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“Who did you report to?”
“Same answer. I never met this person. Just picked up my money from a different drop spot each time over a period of a month. Then, um, this person said they wanted me to grab the girl. I said no way. Then—” he blinked “—I got a letter with some pictures of my ex-wife and little boy. It said if I didn’t follow through with everything they would disappear.”
“So you went after Bethany.”
He swallowed hard. “I didn’t want to, but yeah.” Tears appeared for a brief moment before he ducked his head. When he looked back up, they were gone. “I wasn’t going to let anything happen to my son.”
“Where’d you get the gun?” Daniel asked.
“It was left at one of the drop sites with half the money for grabbing the girl.”
Lacey felt her stomach swirl and thought she might be sick. Mason looked ready to leap over the table and throttle the guy.
She admired his restraint.
Her hands ached and she realized she’d tightened her fingers into fists so tight her knuckles were white.
Making an effort to relax, she unfurled them and leaned toward the window.
A knock on the door pulled Catelyn from the interrogation as she moved to answer it. Someone Lacey couldn’t see handed Catelyn a piece of paper. The detective looked at it and a smile of satisfaction crossed her face.
Turning back to the lawyer and Howe, she slid the paper across the table and said, “We have your print on the car Kayla Mahoney died in. What’d you do, John, run her off the road?”
“No!” he protested. “I was following behind them, yeah, but I didn’t do anything that would make them wreck. All of a sudden the driver swerved then crashed into a tree.”
That part matched with Georgia’s story. So, it wasn’t Austin Howard at the site of the wreck. Mason wasn’t surprised.
“So you showed up, the girls thought you were there to help and you tried to get Bethany to go with you. When she wouldn’t, you pulled the gun and ended up getting shot.”
“Yeah.” He rubbed shaking fingers across his lips. “That about sums it up.”
“Not quite.” Mason stood and slapped a hand on the table. “Did you leave that little gift in Bethany’s room last night?”
Confusion flickered. “What are you talking about?”
Mason and Catelyn exchanged a glance. “You weren’t anywhere near the Gibson household last night?”
“No and I have witnesses to prove it.”
Daniel slid the man a pen. “Write them down.”
Howe looked at his lawyer who’d been surprisingly quiet through the whole confession. The man nodded and Howe started writing.
When he was finished he set the pen down. “I don’t know what happened to the girl. I was supposed to leave her drugged and tied to a tree out in the woods just at the edge of the high school. Then I was to pick up my money at another location about thirty minutes away at a specific time. I was warned not to be late or the money would be gone.”
“While you were picking up the money, this person would be picking up Bethany,” Mason stated in a low monotone. Howe nodded.
Lacey shuddered at the visual image.
Howe leaned back and sighed. “But it never happened. She got away from me.” With a grudging respect, Howe admitted, “She’s good at martial arts. I’m better, but she’s good.”
“So you’ve been looking for her, chasing her, right?”
This time a guilty flush appeared and he clamped his lips shut. His lawyer said, “Okay, that’s enough questions. We’re done here.”
“Not quite.” Mason leaned in and narrowed his eyes. “Bethany’s out there all alone. She’s scared and probably exhausted from trying to stay one step ahead of you. Why isn’t she coming to us for help? Or at least finding the nearest cop?”
Howe averted his gaze.
