Riggs was still agitated when he met Stone at the police station. Macy was there, perched beside a whiteboard where Stone had posted pictures of persons of interest in the threats against Kate.
Another board held photos of the school shooting, along with pictures of the victims and photos with question marks beside them, noting them as possible accomplices.
“I saw Gretta on the news this morning,” Stone said as he led him down the hall toward the interrogation rooms. “How’s Kate?”
“Fine.” But he was so not fine. Nope, not at all. “I left her at the new building site. She and Amy are preparing for the groundbreaking ceremony this afternoon.
“Do you know where Gretta got her information?” he asked Stone.
Stone shook his head. “Not a clue. I sure as hell didn’t tell anyone about that letter of blame.” He led Riggs to a room where he could view his interview with Billy via a computer monitor.
“Thanks, man. I appreciate you letting me observe.”
Stone studied him for a minute. “Sure. But stay here. At no point are you allowed in the interrogation room. If he confesses, I want it to stick. And going all postal on him won’t help.”
Riggs gritted his teeth. “Do I look like I’d go postal?”
Stone smirked. “I don’t know, but something’s going on with you, and you’re not thinking clearly.”
Yeah, because a certain sexy woman was messing with his head.
He dropped into the chair in front of the monitor and raised his three fingers in a Boy Scout salute. Although he’d never been a Boy Scout. “Promise not to move.”
Stone gave a wry laugh then closed the door. A minute later, he entered the interrogation room. Billy Hodgkins was fidgeting in his chair, toying with something between his fingers, although Riggs couldn’t see what the object was.
“So, Billy...” Stone began. “Here we are.”
Billy lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “Yeah, I just don’t know why.”
Stone claimed the chair opposite Billy, folded his arms and scrutinized Billy. “I think you do.”
Billy worked his mouth from side to side. “If this is about Kate, I told you I just wanted to talk to her.”
“And when she didn’t want to talk to you, you got angry?”
Billy looked down at the table as if studying the scarred grooves in the wood.
“So you made a pipe bomb and tossed it into her house to either get her attention,” Stone said matter-of-factly, “or to hurt her.”
Billy shot up from his seat, his anger palpable. “I did no such thing.”
“Sure you did,” Stone said in a harsh tone. “You thought you’d scare her into...what? Stopping the old school from being torn down? Admitting she was to blame for the shooting?”
Billy dropped whatever he was rubbing between his fingers and bent to retrieve it. Riggs narrowed his eyes to try to see what it was, but the camera angle was off and he couldn’t discern the object.
Stone pointed to the chair. “Sit down or I’ll put you in handcuffs.”
Billy dropped back into the chair with a curse and twisted his hands together. “You’ve got the wrong guy.”
“Listen, Billy,” Stone said, “I know what you said at her mother’s funeral. I also have the note where you blamed her.”
Billy’s head jerked up. “What note?”
“This one.” Stone laid the evidence bag on the table. The scribbled message It was your fault was clear through the bag.
Billy rocked back in his chair. “I didn’t send that.”
Riggs shifted, studying Billy’s reaction. He seemed genuinely shocked.
“But you blamed Kate—”
“Yeah, I did. At least back then.” Billy’s frown deepened. “But that was over a decade ago. My life was hell.” Pain contorted his face. “Everyone thought I helped my brother. Our classmates, people in town, even my own parents asked me if I’d known what he was up to and kept it quiet.”
Pain underscored Billy’s voice and he pinched the bridge of his nose.
“That must have been difficult,” Stone said quietly.
“It sure as hell was,” Billy said. “When my folks moved away, they treated me like I was a piranha. Maybe I did tease Ned when he was young, but he had problems no one knew about.”
“What kind of problems?” Stone asked bluntly.
Billy pressed his lips together as if he was going to clam up.
“Tell me,” Stone said. “It’s time for the truth, Billy.”
Billy laid his hands on the table, fingers curled into his palms. “When he was a baby, my daddy dropped him on his head. He didn’t mean to, at least that’s what I heard Mom say, but Ned must have hit his head hard. The doctor said he had a concussion. Later on, when he started acting all weird and depressed, they thought that head injury had caused his psychiatric problems.”
Riggs pulled at his chin. Medical records were hard to obtain, but Stone could find a way to verify that information.
“What happened after you and your folks left Briar Ridge?” Stone asked.
Billy wiped at his eyes again. “They changed their names, tried to start a new life. But eventually folks would realize who they were or recognize them, and we’d move again. All that time, they just grew madder and madder. They couldn’t stand to look at me. Then I started drinking.” Billy shrugged. “Got a couple of DUIs, was living on the streets. Took odd jobs to get by.”
He paused, and a long silence ensued. Finally, Stone muttered, “Go on.”
“About a year and a half ago, I got a job at a trucking company, but my drinking almost cost me the work. Boss gave me an ultimatum. Lose the job or go to AA.”
He opened his palm and reveled a sobriety chip. “Been sober now a year.” He made a clicking sound with his teeth. “Part of the program is to make amends with those you hurt. That’s the reason I wanted to talk to Kate. To tell her I’m sorry for blaming her.” His voice warbled. “I know it wasn’t her fault. Ned was troubled and bullied, but he had issues anyway. My sponsor helped me understand that.”
“Do you know if Ned acted alone?” Stone asked.
Billy made a clicking sound with his teeth. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Did anything odd happen in the days before the shooting? Was Ned hanging out with anyone specific? Someone who might have given him the gun?”
“Not that he talked about, but Ned wasn’t a talker.”
“Other than Kate, was he upset with anyone else at school?”
Billy looked down at the chip then shook his head. “I never knew what was going on in his head. Two nights before the shooting, he came in acting all rattled. I asked him what was going on, but he wouldn’t talk about it. But I had the weirdest vibe that he’d gotten laid.” Billy sighed. “When I teased him about it, he went all crazy and ran out of the room. He didn’t come back till the middle of the night. My folks were really pissed and grounded him.”
“That was two days before the shooting?”
“Yeah, but I never learned what happened to set him off.”
Riggs released a slow breath. He’d been certain Billy was trouble, but after hearing his story, he believed him.
Stone shoved a piece of paper in front of Billy. “One more thing. I need a writing sample. Copy the message.”
Billy clenched the pen then copied the wording. It didn’t take an analysis expert to determine that Billy’s handwriting didn’t match.
Stone suddenly stood and looked at his phone. “All right, Billy, you’re free to go.”
Riggs knotted his hands in frustration. If Billy was innocent, who the hell was trying to kill Kate?
KATE FROZE AT the sound of the man’s voice. No, not exactly a man. A teenager. A student.
But she didn’t understand why he was so upset or why he’d threaten her. “You don’t really want to hurt me,” she said, struggling to keep her voice calm. “What good will that do?”
“Just move,” the teenager ordered.
He shoved her, and Kate stumbled toward the woods, mind racing. Amy would be back soon. And the mayor. Then other people would start arriving. But they might not be here in time.
She had to stall.
He gave her another push. “I said walk.”
Kate moved toward the construction trailer, but with every step she was getting closer to her death. She’d faced it once during the shooting and survived.
She had to survive this time.
Riggs had been nothing but kind to her, and protective. He’d used his days off to make sure she was safe.
Yet she’d hurt him. She had to fix that.
She stumbled over a tree stump and fell, her hands digging into the brush. Inhaling a deep breath, she pivoted on the ground and looked up at the boy holding the gun.
“Why are you doing this?”
“You had to stir up the past with this new school celebration.”
Kate narrowed her eyes. “I don’t understand what that has to do with you. You weren’t even around back then. You’ll benefit by enjoying a new building.”
Anger slashed his expression, his thin face stark with desperation. For a moment, she thought she saw something familiar in his face. Something that reminded her of another teenager she’d once known. Long ago.
One who had terrorized her and the other students at Briar Ridge High.
His menacing look. Eyes filled with desperation. The crazed look of someone out of his mind.
“Please, don’t,” she said. “Talk to me. Maybe I can help. Tell me why this project upsets you so much.”
“Because you stirred up all the gossip and questions again,” he said. “All the talk about him had died down. Finally.”
Kate struggled to follow his logic. “Talk of Ned?”
He didn’t have to answer. She saw it in his eyes. Pain. Shame. Rage.
“Why would talk about Ned Hodgkins bother you?”
“See, you’re doing it, just like I thought,” he screeched. “Asking about the past.” He clenched his jaw and raised the gun.
Kate’s breath caught in her throat as he pointed the barrel at her head.
Then he yanked her arm and dragged her toward the trailer. He pushed her inside, and she fell onto the sofa in the front office. His tennis shoes shuffled across the floor as he paced. “You shouldn’t have invited everyone to come back to town,” he snarled. “Now it’s all everyone can talk about, and it’s your fault.”
Pausing in front of her, he removed a matchbook and struck a match. The mad look in his eyes intensified as he watched the flame burst to life.
For a moment, Kate sat frozen in horror as a panic attack threatened. She couldn’t breathe, she was choking, her lungs straining for air.
She did not want to die.
Forcing a deep breath in to ward off the panic, she summoned her courage then lurched up and dove at the boy. With a wild grunt, he slammed the butt of the gun against her head, and she hit the floor on her hands and knees. Stars swam behind her eyes as she struggled to stand, but she was so dizzy she swayed and the world tilted. Then he yanked her by the arm and began to drag her toward the rear of the trailer...
RIGGS MET STONE in the hallway. Before he could speak, though, Stone’s phone buzzed.
Stone connected the call. “Yeah. I’m on my way.”
His deep frown made Riggs tense. “What’s wrong?”
“Nine-one-one from the new building site. Mayor got there and saw smoke.”
“What about Kate?”
“I don’t know. Let’s go.” Stone ducked into the room where Macy was still studying the photographs. “Macy, there may be trouble at the new building site. It’s Kate.”
Macy’s eyes widened and she reached for her shoulder bag. “I’m going with you.”
The three of them hurried outside to Stone’s police car and climbed in. Stone flipped on his siren and peeled from the parking lot.
Fear pulsed through Riggs. Dammit, if he hadn’t been so stubborn and had stayed with Kate, she’d be safe.
If anything happened to her, he’d never forgive himself.
Stone’s phone buzzed again and he pressed Connect. His deputy’s voice echoed over the speakerphone. “Forensics called, Sheriff. The prints on the matchbook are not a match to Billy, Woody or to Don Gaines. Techs did find a partial on Kate’s car that matched the one on the matchbook and on the bomb piping.”
“So we’re dealing with one perp?”
“Looks that way, although we don’t have a name yet, which means he doesn’t have priors.”
Riggs silently cursed as Stone ended the call. “Then we’re back to square one.”
Sweat beaded on his neck as Stone sped down Main Street and veered onto Briar Ridge Circle. The moment they rounded the corner, Riggs spotted smoke billowing in the air.
“It’s the construction trailer,” Riggs muttered. “Kate had better not be in there.”
Stone swerved up beside the mayor’s Cadillac and threw the squad car into Park.
Stone removed his gun from his holster as he ran to the mayor, who was hovered near his car, on his phone. Macy pulled her gun and headed for the edge of the woods to search the area in case the perpetrator had escaped.
“Mayor,” Stone said.
“I’ll call you back.” The mayor pocketed his phone, his face riddled with anxiety. “Fire department’s on its way.”
Riggs hit the ground running. Smoke seeped from what looked like a crack in the trailer window. He touched the metal door.
It was warm, but not hot. He didn’t have much time. A small trailer like this could go up in minutes.
“I’ll look for a back door or way in,” Stone said as he disappeared around the side of the trailer.
Riggs turned the doorknob, but it was locked. “Kate!” Terrified for her, he shook the door and yanked on it. The metal rattled. Heat seeped through the door. “Kate, are you in there?”
Nothing but the sound of something inside rattling, then fire crackling. Damn, he had to hurry.
He raced over to the window and looked through the shattered glass. Cold fear and rage hit him. Flames danced through the room, but he couldn’t see Kate.
She could be on the floor. Or in a damn closet.
“I’m coming, sweetheart,” he murmured. He yanked off his shirt, wrapped it around his hand and punched out the rest of the glass. Oxygen fed fire, so every second counted.
He dove through the window, smoke blurring his vision as he rolled across the floor. “I’m here, Kate! Where are you?” he shouted.
He jumped up and ran through the smoky fog, stomping at flames in his path. The fire was spreading, the blaze eating up the carpet and snapping at the curtains.
He raced through the room, darted across burning patches, and searched the closet. Empty.
Where was Kate?