“Of course, he did. He’s always been there for me.” That brought another tear to her eye.
“Tell me what you found,” I said before it dissolved into a crying fest.
“A pattern of girls gone missing in the area at the time of the murder.”
24
I went straight to the police station once I left Amy’s. I wanted to tell my dad what Vera had to say and share what information Amy had gathered. It was the pattern in the data that had caught Amy’s eagle eyes and gave us both an idea that my dad might think far-fetched, but I had to share it with him.
My cell rang as I parked. I smiled to see it was Ian.
“Mo and I are finished for the day and are eagerly waiting for you to get home,” Ian said.
I liked that he felt comfortable enough to refer to my place as home. I’d gotten used to living alone after a number of years of doing so and wasn’t sure how I’d feel about having my space invaded. Color me surprised when I discovered I enjoyed having Ian around and actually missed him when he wasn’t… home.
“I’m at the police station.”
“Do you need me to bail you out?” he asked with a laugh.
“Very funny but wait until you hear what I found out. It could turn the Carson case upside down.”
“Now you’ve got me really curious. If you can wait a few minutes I can meet you there so I can hear the news.”
“I’ll wait in my vehicle,” I said, knowing it would only take him about ten minutes to get here.
I was going over everything in my head that Amy had told me when something she said to her dad popped into my head. She had told him to text her when his plane took off and landed. How did he get a flight when Stan’s daughter wasn’t able to? Or was Amy’s dad once again lying to her? And what about his car? He had had it repaired. Why when he was booked on a flight?
I called Beau and didn’t even give him a chance to say hello. “Are you on your way to Amy’s?”
“Headed that way now.”
“Do you know her dad left?” I asked.
“Yes, she told me when I called and I’m glad he’s gone. He tried to get her to invest in that scheme again. He’s nothing but a loser and Amy was lucky the guy stayed out of her life.”
“You’re staying with her, right?”
“I am, but why do you ask? What’s wrong?” Beau asked, worry in his voice.
“It’s probably nothing, but Amy told her dad to text her when his flight took off and when his flight landed, and Stan’s daughter told me all flights into this area had been cancelled due to the storm.”
“Some of the models had morning flights that were still able to fly out, depending on where they were going. Others hit the road early to beat the snow headed this way.”
“But what about his car?” I asked. “Marsh repaired a problem he was having with it. Why if he was flying out of here? And what did he intend to do with the car?”
“Drive it to the nearest casino and try to win the money he thought he’d get from Amy while letting her think he was on a plane.”
“I never thought of that. You’re probably right,” I said but the thought nagged at me for some reason.
“No worries, Pepper,” Beau assured me. “I’ll be with Amy all through the storm in case Noah should return and try to persuade his daughter to… not miss out on a chance of a lifetime.”
I laughed, Beau sounding like an infomercial on late night TV.
Ian pulled up alongside me a short time after I finished talking with Beau and I got out of my vehicle.
“What’s wrong?” Ian asked as soon as he stepped next to me, kissed my cheek, then rubbed at the scrunch between my eyes.
“Nothing really,” I said. “I’ll explain later. Right now, I want to get this info to my dad.”
“You better listen, Sheriff, or I will have your badge this time,” Mayor Barrett was saying as Ian and I entered the reception area. “Your wife says one thing about my father and the Carson case during her interview and you’re finished. All information on the case stays within this department until I say otherwise. I will not have my father’s name disparaged.”
“Like you tried to do to mine during your interview,” my dad said and wouldn’t give the mayor a chance to retaliate. “Whether you like it or not, Mayor, what you and your dad hid all those years ago will come to light… it’s the law, and I uphold the law. And if I find you have kept anything else from this investigation, I will pursue charges.”