| |
The sound of tires on gravel and red and blue lights signaled the arrival of a deputy. Bryce grabbed Cecily’s hand before she raced out the door. “Frank’s lead on this, remember.” He didn’t need Cecily trying to run the show.
“I know the deputies,” she said.
“And they know their jobs.”
She fisted her hands at her hips. “Are you saying I’m going to try to tell them how to do theirs because I work at the station? I know the line between sworn and unsworn.”
Maybe so, but you do have a tendency to bombard people with questions.
Bryce found a more tactful way to express his thought. “I didn’t say that. It’s better to let one person do most of the talking, and then the rest of us can take turns filling in the blanks. Keeps things moving forward instead of in circles.”
She scorched him with her gaze. “You know all he’s going to do is determine whether or not there’s a reason to send out a detective, who then decides whether or not to call in the Crime Scene Response unit. I want to get step one over and done, and have a case file opened.”
Frank strode past them and onto the porch, Cecily at his heels. She stood, almost quivering in anticipation, but she waited until the deputy approached, his stride confident. Tall and broad. Short-cropped gray hair with a matching goatee and moustache. He smiled at Cecily.
The smile she returned said she not only knew the officer, but she was pleased to see him.
Despite logic shouting Cecily’s reaction was because she knew he’d do his job well, Bryce’s gut wasn’t listening.
What’s the matter with you? Where did this damn jealous streak come from? The guy’s old enough to be her father.
Cecily stood at the base of the stairs with Frank and the deputy. The two men were talking, so maybe Cecily wasn’t going to plunge in and try to relay everything at once.
He remembered the replay of the 911 call she’d handled, keeping the little girl calm while getting the information she needed. He compared that with the barrage of questions she’d thrown at Derek earlier. When it came to doing her job, she kept her emotions out of it. Maybe she’d be able to separate facts from feelings now, too.
He tried to put his own thoughts in order. How much would his hunch—that there was a lot more to Grady than the kid let show—matter? After all, he had nothing concrete to go on.
“Would you like to come inside where it’s warmer and there’s more light?” Cecily asked. “At this point I don’t think we’re messing up any potential evidence.”
The deputy agreed, and they all trooped inside. The deputy stood in the entry for a moment, surveying the scene just as he, Frank, and Cecily had when they’d arrived.
“Everyone, this is Deputy Emory Sandefur.” She went round the group and made the rest of the introductions.
“Doesn’t look too bad,” Sandefur said. “Let me get a few pictures first.” When he returned with his camera, Frank took point and showed the deputy around the house.
“From what Cecily says, Grady never used any of the other bedrooms,” Frank said.
“That’s right,” Cecily said. “They don’t show any signs he’s been in them.”
Sandefur agreed with Frank’s observation—nothing indicated violence.
“Can you test the spot in the sink for blood?” Cecily asked.
“Where’s the trash?” Sandefur asked. “If he was cleaning himself up, he’d have thrown away the towels or rags. Might be a better sample.”
Cecily opened the under-sink cabinet. Aside from the empty hot chocolate packet, the plastic container was empty.
“I’ll get my kit,” Sandefur said, and went to his vehicle again.
“He okay?” Bryce tipped his head in the direction Sandefur had gone.
“He’s a good officer,” Cecily said. “He knows his job.”
Sandefur returned with his kit and ran the same test Andy had run when they’d been looking for the cattle killer. He shook the vial and held it up to the light. “Not blood.”
From the parade of emotions marching across Cecily’s face, Bryce couldn’t tell if she was relieved, confused, or upset.
Sandefur put the vial in an envelope and faced Cecily. “He’s a kid. Stuck in a place he’d rather not be. To me, this says he’s connected with his buddies, and they’re out for some Friday night fun. Or, he up and decided to leave. For all we know, he had a change of heart, called his parents, and one of them showed up.”
“All his stuff is here,” Cecily said. “If he was running away, why wouldn’t he take it?”
“Which points to him being out for a good time,” Sandefur said. “Frankly, I’m not seeing anything here to indicate he’s been abducted. Not enough for an Amber Alert, by far. Also, even if we assume the worst, we have no idea who might have taken him. No vehicles to look for.”
“But—” Cecily said.
Bryce laid his hand on her forearm. “You’ll file the report, won’t you, deputy?”
“Of course,” Sandefur said. “I’ll pass the word around. You can file a Missing Persons report tomorrow. You have a recent picture of Grady?”
“I have one in my files. At my house,” Cecily said. “I can go home and email it to the station.”
Derek stepped up. “I have a copy of his file, too. Stop by the ranch house and I’ll make another one for you.”
Sandefur made some notes. “I’m done here.”
At the house, Derek handed over the files, and Sandefur left, promising to do what he could. The rest of them gathered in Derek’s study.
“What do you think?” Derek asked. “I didn’t pick up any I want to get out of here vibes from Grady. It’s possible he didn’t take his things because they weren’t his things. They were things given to him for his work here.” Derek’s gaze flitted to Cecily, then to Bryce. “You worked the closest with him, Bryce. You said something felt off about him.”
“That’s Bryce,” Cecily said. “He doesn’t trust anyone. He’s always looking for the dark side. Grady’s a kid in trouble. Now he’s in more trouble.”
So, they’d reverted to where they’d been before this evening. Before Bryce could retort, Derek interrupted.
“Sis, calm down. Bryce has good instincts. Nobody here will disagree with the fact that most teens have issues, secrets, and can be defensive around adults, notably adults in positions of authority. If Bryce thinks there was something deeper, we owe it to Grady to listen.”
Bryce gazed around the table, but avoided Cecily’s eyes. This was about finding a missing kid, not smoothing Cecily’s feathers. “I wish I could put my finger on it. It was like he was all the things Derek said, but multiplied. He’d overreact to simple questions, or totally withdraw.” Now he met Cecily’s gaze. “Cecily offered to take provisions to the guesthouse for him, and he acted like she’d asked him to strip naked.”
Cecily’s mouth opened, and Bryce lifted his hand. “Yes, there are a dozen reasons why he might have snapped, and yes, he apologized. Derek asked for my gut feelings, and that’s what they are. He’s hiding something. Is it relevant? I don’t know.”
“Let’s move on. Next order of business,” Derek said. “Put together everything we already know, and what we might need to know, about Grady.” He set the file in front of Frank. “There’s not much there, so read a page, pass it along.”
“Wait a second,” Cecily said. “Emory—Deputy Sandefur—said Grady might have called someone, or someone might have called him. I can ask someone at the station to pull the LUDs—local usage details—from the phone company for the number.”
“Good thinking, Sis.” Derek flashed a brief smile.
Cecily went to the kitchen to make the call, and Derek tapped his fingers on the desk. When he spoke, his voice was lowered. “Despite my sister’s convictions, I don’t want to keep anyone unless you think there’s something we can do tonight. We’re working virtually blind here, and hashing out what ifs all night isn’t going to do any good. All we know is Grady’s missing, and as the good deputy pointed out, we have no proof he was taken against his wishes.”
Tim stood, almost apologetically. “In that case, I’ll call it a night. Do you want us to come in early tomorrow?”
“Hot date,” Frank muttered under his breath.
Tim flipped him off again. “Not anymore, and she was lukewarm anyway. What do you say, D-Man?”
“Go. Nine hundred hours tomorrow.”
“I have nothing else to do,” Frank said, “and I’m willing to stick around for a bit, put together a plan of action. Figure out what we can do, what the cops can do, and where we can start.”
Cecily returned to the room. “Derek, technically, the cops need a warrant to get the records from the phone company, but it’s your phone, and if you give them permission, we can cut a bunch of red tape.”
“Will do.” Derek reached for the extension on his desk. “Are they still on the line?”
Cecily nodded. “Yes, it’s the dispatch supervisor. She’ll make things happen.”
While Derek was on the phone, Cecily slid into her chair. “I’m going to call Heather. She’s Grady’s social worker. She might know who he hung around with in the Springs, if he told her anything she doesn’t have in her interview forms.”
“It’s late,” Bryce said.
“It’s her job,” Cecily snapped. “If someone I cared about went missing, I’d want to know about it right away. Not have someone afraid to wake me.”
Bryce let it pass. He doubted Heather cared about Grady the same way Cecily did, but he wasn’t the one doing the waking.
She grabbed her cell from her purse. From the frustration in her expression, Bryce assumed she’d connected with Heather’s voicemail. Cecily left a terse message explaining the situation. “Call me as soon as you get this. Doesn’t matter how late.”
Derek stood. “Tomorrow, everyone. We still have cattle to raise.”
“And Grady to find,” Cecily added.