The residential neighborhood that Callum pulled into that evening, just outside of Athens, Georgia, was what he supposed would be called transitional, or up-and-coming. Most of the homes appeared to be from a bygone era, built long before Callum was born, maybe even before his parents were born. Largely single-story wooden structures, they were on the small side and boasted cracked and peeling paint, some with their siding sagging or even missing in places. But every fourth or fifth house was completely different, usually two-story, big and modern. People were buying up the older homes and tearing them down, replacing them with the boxy, cookie-cutter look found in so many other subdivisions. And the reason for them buying out here was obvious.
The enormous lots.
This neighborhood was originally built in an era when large lots were the norm. Graceful oak trees and gently rolling yards with occasional flower beds bursting with color gave it a homey feel, a welcoming atmosphere. There was plenty of land on each lot to allow for a much larger home to be built. And it still left room for large backyards with established trees to provide beauty and shade. The newer homes on lots this size didn’t exist deeper into the city. Or, if they did, they’d be double the price.
“Nice, isn’t it?” Beside him, Raine had a serene smile on her face as she looked out the window, obviously pleased with what she was seeing.
When he realized which homes she was admiring, he couldn’t help feeling surprised.
“You like the old ones? Not the new builds?”
“Well, yeah. Don’t you? The new ones look like boxes.” She motioned toward the window. “These are unique, charming. I mean, sure, they need repairs. But they’re different, special, a piece of history to be appreciated.”
“And yet you live in a mansion in a development where the houses are so close together that you could jump from roof to roof.”
She frowned. “First, it’s not a mansion. Second, how would you know about my house?”
“I’m an investigator.”
“And you felt you needed to investigate me?”
“Like you did me?”
She grimaced. “Fair enough. I guess.” She motioned toward the nearest house again. “If I wasn’t bucking for a partnership in a law firm with an image to maintain, I could see myself living here. Absolutely. Then again, my Porsche would be out in the elements with only a carport to protect it. Maybe I couldn’t live in one of these after all.”
“Porsche. You actually drive one of those things?”
“It’s a sweet ride. My gift to myself after a particularly lucrative case. Why do you look so surprised?”
He shrugged. “I guess maybe because all I’ve seen you in so far is jeans. I’d have guessed you drove a crossover, a small SUV or something like that.”
“Maybe I should rethink your abilities as a detective. My other car, the one I drive to the grocery store and things like that, is a truck.”
He laughed. “That’s a surprise. Regular or four-wheel drive?”
“Four-wheel. Duh.”
“Red?”
“Of course.”
“Nice. That’s what I’d call a sweet ride.”
“And yet you drive an SUV.”
He grinned. “It’s my work car, like your Porsche’s yours. My regular ride is a four-by-four. Red.”
She laughed and they exchanged a fist bump. “We’re more alike than either of us realized.”
“I suppose we are. But if I’m going to get anything useful to help me get my bearings on this case before the sun goes down, we need to get busy.” He popped his door open.
“Busy doing what?” she asked. “If you wanted to see the crime scene, the Claremonts live one street over.”
“Like I said earlier, I want to get the lay of the land.” He hopped out and went to the rear of the SUV and opened the hatchback. When Raine joined him, he’d already gotten out his drone and was readying it for takeoff.
“Wow. Way fancier than the one I have,” she said.
“You use a drone for work?”
“No. I’m a regular, boring business lawyer. No use for a drone for that. Mine’s for weekends to, as you said, get the lay of the land. I scope out places to take pictures, and get some pretty good ones with the drone itself too.”
“Pictures.”
“Photography. Nature, landscapes, that sort of thing. It’s what I wanted to do before my parents talked me into getting a real job. I was going to major in photography at college, try to sell pictures to magazines, stuff like that. But I guess it’s a good thing that they talked me out of it. Odds are I would have had to work an extra job just to pay the rent. That wouldn’t have provided the money I’ve needed to fund my brother’s defense.” She cleared her throat, her earlier enthusiasm fading. “Not that it’s done him any good.”
He stepped back and sent the drone airborne. “We’ve got thirteen days to find reasonable doubt. Don’t give up now.”
She nodded but didn’t look convinced. He couldn’t blame her. Joey’s various lawyers had been trying for years to have his conviction overturned, to get him a new trial. Bringing Callum in to save the day was like bringing in a pinch hitter at the bottom of the ninth with two outs in a baseball game. The odds of success were low. But they weren’t zero. They had a chance, but only if Joey was truly innocent. And so far, Callum had seen nothing to convince him of that.
“What was your dream, career-wise, when you were younger?” She stood beside him, watching the controller’s screen as he directed the drone higher to show him a better view of the neighborhood, including its relation to nearby highways and other local roads.
“My mom told me I’ve wanted to be a policeman since I was old enough to talk.”
“Really? Why? I mean, not that it’s a bad thing, of course. It’s admirable. Honestly. But what would make a child, a two-or three-year-old, say they wanted to be a cop? And then you being so focused through life that you ended up actually doing it?”
He shrugged, noting how the homes deeper inside the subdivision were on even larger lots, with more trees, overgrown bushes. Lots of places for bad guys to hide. “I suppose because it runs in the family. I grew up around uniforms, guns. My dad was a military policeman. Mom worked the phone lines, a 911 operator. That’s how they met. My grandfather on my dad’s side was the chief of police in the small town where he grew up, Mayfield, Kentucky.”
“No wonder you’re inclined to believe in my brother’s guilt. I’m surprised you showed mercy and didn’t have me arrested after the stunt I pulled.”
He smiled. “Yeah, well, like I said. Selfish reasons.” What he wouldn’t tell her was that in addition to wanting the information she had that might help with UB’s current serial killer investigation, he’d also been curious about her.
She was a looker, no denying that. But it was her determination, her willingness to risk it all for her brother that had him wanting to know more about her. In spite of his seemingly illustrious family history in law enforcement, he wasn’t close to them. That whole family loyalty thing was nonexistent in the Wright household, particularly with his father. It was the reason he hadn’t seen him or the rest of his family since he was eighteen and had left to go to college—on his own dime, working two jobs to pay for it. His parents could have easily footed the bill if they’d wanted. They had for his sister’s education.
“There’s the Claremont house.” She pointed to a white older home on his screen. “That two-story addition on the back is new, built in the last six months.”
“How would you know that?”
“Because the last time I visited them, it wasn’t there.”
He glanced at her, surprised, before he looked back at the screen and sent the drone soaring over the Claremont house. “You’ve visited the parents of the woman your brother was convicted of murdering?”
She edged away from him, as if suddenly uncomfortable being so close. “It wasn’t my idea. It’s not like I showed up on their doorstep one day. That would have been wildly inappropriate, given the situation. But I couldn’t ignore what had happened. Yes, I believe my brother’s innocent. I know he is, with all my heart. But Alicia’s parents didn’t grow up with Joey. They have no reason not to trust and believe what the police told them. In their hearts, Joey’s the enemy, the one who ripped their lives apart. But I’m his sister, his family. It was my responsibility to reach out to them and apologize on my family’s behalf. I sent a card, and a letter, through one of Joey’s attorneys, expressing my heartfelt condolences on their terrible loss. I told them I sincerely believed the killer was still out there, but that I also wanted them to know I understand why they feel my brother hurt her, and that I’m sorry for the pain they’ve suffered.”
She shrugged. “Lame, I know. But I felt I had to say something.”
Raine had surprised him again. She was turning out to be very different from what he’d expected. In spite of her being a lawyer, and the sister of a convicted felon, he was liking her more and more. That was the biggest surprise of all.
“How did they react to the letter?” He finished reviewing the land surrounding the house and sent the drone to explore the neighboring yards, looking for escape routes, ways to sneak onto the property without being seen.
“Instead of sending a reply through the lawyer, or ignoring me altogether, they called me at work.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Nope. I almost had a heart attack, burst into tears when I answered the phone. My assistant thought they were potential clients, didn’t recognize the name. When Mr. Claremont introduced himself, it was like being hit by a truck.” She shook her head, let out a ragged breath. “He was so sweet, so kind and understanding. They both were, are. They wanted me to come see them at the house.”
“When was this?”
“A week after Joey was convicted.”
“Amazing. How did that go? I’m guessing pretty well if you see them regularly, enough to know their home renovations hadn’t been done six months ago.”
“I see them once or twice a year. But the first visit wasn’t until several months after they called me. Sending them a letter is one thing. Actually seeing them in person, sitting across from them in the same house where their daughter once lived and knowing that they believed Joey killed her wasn’t something I was prepared to do. It took a while to get the courage to see them. When I did, they were incredible. They wanted me to know they didn’t hold Joey’s actions against me, that they didn’t blame me for trying to defend him because he was my brother. They understood me, like no one else ever has. Well, until now, I guess. You seem to have forgiven me for my actions, because you understand family loyalty.”
“More like I appreciate the concept of family loyalty, not having experienced it myself.”
“What do you mean?”
He sighed and steered the drone back toward them. “That’s a conversation for another time. Maybe.”
She was quiet until he’d stowed the drone in his vehicle and shut the back hatch.
“Now that you’ve seen where it all happened, what’s next?” she asked. “It’s a long drive from here to Gatlinburg, and it’s already getting dark. We could go into town for dinner and stay at my place tonight, head out in the morning.”
“I appreciate the offer. Sounds better than crashing at a hotel tonight. But I’m not finished here. I understand the surroundings better, but not the crime scene itself.”
Her gaze shot to his. “You actually want to go inside their home? See where Alicia was...where she was killed?”
“I’d planned on contacting the Claremonts tomorrow, seeing whether they’d let me come to the house, without you, out of respect for them. But now that I know they wouldn’t be upset if you came too, we might as well save time by visiting them now. There’s a car in their driveway. Someone’s home.”
Her eyes widened, her expression panicky. Had she made up that story about her letter to them, and their phone call? Maybe she’d fabricated everything to make him feel more empathetic toward her, and vicariously toward Joey. The idea that she’d lie about something like that had him tensing and wondering what else she’d lied about. She was a lawyer, after all. He should have known better than to trust her.
“If you’d rather not go with me—”
“No, no,” she interrupted. “I’d love to see them. I’m just—”
“Worried I’ll discover you’ve never really met them?”
Her mouth dropped open, then her face reddened as she snapped her mouth shut. She cleared her throat as if struggling to speak. “You think I lied?”
“Did you?”
She swore beneath her breath. “I guess we’ll find out, assuming they’ll want to see you. My hesitancy is because I don’t want them hurt. I don’t want you dredging up awful memories and causing them pain.”
“That’s for them to decide. Not you.”
“Then I guess we should head over there. But I’m going in first, alone, to pave the way and make sure they’ll be okay.” She marched to the passenger side of the Lexus and hopped in.
“The hell with that,” he muttered to himself, as he headed toward the driver’s door. “I’ll go in first so I can see their reaction to you.”