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“Yeah, I keep records.” James sat down on the office chair behind the counter. “What do you want to know?”
“Did you happen to be in the vicinity of Paradise Falls on Friday night last week?” Jo lifted her pen and stared at him. “Around suppertime?”
“No, I haven’t been out that way.” James sighed. “It’s a sought-after area and there’s nothing available.”
“What about Broken Wolf Forest yesterday morning?” Jo stared at him.
“I did drop by a cabin out that way yesterday.” James rubbed the back of his neck and his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. “I often drive around looking for properties for sale and I approach the owners. Many are more than happy to deal with me. I have a good turnover of properties here and I tell them how to make their homes more appealing to buyers.”
“Do you know the Bridger family?” Jo was watching him closely.
“Yeah, just so happens I do. I sold them a ranch house in Paradise Falls.” James heaved a sigh as if finding something positive to say was a relief, but he kept his expression congenial. “Nice couple.”
Carter glanced at his notes. This guy was being a little too cooperative, too nice. His neck prickled and he exchanged a meaningful stare with Jo. Had she picked up the unusual vibe from him too? He turned back to James. “What about Jenell Rickers, she runs the Doggy Daycare Center in town? She purchased land for an exercise area for her dogs not long ago.”
“If she’s the woman who walks a ton of dogs, yeah, I’ve seen her go by, but I don’t know her.” James shrugged. “I’m not the only realtor in town.”
“What about Maisy Jones?” Jo looked up from her notebook and gave Carter a barely perceivable nod. “Or Billy Stevens out of Black Rock Falls?”
“Can’t say that I do.” James looked from one to the other. “Have you interviewed all these people too? Did they say they’d seen me?”
He is fishing to find out what we know.Carter shook his head. “Nope. Did you go to Black Rock Falls on Monday or Wednesday?”
“It just so happens I did go and see clients on both those days.” James stared at his computer screen. “It was late, and I went to my first appointment at five. I signed up a client and dropped by Aunt Betty’s for a bite to eat and then went out to sign up another client on Stanton at eight.”
“Do you have the contact details of the people you visited?” Jo looked up from taking notes.
“Yeah, I do, but I’m sure if the FBI contacts them, they won’t be hiring me anytime soon.” James’ eyes flashed in annoyance and he rubbed the back of his neck, clearly agitated.
“We would call but they wouldn’t know it was specifically about you.” Jo smiled at him. “For instance, we might say we had a call about a prowler on Wednesday night around the time you were there. Then we’d ask them if they had any visitors, so we can eliminate unknown vehicles in the area.”
“Oh, I see.” James took a pen from a cup on his desk and scrawled on a piece of paper. “There you go.”
“Thanks.” Jo took the note and pulled out a card.
Carter’s phone buzzed, and seeing it was Sheriff Nolan, he excused himself and went outside, leaving Jo to finish up with James. He accepted the call. “Carter.”
“We have a problem. One of our townsfolk, a local artist by the name of Ginger Vaughn, is missing. She lives in town and I’ve sent a deputy by to do a welfare check, but she hasn’t been seen and her neighbor seems to be the busybody type. I went into the town hall to speak to the person who reported her missing. Ellen Cartwright said she mentioned meeting a client out at her cabin who was going by to collect a picture last night at six. Vaughn was due at the gallery at eight this morning and didn’t show. No one has been able to reach her.”
Carter scratched his cheek and stared at the cruiser, seeing Zorro staring at him through the window. “Hmm, maybe she went to see her boyfriend?”
“Nope, he was the first person Cartwright called but he hasn’t seen her for a week. They have a casual relationship. Both are artists and it’s not serious. Vaughn might have switched off her phone and be sleeping at her cabin for all I know. Sometimes these artists go missing for days. It’s not the first time someone in my department has gone by and found her asleep.”
Wondering why this case involved them, Carter shook his head. “Haven’t you been out to the cabin to check on her?”
“Nope, I have the auto forensic team breathing down my neck right now and I’m needed here. This is the problem with the explosion occurring on the county line, both sheriff’s departments are involved. I’m between a rock and a hard place here with the auto forensic team on my back all darn day.”
Carter rolled his eyes.Was this guy for real?“With people vanishing all over your town, don’t you figure you should prioritize this case? It’s duty of care to at least check out the cabin.”
“This is why I’m notifying the FBI. If something has happened out at her cabin, and it’s linked to the other missing persons cases, your ME wouldn’t want my deputies messing up a crime scene. I’ll send you the coordinates. Maybe Sherriff Alton can provide backup, if necessary, as her team is already involved.”Sheriff Nolan disconnected.
Carter let out a long sigh and pushed his phone back inside his pocket. “Life just became a whole lot more complicated.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
Black Rock Falls
As luck would have it, when Jenna called George Miller from Miller’s Garage, he was more than happy to help. He explained that Matthew Oakley, the auto club mechanic, had his own rig but took the garage’s callouts when his mechanics were busy, which he did frequently. In his downtime, Oakley often worked between calls at Miller’s Garage. Oakley lived out at Winding Alley but just happened to be at the garage working on a Toyota. She disconnected and turned to Kane. “Head straight to Miller’s Garage. Oakley is working there today.”
