outside of it. That’s the obvious answer, isn’t it? Will said people are always sneaking out. That’s why the militia patrol constantly. Not to keep animals out but to keep residents in.”
“You’ve known Jolene to go for walks?”
“I don’t know her well enough to say.”
“I heard you were drinking buddies. Before you got together with Will and started hanging out with us.”
She speaks in careful, measured words, as if I might not be clever enough to keep up. “I’m new here, relatively speaking. I wanted to socialize. Gloria offered me a seat at their table. They’d invite me to one of their places for a beer. I stopped before I got together with Will. I was having a drink alone when Will first joined me.”
“I’m not accusing you of dumping Jolene and her friends for us. I’m just asking whether you’ve ever known her to go into the forest for any reason. Because so far, the three people I’ve asked that have said that she hates the forest and has never left town.”
“Maybe? I don’t know, Casey. I was just suggesting you look there. You’re the detective.”
“Do you want to reconsider telling me what you two were talking about?”
“No, because it’s none of your business. If you find that suspicious, so be it.”
She shuts the door. The lock clicks into place.
Yep, I find that suspicious. I find everything Marissa has done in the last few days suspicious. But I’m going to need more information before I push her on it.
* * *
With no time to waste cooking dinner, it’s a quick meal at the Red Lion. It’s been nearly twenty-four hours since anyone has seen Jolene, and we know she almost certainly hasn’t wandered into the forest. That means she’s here, somewhere. Time for a door-to-door search.
Before dinner, we ask Anders to round up the militia. We’re down to a half dozen members, so we also recruit Petra. After dinner, we meet them all behind the station, where we can explain the plan in relative privacy.
We don’t want to alert the town, in case someone is … hiding Jolene in their house? I don’t know. We had a case last year where a suspect tried to trap me under floorboards. Permafrost means that there’s a gap under every building here, some exposed and some not. There are other places to hide a person, too. Or a body.
We head out in pairs. Dalton, Anders, Kenny, and I all take a less experienced militia member with us. I get Sebastian.
I’ve volunteered to search the chalets. That includes ours. While I don’t think anyone hid Jolene under our floorboards, it’s worth checking. It also gives me privacy for speaking to Sebastian.
“So the town is closing,” I say as he climbs up into our attic.
“Yep.” He shines a light around and then crawls in.
“What has Mathias told you?”
“He said I should talk to you,” he calls back. “Which I’m guessing is why we’re partnered together. Don’t expect him to take the initiative if he can leave it to you.”
I wait for him to come back down. “How do you feel about the closing?”
His brows lift, as if I’ve asked how he feels about self-immolation. “Uh, I came here to escape. To be someplace where I’m just a guy, no history shadowing along after me. I’ve barely gotten a year out of the deal.”
“The council will refund your money.”
“Really not what I was hoping for.”
We check the crawlspace next. As I’m holding open the hatch, I say, “Would you like options?”
“Depends on what they are.”
“The First Settlement would take you in.”
He goes quiet. I hear him scuffling around in the crawlspace as the flashlight beam moves. Then he comes back up.
“I’ve been thinking about that,” he says. “One, I don’t like the way Edwin runs the place. Two, I don’t want to live out here permanently. I’m not even sure I want to live out here long-term, but if I did, I’d need to be able to fly in and out, like you and Eric do. Three, of course, is Felicity. Moving into her town seems a recipe for trouble. Like that weird schoolmate you start hanging out with at lunch, and the next thing you know, he’s joining all the same after-school clubs as you.”
Sebastian shoves his hands in his pockets. “I’ve been that guy. Done that creepy stuff. I was desperate for friends and this”—he taps his head—“means I didn’t quite know how to go about it properly.”
“You seem to be doing well with Felicity.”
“I learned my lesson. That lesson means I shouldn’t move into her town. Especially when they’d only let me because I’m fresh blood. Fresh DNA for the gene pool.” He shudders.
“So you and Felicity…”
He shoots me a hard look. “Did you hear the part where I’m playing it cool? That includes not even suggesting I might like her as more than a friend. As soon as I move to the First Settlement, they’ll start making wedding plans.”
“Would you like other options?” I ask.
“If they involve staying up here.”
“Would that be contingent on how close you are to the First Settlement?”
He doesn’t answer for a moment. Then he says, “I don’t need to be next door to it, but I’d want to be within a day’s walk. Or a few hours on a dirt bike. Otherwise … Well, I’m not going down south, if can help it. The alternative would be to live near Baptiste and Sidra for a while. Not ideal. We’re friends, but they have a baby, and they don’t need me hanging around. I’d do it before I’d go home, though.”
“All right. I’ll see what we can figure out.”
* * *