CHAPTER 32
If the girls had been kidnapped to be raised by someone else, odds were they might still be alive. Getting kidnapped for any other reason besides a marital spat between divorcees meant the girls were most likely dead, and I had to believe they were still out there somewhere, alive and waiting for someone to find them.
Although it was getting late, Cade and I hadn’t left the house yet. Both of us reasoned that if we picked the Kents house apart a little longer, maybe we’d come up with some evidence that would lead us to Mr. and Mrs. Kent. But the house was clean. I was about to suggest we leave when I noticed headlights beaming through the window in the front of the house. Since we had already trespassed, and the vehicle had come to a stop and turned its lights off, we decided to face whoever it was rather than try and make a quick getaway.
A person exited the vehicle and I heard the sound of a rifle being prepped for use. Cade tried to push me behind the wall of the hallway with one hand, but I grabbed hold of him first, pulling him with me. We both drew our weapons.
“How long you been packin’ that around?” Cade whispered.
“Don’t act like you haven’t seen it,” I said. “You pat people down for a living.”
“Haven’t frisked you yet.”
Even though he had his back to me, I knew he was smiling. I could tell by the sarcasm in his voice.
The front door opened, heavy footsteps followed, stomping their way across the floor.
“Who’s there?” a male voice said.
Neither of us spoke.
“You’re on private property,” the voice said.
He sounded young, like he’d passed puberty, but not with an A.
“Where’s the sign?” I said.
“What?” the boy said.
“I didn’t see a sign stating this is private property.”
“Well, it is,” the boy said.
“How do I know you’re the one who isn’t trespassing then?”
There was a pause, like he couldn’t come up with a logical answer.
“I’m armed,” he said.
“That makes two of us,” I said.
“Three,” Cade said.
“Wait—there are two of you?” he said.
The boy could count, and he was nervous, which was good—as long as we could get him to put the rifle down. We were finally getting somewhere, just a lot slower than I’d imagined.
“I’m going to save you some time,” I said. “We’ll tell you who we are, and then you’re going to tell us who you are.”
“How will I know you’re not lying?” he said.
“Oh, for goodness sake,” I said to Cade. “Show the kid your badge before he does something stupid.”
“I’m going to show you my badge now,” Cade yelled loud enough for the entire neighborhood to hear. “Don’t shoot my hand off or anything you’ll live to regret.” Cade took out his badge, edging his hand around the corner of the wall. “My name is Cade McCoy, and my partner here is Sloane Monroe.”
Partner?
“We’re detectives,” Cade said. “Your turn.”
He hesitated and then said, “My name is Henry.”
“You have a last name Henry?” Cade said.
“Kent.”
“How are you related to the owners of this house?” Cade said.
“Brad is my uncle.”
“Bradley Kent?” Cade said.
“Yes.”
“Henry, I want you to put down the rifle and slide it across the floor,” Cade said.
“Right now?”
“Yes, now. Do you want me to count it out for you?” Cade said.
I heard the sound of a rifle being placed on the floor. Once it slid across, Cade walked around the corner and then signaled for me to do the same. The kid had his hands up and a look on his face like he wasn’t sure what to expect next.
“Relax,” I said.
“Am I in trouble?”
I shook my head.
“We’re here because of the break in,” I said.
“The what?”
I pointed at the window. The kid turned around and looked at it and then back at me, looking both convinced and relieved.
“Why are you here?” I said.
“I take care of my uncle’s horses.”
“Isn’t it a little late in the day?” I said.
Cade looked at me like I had no idea what I was talking about.
“There are lights in the barn,” the kid said. “I’m not here this late every night. I had a date.”
“Where’s your uncle?” I said.
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe you tend his horses, and probably get paid for it too, but you don’t know where he is?”
“He asked me if I could take care of them while he was gone.”
“Gone where?” I said.
“Thailand.” The way he said it sounded like he didn’t believe it himself.
“Is that a question?” I said.
The kid shrugged.
“I don’t follow.”
“The way you said Thailand just now sounded like you didn’t really know where he was; either that or you’re lying.”
“Why would I lie?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “You tell me.”
He didn’t respond. Cade smiled, indicating his approval of my interrogation techniques.
“Why’s your uncle in Thailand?” I said.
“I dunno.”
“When will he be back?”
“I dunno.”
“How long has he been there?” I said.
“I dunno.”
“What do you know?” I said.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know anything.”
“You’re breathing pretty heavy for someone who doesn’t know anything,” I said. “Would you like a glass of water?”
He shook his head.
“I need to go bring the horses in. Can I go now?”
Cade and I both nodded.
After Henry went outside, Cade said, “Well, what do you think?”
Stranger in Town
Cheryl Bradshaw's books
- The Stranger You Seek
- A Brand New Ending
- A Cast of Killers
- A Change of Heart
- A Christmas Bride
- A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
- A Cruel Bird Came to the Nest and Looked
- A Delicate Truth A Novel
- A Different Blue
- A Firing Offense
- A Killing in China Basin
- A Killing in the Hills
- A Matter of Trust
- A Murder at Rosamund's Gate
- A Nearly Perfect Copy
- A Novel Way to Die
- A Perfect Christmas
- A Perfect Square
- A Pound of Flesh
- A Red Sun Also Rises
- A Rural Affair
- A Spear of Summer Grass
- A Story of God and All of Us
- A Summer to Remember
- A Thousand Pardons
- A Time to Heal
- A Toast to the Good Times
- A Touch Mortal
- A Trick I Learned from Dead Men
- A Vision of Loveliness
- A Whisper of Peace
- A Winter Dream
- Abdication A Novel
- Abigail's New Hope
- Above World
- Accidents Happen A Novel
- Ad Nauseam
- Adrenaline
- Aerogrammes and Other Stories
- Aftershock
- Against the Edge (The Raines of Wind Can)
- All in Good Time (The Gilded Legacy)
- All the Things You Never Knew
- All You Could Ask For A Novel
- Almost Never A Novel
- Already Gone
- American Elsewhere
- American Tropic
- An Order of Coffee and Tears
- Ancient Echoes
- Angels at the Table_ A Shirley, Goodness
- Alien Cradle
- All That Is
- Angora Alibi A Seaside Knitters Mystery
- Arcadia's Gift
- Are You Mine
- Armageddon
- As Sweet as Honey
- As the Pig Turns
- Ascendants of Ancients Sovereign
- Ash Return of the Beast
- Away
- $200 and a Cadillac
- Back to Blood
- Back To U
- Bad Games
- Balancing Act
- Bare It All
- Beach Lane
- Because of You
- Before I Met You
- Before the Scarlet Dawn
- Before You Go
- Being Henry David
- Bella Summer Takes a Chance
- Beneath a Midnight Moon
- Beside Two Rivers
- Best Kept Secret
- Betrayal of the Dove
- Betrayed
- Between Friends
- Between the Land and the Sea
- Binding Agreement
- Bite Me, Your Grace
- Black Flagged Apex
- Black Flagged Redux
- Black Oil, Red Blood
- Blackberry Winter
- Blackjack
- Blackmail Earth
- Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire
- Blackout
- Blind Man's Bluff
- Blindside
- Blood & Beauty The Borgias
- Blood Gorgons
- Blood of the Assassin
- Blood Prophecy
- Blood Twist (The Erris Coven Series)
- Blood, Ash, and Bone