My rental car sat in the middle of the parking lot. I could see it underneath the bright lights from inside the airport. And so could anyone else. Had Pennington and Cervantes put eyes on it, watching since I left? I had no doubt they knew I was back. I half-wished one of them would pull up so I could give them the good, the bad, and the interesting news I’d learned back home.
But that would take time I didn’t necessarily have.
Sam’s flight landed about an hour ahead of mine. In the end, we decided it was best he go first so he could act as lookout for me. I texted him the moment the wheels hit the ground for an update. Since then he’d messaged back every three minutes. Same text every time.
No activity.
Maybe Pennington and Cervantes didn’t know I was back. Hell, what if they had made progress with the investigation and had Novak in custody? The thought tugged at the strings of my emotions, and I nearly dialed Pennington’s number. That would lead to questions from them. I wasn’t ready for that. Plus, it was still early.
I spotted Sam standing outside the terminal, trying to blend in with the arriving tourists and business people catching their early flights. Sam fit in with neither group. The hard look on his face told anyone who eyed him that they’d be better off picking a fight with a crocodile. At least then their punishment would be quick.
I stepped outside into the thick air and walked right past Sam. He took off about the same time, heading straight across the road. A few minutes later I picked him up on the other side of the lot at the exit, beyond the reach of most security cameras.
“Good flight?” he asked.
I stirred what was left of my coffee with the sludge at the bottom of the cup and finished it off. “Nothing special. Managed to sleep for a bit.”
“Not me, man,” he said. “Whole time I was thinking about Cassie. Almost felt like she was talking to me. Know what I mean?”
I most certainly did. “That’s happened to me a few times, too. It’s like she’s reaching out and playing inside my mind. I wonder, is it really happening, or is it just stress catching up to me?”
“Felt pretty damn real to me.”
I eyed him as I merged onto the highway. “What’d you see?”
“See?” He tipped his head back against the headrest. “Don’t know if it was as much seeing as feeling restricted both physically and mentally. My limbs tied down. My mind overwhelmed. I’ve told you about how those bastards waterboarded me when I was captured in Afghanistan. I felt like that again. And then, I was free.”
Did it mean she’d found freedom in passing to the next life? Were we too late? Did we ever have a chance?
“I can see those wheels turning, Mitch.” Sam placed his hand on the dash. “Don’t read too much into it. I was somewhere between sleep and meditation when it happened. Probably just my imagination.”
“I’ve had it happ—”
“Stop right there. Look, don’t you think if she was dead, she’d find a way to lead us to her body? I mean, if all this shit that’s happened with her is real and we aren’t just mass-hallucinating every time she tips us off on a case.”
I might have settled for that at the moment. “Maybe she did and you can’t remember. Hey, we’ll get you one of those regression things. Get some hypnotist to pull the memory out of you.”
“I’m afraid of what else they might dig up.”
“Can’t be any worse than all the other shit I know about you.”
Sam laughed and turned toward the window, leading to the death of the conversation. For the next several minutes we were quiet with our thoughts as I drove to the crash site. I’d only been there and back. The ride out was a blur, but coming home I’d managed to memorize the route.
There was no sign from the road that anything had happened in the woods. They didn’t want anyone stopping and performing their own investigation. I drove a few hundred yards past the billboard and pulled over. We sat there for a few minutes with the windows rolled down, watching to see how much traffic drove by. There was none. By the time we exited, Sam had a slick layer of sweat on his forehead.
“This isn’t going to bode well for me.” He unbuttoned his pullover and spread the collar as wide as it’d go.
“It gets plenty hot and humid back home,” I said.
“Not like this. Not this time of the year.”
I glanced up at thick gray clouds gathering overhead. “We might want to hurry this up.”
He pointed at the billboard. “The hell is holding that cow up?”
“More of a mystery than half the cases we worked.”
We followed the trail through the woods until we reached the clearing.
“That’s where the accident happened.” I pointed at a section along the wood’s edge where a small tree was bent over, and the grass had been crushed after having a car sit on it for a couple of days.
“It was Cassie’s car?” Sam said.
“Yeah, and I know she was in it.”
“How’s that?”
“Found a bracelet inside.”
“She could have left it in there anytime.”
“She had it on the night before.” I stopped and waited for him to turn back toward me. “And I mean late the night before.”
Sam wagged his index finger in front of me. “You and Cassie?”
I shrugged. “Something like that. Don’t want to make too much of it. The detectives don’t know the details.”
He nodded silently before turning back to the accident scene. I hung back while he walked the perimeter. It was best to let him form his own opinions and see things through impartial eyes. Maybe he’d spot something none of us had. Sam spent ten minutes walking from spot to spot, kneeling, spreading the grass and looking at the dirt. In the end he found nothing substantial.
“What happened after the crash?” he asked.
I led him into the woods. Yellow crime scene tape wrapped around several trees fenced the area in. “Maybe they’re still working it?”
Sam stood at the edge with his hands on his hips, staring out over the dried plaster-covered tire tracks. It appeared the forensics team had found footprints as well. He threw one leg then the other over the tape and walked through the scene, stopping a few times but quickly moving on. He exited on the opposite side and walked out of view.
A few minutes later, Sam called out. “Hey, Mitch. Come check this out.”
I didn’t make it five steps before I heard a crack and the lights went out.