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For once Kennedy didn’t seem to feel Jason’s stare, and Jason let his gaze linger. Kennedy wore gold wire reading glasses—exactly how old was he?—his thighs in blue jeans looked muscular, his shoulders powerful. The scent of his cologne had faded, replaced by clean sweat and laundered cotton.
Kennedy knew his stuff. No question there. Whatever had gone wrong in Wisconsin, it didn’t make Kennedy the screw-up Manning had implied. Sometimes cases blew up in your face, and sometimes you ended up the scapegoat for local politics. And yes, sometimes maybe you did mess up. But should one case, one mistake, define a man’s career—especially an agent with Kennedy’s impressive record?
Jason forced his attention back to the witness statement before him. Which was the same as all the other witness statements. One minute Rebecca had been there, the next she was gone.
After a time, Gervase ushered the Madigans out of his office. He was kind and comforting, but Jason noticed he was not overly reassuring; Gervase had a lot of experience at this and had learned not to give out false hope.
After the chief saw the Madigans out, he returned to the office where Jason and Kennedy were still cross-checking eyewitness accounts. If you could call see-no-evil-hear-no-evil-speak-no-evil an eyewitness account.
“We’ve called the search off for the night.” His face was bleak. “The light’s gone, and those woods are too dangerous to ask people to wander around in the dark.”
Kennedy nodded.
“There’s no sign of her,” Gervase said. “None. The dogs lost the trail a couple of feet beyond the back of the property line. It’s like she stepped out of her backyard and vanished into thin air.”
“Or she stepped out of her front yard,” Jason said.
Kennedy gave him a curious look.
“We tried that too,” Gervase said wearily. “Front or back, the dogs never picked up her scent more than a foot or so from the Madigan property.”
Jason began, “There’s no possibility—”
“No. None. Every inch of that house has been checked. Basement to attic. Tool shed to pool house. Rebecca is not on the premises.”
The chief seemed to be waiting for something from Kennedy. Kennedy said, “You’ll resume the search at first light?”
“Hell, yes.” Gervase’s mouth twisted. “By the way, your boy McEnroe is asking to take a lie-detector test.”
Kennedy’s brows rose. “Is he? Interesting.”
“You know as well as I do, the results are unreliable.”
“They are. Don’t you think his willingness to take the test is noteworthy?”
“Noteworthy?” Gervase snorted. “I guess. So what do you think?”
“I think we give him a polygraph.”
Gervase nodded, but he said, “I guess he believes he can beat the machine. I still think he knows where she is.”
Jason said. “I’m not so sure. I think he’s telling the truth.”
Kennedy’s mouth curved in that humorless smile.
Gervase said, “Did you find another viable suspect in those reports?”
“No,” Jason admitted. “Nothing yet.”
Gervase sighed. He looked very weary. “Well, she could still be alive,” he said with what sounded like forced cheer. “There’s always hope until there isn’t. We might find her tomorrow.”
Kennedy nodded, but it seemed to be at his own thoughts and not the police chief’s words.
Jason said, “If we are dealing with a copycat…”
He didn’t finish it. He didn’t have to. They all knew that if they were dealing with a copycat, Rebecca was already dead.
Chapter Six
