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McGill’s confession also ensured there was no further need to talk to José Cortez. The mayor’s desire to protect the family simply because Alice was in her mentoring program didn’t sit right with Kerri. Sure, having the father involved in a murder case would reflect badly on the mayor’s choices, but wasn’t she supposed to be the big antidrug advocate? Was stopping crime less important than her program?
Kerri’s research last night had uncovered a couple of potential kernels that merited further digging. She had been under the impression the mayor had been born and raised in the Birmingham area. Not so. She’d moved to Birmingham from Galveston, Texas, when she was fifteen. Like Alice Cortez, she’d been raised by a family that wasn’t her own. Her parents, too, had died, and she had no other family. Possiblyneither of those similarities was anything more than coincidence, but they could explain why the mayor felt especially protective of Alice.
Still, the part of Warren’s early history that nudged at Kerri was the other similarity to Alice’s. The Odell family, who had taken in the future mayor, had suddenly come into a great deal of money about that same time. Or at least their lifestyle had changed dramatically. They’d moved from a modest home in Gardendale to a mansion in Mountain Brook. More research would be required to determine the details of the transition, but the cost of the new home didn’t fit with Mr.Odell’s employment at Alabama Power.
Interviewing the Odells wasn’t possible since the couple had died in a car crash shortly after Emma entered college, and there were no other children. Emma—the mayor—had no other family and no children of her own. There was only her husband.
Basically, the mayor’s history could be whatever she chose since there was no one to say otherwise.
Kerri shook off the thought. Maybe she was reading too much into the connection. Either way, she needed to talk to Falco about this. They should do more digging into not only the mayor but the Walshes. Considering the secret trips to Birmingham the mother had been making, it was possible she had hired someone to take out her son. The scenario didn’t fit with how she’d urged Kerri to find his killer. Then again, she’d looked almost furious about the reward being offered. There were just too many conflicting vibes coming from the woman. The mayor, too, for that matter. Until Kerri found something more concrete—if she found something more concrete—there was nowhere to go with either of those theories.
She should make breakfast and then drop Tori at Diana’s for a few hours. Not the whole day, just enough time for her and Falco to do some research and determine where they went from here on this case. If Tori wasn’t game for that scenario, Falco could come to the house and work with Kerri. They’d done it plenty of times before.
There wasn’t a whole lot they could do related to the Kurtz-Walsh case until after the ballistics report came back on the handgun Falco had found at McGill’s town house.
She exhaled a big breath, opened the fridge, and checked for the necessary breakfast ingredients. French toast was sounding good to her this morning. It was one of Tori’s favorites.
Speaking of Tori, Kerri glanced at the clock. It was twenty before eight. Tori was always up by now even on Saturday after a late night. Kerri headed for the stairs. She stopped at her daughter’s door and knocked before opening it. “Good morning, sleepyhead.”
Standing in the doorway, Kerri stared for a moment before her brain assimilated what her eyes saw.
Tori’s bed was empty.
She had passed the bathroom on the way to Tori’s door. The bathroom door had been open, the room empty. She wasn’t in the bathroom.
When Kerri would have taken a step back to go to her own bedroom and check there, something on her daughter’s bedside table caught her eye.
A note.
Fear slowly overtaking her, Kerri crossed the room and picked up the handwritten note.
Mom,
Please don’t be mad. I know I can’t trust Alice, but Sarah has run away and she needs my help. I need Sarah to help me figure this out.
Love you,
Tori
Fear burst inside Kerri’s chest, spreading icy cold through her body. She snatched the cell from her hip pocket and called Tori’s cell. Ringafter ring went unanswered. When the call went to voice mail, as calmly as possible, Kerri said, “Call me. Love you.”
Hands shaking, she called Sarah’s mother next. Each unanswered ring had Kerri’s heart beating harder.
“Hello.” Renae Talley sounded exhausted, defeated.
“Renae.” Kerri caught herself. This woman’s daughter had tried to kill herself. She had to tread softly. “How is Sarah?”
For a long moment there was nothing but silence.
Was it true then? Sarah had run away, and Tori was out there somewhere trying to help her? Anguish knotted inside Kerri.
Renae cleared her throat. “She’s better. Until this morning she hadn’t spoken a word to us or anyone.”
Shock joined the fear tugging at Kerri. “You’re still at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
Kerri moistened her lips and dared to hope. “Has Tori spoken to you or Sarah?”
