Page 24 of Glimmer in the Darkness

The detective’s steely gaze bore into him. “You’d know that better than anybody.”

Fair point. “I’m just trying to figure out why you’re so sure Cassidy is guilty.”

“Aside from the fact that Hallie was with her when they disappeared? That your sister’s body was found wrapped in Cassidy’s sweatshirt?”

James swallowed. “Yeah. Besides that.”

Cote sat back, took a breath. “Lotsa reasons. Cassidy claimed they’d been taken to rock formations way up high on the mountain. Even though she swore she wasn’t sure where it was, she claimed she knew it was high because the air was thin.” His smirk told James what he thought of that. “But when your sister’s body was found, the coroner said she’d only been dead a couple of hours, and based on the schedule of the family who lived in the house, the body would have to have been left more than an hour before they found her. So, if the kidnapper killed Hallie, and if Cassidy escaped the kidnapper with your sister’s body, and if they’d been as high on the mountain as she said, how did only an hour pass from when she escaped to when she got all the way to the lake?”

“Did she explain—?”

“Never stayed on the phone long enough to explain squat. But lemme ask you this. Let’s say the kidnapper did kill Hallie, and Cassidy escaped. Why take your sister’s body? If she’s running for her life, wouldn’t she leave her? Wouldn’t she feel like she had to save herself?”

He could imagine Cassidy wanting to return Hallie to their family. But would she have risked her life for it? Or would fear and survival instinct have kicked in?

“Doesn’t add up,” Cote said. “Plus, we got a report of a teenager and a little girl matching their descriptions. Came from the rest stop just south of Concord on I-93 the day before their bodies were found. The woman said she thought the teen called the little kid Hannah. Hannah, Hallie. Pretty close, don’t you think?”

Had Cassidy kidnapped Hallie and run off with her?

No. He didn’t believe it.

Couldn’t believe it. “Hallie’s body was found here. If Cassidy had been nearly to Manchester, why bring her back?”

“Who knows? Your sister died. Maybe an accident, maybe on purpose. Cassidy came back to Coventry, left the body, then called with her crazy story hoping to throw us off her scent.”

“So, do you think…?” James rubbed his temples, tried to put it together. “Do you think Cassidy was trying to kidnap Hallie and then accidentally killed her, or—”

“I always thought that,” Cote said. “Still manslaughter, but I never thought she wanted your sister dead. But now, with these recent kidnappings—”

“You’re sure they’re related? It’s not some copycat?”

“The details are too similar,” Cote said. “Details nobody outside this department knows.”

Cote spoke as if leaks never came from the police department, but that couldn’t be true. These were just people, after all, and people talked.

Still, he asked, “Details like?”

“Like details I’m not sharing.”

“Then tell me the stuff that’s public knowledge. What makes the crimes similar?”

Cote lifted a sausage-shaped finger. “All three victims are girls around the same age.” He ticked off each point with another finger. “All three from good, strong families. All three healthy and well cared for.” The hand fell. “First two found on back porches near the lake. And there are a couple of other details that we’re not disclosing.”

James felt sick to his stomach. But Cassidy claimed to be able to prove she hadn’t taken Addison and Ella. If that was the case, then maybe it wasn’t a copycat. Maybe the person who’d taken the two girls this year had also taken Hallie. Maybe she was telling the truth. So… “It still doesn’t make sense. If she’d wanted to kill Hallie, then she wouldn’t have been halfway to Manchester. She’d have done it here. And if she was a kidnapper back then, why now kidnap and murder?”

“All questions we’ll ask her when we find her.”

“But what do you think?”

Cote tapped fat fingers on the table. “Maybe Hallie’s death was an accident.” He didn’t seem convinced. “Or maybe she lost her temper and beat your sister, and when she did, she got a taste for violence.”

“No. No.” He closed his eyes against the image. “You didn’t know her.”

“Seems to me you didn’t either. And her mother—”

“You can’t hold her responsible for her mother’s crimes.”

Cote shrugged his rounded shoulders. “Were they her mother’s crimes? Linda Leblanc always claimed she hadn’t hurt her daughter. Everybody thought Cassidy was one of her mother’s victims, that her mom killed her little sister. But maybe Cassidy’s guilty of her own sister’s murder, too. Maybe her mother was trying to protect her.”