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Sunset touched the Victorian buildings in downtown Rock Harbor with a golden glow. Jon carried multiple shopping bags and boxes to Annie’s vintage red-and-white Volkswagen truck. The musicians were out in full force at the festival. The twang of guitars and the rumble of drums lifted above the murmur of voices.
Annie was tired and ready to put her feet up. Navigating the tension between Jon and Kylie was exhausting. Kylie had begged to have the twins stay with her tonight, and Bree was going to grab their clothes and bring them out to the cottage. How would Jon handle three rambunctious children in the house? The awkwardness between Kylie and him showed no signs of resolving anytime soon, and she didn’t know how to help that situation along. She’d never known her daughter to be so hostile to anyone, and she couldn’t quite figure out what to do about it.
“You make a great pack mule,” Annie told Jon as he stuck the packages into the back seat. “See you at the house in a few minutes.” If Kylie hadn’t been watching, she would have kissed him.
He hesitated, and his gaze dropped to her lips, so she knew he was thinking the same thing, but Kylie watched them like a hawk as she buckled herself into the back seat.
“Annie!”
She turned at the sound of Mason’s voice. He strode across Houghton Street toward them, and her pulse quickened. Maybe he’d found Michelle Fraser.
Mason stopped in front of Jon and her. “Glad I caught you. We found out some interesting details about Michelle Fraser. You have a minute?”
“You didn’t find her?”
He shook his head. “She fled an abusive marriage, and in the time she’s been missing, she’s had five different addresses—all at the same time.”
“Wow, she must have money.”
“Her ex is part oftheFraser family. The one that owns a number of iron mines in the area. The ex lives just outside Marquette.”
It clicked for Annie, and she nodded. “That might explain why she didn’t go to the police for protection. Maybe she tried and the Fraser money overruled her. What about her parents and siblings? Do they know where she is?”
“I left a message for her mother but haven’t heard back from her yet.”
Annie frowned. “So no one’s looking for her. What if she’s out there lost in the forest somewhere? The bloody sheets are worrisome.”
“I agree. I think I’ll pay the Frasers a little visit. See what the ex knows.”
“You’re up for reelection, Mason. You sure you want to stir a hornet’s nest?”
“I’ve never let money or politics interfere with doing my job, and I’m not about to start now. Want to go with me? I plan to make that visit in the morning.”
“Sure. What time?”
“About ten. I hear my niece and nephew are about to descend on your place. Bree said she’d take Kylie with the twins when she picks them up in the morning.”
The relationships were more complicated than they sounded. Mason’s wife, Hilary, was Bree’s first husband’s sister. The twins technically weren’t related to Mason and Hilary since Kade was their father, but Bree’s oldest, Davy, was their nephew, and they had never differentiated between the children. Bree’s first husband, Rob, was Davy’s father, but Rob’s mother, Anu, claimed all of them as her grandchildren too. Kade had adopted Davy, and while Hilary had objected to the name change initially, she’d seen the writing on the wall and had accepted the situation. To complicate the complex family web even more, Hilary and Mason had adopted Kade’s sister’s child, Zoe, conceived when his sister was sixteen. So the families were tightly interwoven.
“I’ll be ready. How’d it go with Taylor? Did she give you any more information?”
“Not really. I’d hoped she might know who Sean associated with, but she didn’t seem to know that much about him. She’d only been around him a few times. I don’t think she had anything to do with the murders.” Mason sighed. “But I’ll keep digging. So far his friends are coming up clean. Maybe he committed the murders by himself, but I’m not assuming anything.”
“And what about the missing hikers? And Christopher Willis? Do you think Sean killed Willis, too, or had anything to do with the missing hikers?”
“There’s no direct evidence one way or another. I don’t have much to go on, but I’m still digging.”
She watched Mason stride off toward the sheriff’s office.
“What’s that all about?” Jon asked.
Annie told him about the abandoned car and condo. “The forensics aren’t back yet, but we also found a bloody sheet in the trunk. At the very least, we need to try to get a DNA sample from Michelle’s parents to see if it’s her blood. We couldn’t find so much as a toothbrush at her condo.”
“Strange circumstances. Has a search of the forest been conducted?”
“Just the general area around the abandoned car. There didn’t seem to be footprints leading into the forest. It was more like the car was dumped there. If the blood is Michelle’s, the first thing is to figure out where to search. I don’t think we’ve found the right area yet.”
“Lot of forest up there. It’s going to be difficult to figure out where to look.”
