Kat’s attention was grabbed again by the red velvet cupcake, still sitting on her desk. She’d hardly noticed it since getting back from the Dillingers, but now her stomach trembled. Damn, this was getting old. “I wanted to ask you, how’d it go when you told your parents?”
Ruth made a disparaging sound. “I didn’t expect them to understand, and I was certainly right. But at least it’s out there. Other girls need to be warned. We have to stop him, catch him, put him away for good.”
“We will,” Kat told her with certainty.
After she hung up, her phone rang almost immediately. It was Ricki. “They’re pretty sure Courtney’s death was a suicide, but the barbed-wire manacles were there a long while. Handcuffs. Looks like she was held against her will. Probably the reason she killed herself.”
Her eyes drew back to the cupcake. It sat there . . . sweet . . . red . . .
“Lividity shows the body was moved, otherwise all the blood would have pooled in one area, and it didn’t. She may have killed herself, but someone transported her to where she was found. Could have trucked her from anywhere across that forest land.”
Blood red . . .
“So, maybe he’s here and maybe he’s not. We’re looking, but there are thousands of acres behind where Courtney was found. A lot of property butts up to Forest Service land, a lot of makeshift roads. If she was kept hidden somewhere in those acres, it’s going to take a while to find where, maybe a long while.”
Ricki signed off, sounding somewhat down. Kat felt the same way. She swallowed hard, feeling her throat tighten. She swept up the cupcake, walked quickly toward the break room, and veered toward the bathroom. Without hesitation, she tossed the confection in the trash.
Then she ran for the toilet and vomited again and again.
Shit.
*
“Who do you think this guy is that’s going to see Ruth professionally?” Patrick asked Kat two hours later. She’d called him on her cell as she was heading back to her apartment and told him about Ruth’s list, so they were comparing names. Most were the same, but Ruth had added Bryce Higgins to her list, Erin Higgins’s brother, who’d been big and burly since puberty, and had been loud and angry, damn near obnoxious, when his sister went missing, then later on had acted as if the deed had never happened, as if all his earlier actions were just posturing. Her father had decided to move Scott Massey up on his list because he was an avid hunter whose property was remote and nestled up to Forest Service land on a trajectory to where Courtney Pearson’s body was found.
“I don’t know who he is, and she wouldn’t say.” Kat reached one hand into her glove box as she drove and came up with a pack of gum. She pulled out a stick, unwrapped it, and folded it into her mouth, proud of her one-handed dexterity. “She’s professionally bound.”
“Her office is right across the street from Goldie’s Used Furniture,” he said reluctantly. “I could stop in and see her. Ask her a few things.”
Kat could have laughed out loud. Goldie Horndahl was one of Prairie Creek’s snoopiest, most gossipy women. Anything you ever wanted to know about anybody, and a lot that you didn’t, came flying out of Goldie’s mouth every time you ran into her. She’d also been sweet on Patrick Starr for as long as Kat could remember. “You’ll just encourage her, and she’ll never tell you anything that matters.”
“Bet she knows every one of Ruth’s clients.”
“I’m not taking that bet.”
“I could take her out to dinner, see what she says.”
“You’ll never get rid of her,” Kat warned.
Her father humphed. “On the list there are the guys who left Prairie Creek and came back, and there are the ones who were here the whole time. I’m starting to lean toward the guys who’ve been here the whole time. Courtney was held somewhere around here all those years.”
“We don’t know that,” Kat said. “He could have brought her back. She’s been missing a long time.”
“Why would he bring her back? Doesn’t make sense. He was getting rid of the body.”
“I’m inclined to agree with you. I just don’t want to jump to conclusions and make a bad decision.”
“You couldn’t make a bad decision if your life depended on it,” Patrick said with a chuckle.
Oh, boy. She hadn’t told him about Ruth’s rape and the events that led up to it yet. She’d only mentioned that Ruth had compiled a list of names based on her own recent encounters with Cal Haney, Rafe Dillinger, and Skip Chandler and her experience as a therapist.
Wait until he finds out about the baby . . .
“Kat?”
She realized she’d missed whatever he’d just said. “Yes?”
“I asked who you wanted to interview first.”
“I’m not sure.” In truth, she had much still to do at work. Some texts on Addie’s phone to her boyfriend, Dean, had sounded like they were planning to secretly meet, although they were mostly from Addie and could be hopeful yearnings rather than a serious plan. Nevertheless, Ricki wanted to talk to Dean Croft again, and Kat did too.
Her father said, “I’ll take Rafe Dillinger.”
Kat just managed to keep from rolling her eyes. “You still don’t believe me that Rafe was the one who got Darla Kingsley pregnant,” she accused.
“Doesn’t hurt to follow up.”
“Ricki’s already talking to him. He’s a Dillinger.”
“I’ll take Massey then. I know where he lives, and I’ll check on him.”
“Maybe I should go with you.”
“No. Dad.” She fought her annoyance. Everything seemed to irritate her these days. “This is what I do for a living. I’ll make sure Ricki and Sam know who I’m interviewing and when. And Massey’s married. I don’t see our kidnapper having a wife in the picture. You’re the one who needs to be careful during interviews. You’re not a cop anymore.”
He grunted. “It’ll work in my favor. Less official.”
She knew he didn’t really believe that. He missed being on the force, but she wasn’t going to argue further. “Ricki and Sam have got their eyes on Skip Chandler, among others.” She’d told him about Skip’s interaction with Ruth’s daughter, Penny. “I’m not planning on doing anything tonight. I’m just heading home.” All she wanted was a hot bath and something to eat, though she wasn’t sure exactly what that was going to be.
“Guess I’ll give Goldie a call.”
Hearing the reluctance threaded through his voice, Kat said, “You don’t have to. The department’s all over this. You and I both have enough suspects to hold us for a while.”
“No time like the present.”
She shook her head. Her father was nothing if not tenacious. It’s what had made him such a great detective. Her mind touched on the picture of the three of them skinny-dipping that Ruth’s rapist, and possibly Courtney’s killer, had sent to Shiloh and Ruth, and she said, “I think Addie’s been kidnapped by the same man who kidnapped Courtney.”
“We both do.” They’d already been over that.
“This guy left Courtney’s body close by because he wanted us to find her. Maybe it was convenient. Maybe that’s why he chose the spot he did. He had to get rid of her. But he also likes to taunt. And he may be the same guy who stalked Ruth a few nights ago at her home.”