Page 53 of Wicked Games

“At the time, did she mention any of this to you, Mrs. McKay?”

“No. She rarely talked to me about the things she was working on and she knew Darren and I were going through a tough time. She wouldn’t have wanted to bother me.”

“Do you know how she came to be at the park that day?”

“No. I have no idea who could have given her that information.”

“Do you believe that, Mr. Lockwood?”

I squeeze Avery’s hand. “Yes.”

LaSalle tries to hide a deep cough. “We’ll need access to those posts.”

“Of course.” Avery explains how to log into Hattie’s website and her email account to retrieve the two-step verification code. “Bill has her laptop and he’s been waiting for the police to ask for it. It’s protected by a password he doesn’t know, but that shouldn’t be a problem for you.” She bites her lip. “We think she was carrying her notebook and that it was taken when she was murdered.”

“We haven’t been fortunate enough to find any of her belongings,” LaSalle says, “but we have the descriptions of the jewelry she was wearing and we’ve asked to be contacted if anything pops up on an online marketplace or in a pawn shop.”

“Okay. You’ll pass on everything I told you to Detective Mueller?”

“Yes, but he may call you to follow up.”

“That’s fine.”

She meets my eyes and shrugs. There’s nothing else she has to say to LaSalle, but I’m not done.

“You mentioned yesterday that Hattie and her husband had dinner with Brooke and Rowan Vale.”

“I did,” LaSalle agrees cautiously, not knowing where I’m going with this.

“Have you spoken with Brooke since the bullet that killed Hattie was found? Do you know if they were friends? Hattie might have told Brooke something, even just in passing, that could help us figure out how Hattie knew to be at the park that day.”

LaSalle falls silent and I feel like a jerk. I didn’t say what everyone is thinking. That Hattie went to the park because of something Brooke told her. I don’t want to believe Brooke could be involved that way, but I have to face the truth that she resented me and her resentment could easily have turned to hate like it did in Avery and Darren’s case. Did she hate me enough to do something to our son?

“I’ve tried reaching out to her,” he says.

The hesitancy in his voice hasn’t gone away and I look at Avery. She knows something’s off and she grips my hand.

“I called her a couple of days ago. She didn’t call me back.”

LaSalle’s quiet.

“Detective?” I prompt.

“Rowan Vale contacted me yesterday after we spoke. He reported her missing.”

“Missing?” I echo blankly. “What do you mean?”

“Mr. Vale said the day before yesterday she met friends for dinner and didn’t come home. She’s been having a difficult time since her son’s death and he wanted to give her space to grieve. He suspected she went to a friend’s and let her be. When she didn’t come home the next morning, he contacted me. We have the restaurant’s security footage showing her leaving the parking lot, and then nothing after that. He’s holding a press conference later today to ask for information.”

Avery sucks in a breath but I hardly hear it.

“Were you going to let me know?”

“That’s what I’m doing,” LaSalle replies calmly, “but you have to keep in mind she’s no longer your wife and you aren’t entitled to these kinds of details.”

“No, but she’s the mother of my child.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Lockwood, I didn’t think it was necessary to include you, nor did you feel it was necessary to tell me that you had attempted to reach her.”