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Dan got to his feet. “We’re not going back to bed to sleep, are we?”
“Not even close.”
Chapter Twenty
Monday, July 30, 2018
GARY’S PHONErang, and he peered at the screen. “It’s Pete Raskin.” He clicked Answer, then put him on speaker. “Good morning.”
“I know I shouldn’t be doing this, but I just wanted to know if you’d made any progress. Have you learned anything new?”
Gary could hear the barely concealed anxiety in his voice. “We do have a few leads to look into,” he admitted. Aiden Reynolds wasn’t off the hook yet, andsomeonehad told Connor Brightmore’s family that Cheryl was dead. And then there was Paul DiFanetti. “We met with Aiden Reynolds.”
Pete huffed. “I bet you felt as if you needed a bath after that.”
At his desk, Dan frowned. “You’ve seen his posts on social media.”
“I’m not on any of that, but my buddy Francis is. I got him to do a search. Didn’t much like what he found.”
Neither did I.
“We still have some inquiries to make about him.” Then Gary remembered the scarf Dan had found. “Mr. Raskin, did Cheryl have a partner? I know you haven’t mentioned one, but did she date much?”
“Not really. She was either working or painting. But….”
His hesitation pricked Gary’s interest. “What did you just think of?”
There was a pause. “Do you have children, Detective Mitchell?”
“No.”
“Well… one of the things about being a parent is sometimes you get a kind of sixth sense. I’ll share something with you. I think Cheryl was keeping a secret.”
Gary thought it was probably the copies.
“I think there might have been someone she never told me about. I do know it wasn’t that Rayne.”
Gary frowned. “Who?”
“Rayne Wilcox. They met at college, right about the time she was starting to go by the name of Cheryl. Anyway, Rayne came home with Cheryl two, three times. She stayed with us. Tried her luck too, not that she got anywhere.”
“What do you mean?” Dan called out.
“She had a thing for Cheryl.” Pete chuckled. “Not that she was subtle about it. She might just as well have worn a neon sign on her head that said Date Me, Cheryl?And then one night while she was staying with us, I got up to go to the bathroom, and I caught Rayne coming out of Cheryl’s room. Judging by the look on her face, she’d struck out. They were okay the following morning, though, so I guess Rayne didn’t take rejection too badly. But they were close. Yeah, you should talk to Rayne. She might know if Cheryl was interested in anyone.” His voice took on a decisive edge.
Gary watched Dan scribble on a notepad. “We’ll do that. And Mr. Raskin? I know you’re anxious for news, but—”
“But I should wait for you to call me,” he interjected. “Yeah, I can see how me calling all the time might get to be a nuisance. Okay. I’ll let you get on with it.”
There was something in Pete’s voice that told Gary he wouldn’t be happy about waiting, however.
Dan got up and walked over to Gary’s desk. “Mr. Raskin, we want to find the person responsible too.”
“I know. And I thank God you’ve taken this case on. So I guess I should let you do your job.” He said goodbye and hung up.
Dan sighed. “We’ve brought back all the pain again.” He returned to his own desk.
“Then let’s see what we can learn from this Rayne character. Maybe that’ll bring us closer to the truth.” Gary tapped on the keyboard, peering at the monitor. “Aha.”
