Page 34 of The Missing Couple

“It’s just awful,” Mrs. Decker bemoaned, her hand going to her throat. “Really awful. I’m so sorry,” she said, looking in Billie’s direction. “Has there been any news?”

“No, ma’am, I’m afraid not.”

“Sit down.” Rob gestured to the pair of sofas facing each other. “Tell us how we can help.”

Charly and Billie settled on the sofa facing Mr. and Mrs. Decker.

“We don’t want to take up a lot of your time,” Billie said. “We just have a couple of questions.”

Rob nodded. “Fire away, Mr. Jagger.” He grinned. “Any relation to Mick?”

God, Charly had almost asked that a dozen times no matter that she knew the answer was undoubtedly no; she could barely resist. Now, thanks to Rob, she didn’t have to.

“Actually,” Billie said, “the answer is no but my mother would tell you that she is certain there is a connection somewhere in my father’s family history.”

They all shared a laugh that went a long way in lowering the tension for Charly, especially considering the questions they had come to ask.

“Mr. Decker,” Billie began, “do you recall sharing footage with the sheriff regarding any of the victims who’ve gone missing over the past ten or so years?”

The older man’s eyes widened. “I do. Anytime I see there’s been anything like that happening, I always check my security camera footage for the days surrounding the trouble. It only overwrites every seven days so I can generally find the time frame in question without any trouble. But this couple who’s missing now didn’t come into my place.”

Made sense to Charly that Briana and Martin had used a convenience store on the other side of the bridge since they were staying at Bradly Retreat.

“It’s my understanding,” Billie went on, “that Kerrick Rogers was at your place of business at the same time as one of the victims.”

Rob shook his head. “Oh no, that’s not right.”

Billie and Charly shared a look.

“It was three of the victims. Ella Franklin back five years ago. Lara Young twelve years ago.”

“No, that’s wrong, Rob,” his wife spoke up. “Lara was thirteen years ago. The one you’re thinking of was Michele Colton. She was twelve years ago. But Kerrick was there all three times. You mentioned that to the sheriff, but he didn’t seem to think it was relevant.”

Charly mentally ticked off the names of the nine they knew about. Francesca Andrews, Tina Dayton, Peyton North, Lara Young, Michele Colton, Ella Franklin, Janet Miller, Hilary Trenton. And Briana Willard. All blond-haired white females with blue eyes. As well as three male boyfriends or husbands, including Martin.

All these missing people with unresolved cases had been captured on video at the same stop as Kerrick Rogers. Maybe it was coincidence as he wanted them to believe. But Charly didn’t believe it for a second and she knew for certain Billie didn’t, either. This was wrong and the sheriff was ignoring it!

It took every ounce of strength Charly had to keep this to herself.

“You don’t happen to still have copies of the videos?” Billie asked.

Charly didn’t breathe until his question was answered.

“No. As I said, I turned copies over to Malone in each instance and then I just let the system overwrite itself after that. But those three visits, once each, were the only times those girls came into my place during their stay in Guntersville.”

“Do you remember anything specific about any of those three occurrences?” Charly asked. “Any trouble or behavior that caught your eye while they were in your store?”

“Well,” Rob said, “not really. Not that I can recall anyway.”

“You did say,” Mrs. Decker reminded him, “that one boy watched every move the Franklin girl made.”

Rob nodded. “That’s true but she was a looker and any man still breathing would have been looking.”

Mrs. Decker shook her head. “Men,” she muttered.

“Was that Kerrick Rogers?” Billie asked.

“No,” Rob said. “That was Lenny Reed. He was practically foaming at the mouth watching Ella Franklin like a mad dog about to pounce on a victim.”