Page 41 of Veil of Silence

Pastor Whitfield placed a steadying hand beneath Shelby’s elbow as Cross reached the steps. Prine waited until the three of them had gone inside. Then she looked at Nora again.

“Not you. You and I are going to talk out here first.”

“I already told the deputy everything.”

Prine pulled a notebook from her jacket. “I just have a few more questions.”

“Whatever you need.”

“Deputy Cross says they’re focused on Preston’s father right now.” Prine’s attention drifted past the house, toward where the yard ended and the woods began. “Does that fit what you know?”

“Yes. Mikey has been calling her. From what I heard, he was trying to take Preston from her.” Nora curled her fingers into her sleeves. “Shelby is scared that her ex took their son.”

“I’m sure she is.” Prine clicked her pen. “But as you and I both know, someone abducted another child in this town three weeks ago. I don’t have the luxury of assuming this is a custody dispute.”

The words sent a chill through Nora.

Chapter

Fourteen

Austin was beginning to understand why his dad had liked paper so much.

Paper didn’t require a password.

He stood behind the chipped counter of a mom-and-pop copy shop three blocks from the Mountain View Motor Lodge while a woman named Carla studied the photo on his phone.

She looked to be in her late forties, with bleached-blonde hair pulled into a loose knot and bright-pink glasses perched low on her nose. A navy cardigan hung over her copy shop polo, and a pen was tucked behind one ear.

“Yeah.” She nodded at the photo on the screen. “That’s him.”

Austin slipped the phone back into his pocket, his pulse kicking up a notch. “You’re sure?”

“He was here Wednesday morning. Maybe around eleven? Eleven-thirty?” Carla glanced toward the wall clock as if Wednesday’s hands might still be there. “He was here a while. I remember him because his copier kept jamming and he needed help.”

That sounded like his dad.

“What was he copying?” Austin asked, watching her reaction.

Carla shrugged. “I didn’t look.”

Carla was being polite, and they both knew it. “I’m not asking whether you read it. Did you notice what kind of documents they were?”

She considered his question. “Old stuff, I think. Newspaper articles maybe. Some handwritten pages. He brought them in a cardboard box.”

Austin’s attention sharpened. “A banker’s box?”

“Yeah, one of those.”

So Dad had the banker’s box on Wednesday morning. That matched what the housekeeper had told him.

He pressed his hands into the counter. “What did he do with the copies?”

“He put them back in the box.”

Austin glanced at the machines lined against the far wall. “Did anyone come in while he was here? Talk to him?”

“Not that I remember.” Carla started to shake her head then stopped. “Actually, I’m not sure if this means anything or not, but he did get a phone call while he was here.”