Page 62 of Wild Escape

"That's not me," Sadie said in the interrogation room.

I had laid out the pictures from the surveillance footage in front of her.

"That girl’s booty doesn’t look near as good as mine. And she's wearing different shoes."

I studied the image again. Upon closer inspection, it was possible these were two different girls. There were subtle but noteworthy differences in the shape of their assets.

Could we really be dealing with two different sets of criminals?

"What is Wyatt saying?"

"Wyatt is saying that you are the mastermind of this whole thing,” I said.

Her eyes flared, and her jaw clenched tight. Her cheeks reddened. "What an asshole. That's complete bullshit!”

"I'm more than happy to listen to your side of the story.”

"He forced me to come along. I didn’t want any part of it. But he said I needed to have skin in the game.”

"Why is that?"

"Because I asked him where all the money was coming from. He would show up with all this stuff—jewelry, cash, guns, you name it. He finally admitted to me that he had been knocking off houses that he’d been on service calls to. He said I had to come along now that I knew what was going on.”

I didn't buy it. They were in on it together, most likely.

"How does Jared factor into this whole thing?”

"He's a friend of Wyatt's. Jared has always been a bad influence. If you want the truth, I think this whole thing started with him. It was probably his idea.”

We chatted with her for a bit, then talked to Jared. Of course, he painted both of them out to be the instigators. It didn’t really matter at this point. We had enough to take them all down.

All three denied involvement in the Caldwell murder.

That didn't surprise me. Nobody wanted to admit to that. But it was the only consistent part of their stories. It didn't change, even after multiple times through. It's harder to keep details straight when you lie. But the truth doesn't change.

After the interrogations, we stepped into the hall and held a conference with the sheriff.

“There’s not enough here to get them on the Caldwell case. Drum up something stronger, or find the right people.”

“We’re on it,” I said.

I called Denise as we left the station. “How are you holding up?”

“I’m ready for another bathroom break.”

“We’re on our way.”

We climbed into the Porsche and drove back toward the Driftwood.

“You really think we’re dealing with two crews?” JD asked along the way.

“I’m beginning to think so.”

We had searched Shelby’s apartment and couldn’t find a pair of shoes that matched the girl in the Caldwell video.

We grabbed some cheeseburgers along the way from a drive-through and stuffed our faces on the way back to the motel. We’d missed lunch, and my stomach rumbled. I washed it down with a diet soda.

Jack pulled in behind Denise’s SUV and parked at the curb. I climbed out and moved to her window, still chomping on the last bites of my burger. “You’re a lifesaver. Any movement?”