50

DYLAN

Once I know Casey is safe and that she’s spending the afternoon in the interview room—and after I’ve gotten her family settled in the safe house—I join the police at Jim Pace’s elegant cabin and walk them out into the woods where Casey saw them taking Jim’s body. Jim isn’t there.

They bring the dogs out of the canine van, give them a whiff of Jim’s clothing from the house. The dogs roam around picking up his scent, but never finding him.

“Keegan came back to get him,” I tell them.

They go through the house, checking out my story about where I was held, the blood on the door, the carpet strip I pulled up, the switch plate I loosened before Casey arrived.

The CSIs take over the scene as the rest of us go back to the police station. I watch through the window as they interview Casey, as if it’s a movie unfolding. I want so badly to go in there and help her with the story, but she’s doing a great job laying it out. They have all the information we gave the press on a thumb drive, and they’ve been investigating it all morning.

Keegan’s house is a crime scene.

His wife is sitting in another interview room, and his son Kurt is on suspension until he is debriefed.

But Keegan is nowhere to be found.