Page 81 of Glimmer in the Darkness

“He’s out there,” James pushed off the tailgate and turned to face Vince. “He saw us on the mountain. He recognized Cassidy as the only person who knows what happened ten years ago. She’s the only person who can identify him. So he tried to take her out.”

“You may be right. If you are…” He looked down, shook his head, looked up again. “If that was where the killer kept his victims, there’d have been some trace. And, even if the killer is that good, good enough to hide all evidence he’d been there, he’s gone now. He won’t go back.”

“In other words, we blew it,” James said. “By going into the cave, by showing our hand…”

Vince lifted one shoulder, let it drop.

“If you’d listened to me… You said you’d been looking for that cave for years. How did you never find it?”

“I’m not rising to your bait.” Vince crossed his arms, stared straight ahead. “I looked. I missed it. I did the best I could.”

James settled against the tailgate again. He wasn’t mad at Vince. He was mad at himself. Had they tipped the killer off, sent him running?

How would they ever know?

“Turns out Eugene was at the police station yesterday about noon. Let’s say he left the police station and went up to the mountain and tried to kill Cassidy.” Vince’s voice held more than a hint of skepticism. “What I understand, he had Cassidy cornered at the shack at the campground. Why didn’t he kill her then?”

The campground? Had Eugene realized who Cassidy was when he saw her the first time? Based on what Cassidy had told him, James didn’t think so.

“When he saw you two on the mountain,” Vince said, “why not shoot then?”

James had asked himself the same question. “Maybe he didn’t want to kill me. Maybe he didn’t want me to catch him. Maybe he didn’t think we’d find the cave, and when we did—”

“Lots of maybes.”

“Isn’t that your job, to look into maybes?”

“I’m doing my job. I just don’t want to…” His words faded, and he crossed his arms. “Look, I’m not discounting anything you’re saying. Eugene’s on the list. Wilson’s on the list.”

“Where was he yesterday afternoon?”

“Says he was at the campground, but nobody checked in or out during that time. He can’t seem to corroborate the story. He swears he’d never leave the place unattended.”

“Even to take out somebody who could put him in prison? Not sure I buy that.”

“We’ve not ruled anything out. But my money’s still on Cassidy, I could be wrong. Everybody could be wrong. Which is why”—he pushed off the back of the truck and paced a few steps away—“I pressed for charges against you.”

“Gee, thanks. Nothing like a little prison time between friends.”

“If you’re right, then somebody tried to kill your girlfriend.”

“She’s not—”

“Whatever Cassidy Leblanc is to you, you’re saying somebody shot her. Somebody wants her dead. It’s possible it was the real killer or just a vigilante who thought he’d put this town out of its misery.”

“But Ella’s still missing. Killing the kidnapper wouldn’t bring her home.”

“Vigilantes aren’t known for being the most logical, levelheaded sorts. The point is, you may be right, and I may be wrong. If Cassidy isn’t the killer, then you and she are his biggest threats. Cassidy has vanished… again. But you’re here. Right now, I hope, if this guy exists, he thinks we aren’t taking you seriously. I hope he believes you’ve been taken out of the equation. The charges lend credence to that idea.”

“Credence? You get one of those word-of-the-day calendars?”

Vince chuckled, but it died fast. “What you gotta do is lay low. Stay outta sight. Go back to your normal life.”

Not that James had any idea what his next step was, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t going to involve hiding at home. “Anything else, boss?”

“You swore upside-down and backwards you don’t have a way to contact your girlfriend.”

“She’s not—”