The connection ended suddenly. With one last look at the diner and a sense of missed opportunity, he put the phone in his pocket and walked back to his car.
The early shiftwas relatively slow, mostly local men and women stopped in for a drink or a quick bite on the way home from work. His father was behind the bar, deep in conversation with a man about something that had apparently gone wrong with a truck engine. Ian Callaghan could talk to anyone about anything, and he did it with the ease of a man who was genuinely interested. It was one of the more useful qualities Patrick had inherited from him, along with his looks and his penchant for online research.
His uncle Jake raised his brows when Patrick stepped behind the bar.
“Thought Riley was working the early shift tonight.”
“She was, but she and Kate went shopping and lost track of time.”
Jake’s eyes narrowed. “Is that so?”
Patrick shrugged. “That’s what she said.”
“Hm,” Jake hummed, then moved toward the kitchen—probably to ask his wife Taryn if she’d heard anything about a shopping trip running into overtime.
“What’s that about?” Ian asked, lifting his chin toward his brother.
“Don’t ask me.”Seriously. Don’t ask me.As far as he knew, Riley actuallywasout shopping with Kate. “Why? Is there something going on I don’t know about?”
It was Ian’s turn to shrug. “Hell if I know. You know how he worries about Riley.”
“Yeah. Like you do with Kate.”
Ian laughed. “Kate doesn’t give me nearly as many gray hairs as Riley gives Jake.”
“Fair,” Patrick grinned back.
Jake returned later looking a little less stressed, and the evening progressed as usual until a group of men came in buzzing with news.
“You hear what happened up at the old campground?” one of them said, joining the group already seated at the bar.
“Sulley’s?”
“That’s the one.”
“No. What?” someone asked.
“They found abody. Kids came across it this afternoon in one of the cabin rentals. Police have been out there since late afternoon.”
“That place has been closed since old Tom passed on.”
“Yeah, well, maybe nobody told the stiff.”
“They say who it was yet?”
“No. No id, apparently.”
The conversation expanded from there the way it always did in a small town. Details multiplied, some accurate, some theoretical. Patrick moved along the bar, collecting glasses, filling orders, quietly collecting information.
Pine Ridge wasn’t the kind of place bodies just appeared. The last time something like that had happened, Patrick had been just a kid, but it had been all over the news. This… wasn’t.
He thought again of his mystery woman. Chances were, the timing was just a coincidence.
His gut said otherwise.
5
AUTHORITIES RESPOND
