XO

the problems in life.

Harutyun came back on after an interminable five minutes. “Video at the airport. A woman in her thirties and little girl got into Edwin’s Buick. About thirty minutes after the flight from Portland landed.”

Dance looked at the expectant faces. She told them what the deputy had said.

“No!” Kayleigh screamed. “No!”

“And. Agent Dance… Kathryn,” Harutyun was saying on the line. “Just heard from the fire team. There’s only one body inside.” He hesitated. “Not too big. Could be a teenager-boy or girl-or a woman. Can’t tell; body’s burned down to the bone. At least, if it is the sister, the little girl’s still alive. But that also means he’s got her. And that, I don’t even want to think about.”

Chapter 27

KAYLEIGH PLACED YET another frantic call.

“Answer, answer, answer,” she whispered. She grimaced. “Suellyn, it’s me. Call me right away. I mean immediately. There’s a problem.” She looked at the screen. “How do I mark it urgent?” Her voice broke. “I don’t know how! How do I mark it urgent?”

Dance took her phone, examined the screen and hit a button.

And Dance had given her opinion that stalkers tended not to target family members.

What was going on in Edwin’s mind, if he had in fact kidnapped the two? Had he been so incensed about the arrest that he’d snapped? Had he started stalking Bishop that morning to learn what he could and found out about the arrival of Kayleigh’s sister and niece? In the car maybe he’d confessed his love for Kayleigh and enlisted Suellyn’s aid to win her over. When the woman refused, he’d killed her and taken the girl. Maybe he intended to raise her, treating her like a young Kayleigh of his own. Dance was a tough policewoman, yes, but she was a mother too and she simply didn’t want to face that scenario.

“Please,” Kayleigh begged once more. “Isn’t there anything you can do? Track her phone or something?”

“That can be done. It takes time. But sure. I’ll order it.”

Not sharing with anyone, least of all Kayleigh, that if the body in the shed was Suellyn there would be no phone left to track.

Dance was speaking to TJ Scanlon about contacting the woman’s provider, when Darthur Morgan called from the entryway, “Another car coming. Well, what on earth’s this?”

Dance wondered what that cryptic comment might mean.

A moment later there was the clunk of car doors closing and the sound of a vehicle accelerating away on the gravel drive.

Then the front door opened and in walked a woman in her thirties and an adorable little golden-haired girl of about six, in a pink dress. She held a stuffed plush toy. She ignored everyone in the room except the singer, whom she ran to and hugged. “Aunt Kayleigh, look! We went to this neat museum and we brought you a stuffed redwood tree!”

Chapter 28

KATHRYN DANCE SMILED a greeting to the woman she’d been introduced to-Suellyn Sanchez, Kayleigh’s sister-and walked to the door. She noted the big red Buick speeding away.

“It was him,” Kayleigh whispered, also looking out the window and struggling to put on a calm facade so as not to worry the little girl.

Suellyn embraced her father-a seemingly pro forma gesture. She greeted Sheri too, more affectionately than Kayleigh had. “What’s with the police? Is this about Bobby?”

Kayleigh, however, glanced icily toward her father and turned her attention to Mary-Gordon. “Honey, let me show you some new games I got for the next time you visited. Just for you.”

“Yay!… Where’s Freddie?”

“He’s in the stable at Grandpa’s house. You and your mommy are going to be staying there.”

“I like Freddie but I want to stay with you,” the girl announced.

“Oh, I’m not going to be here much. I’ll come see you at Grandpa’s.”

“Okay.”

“Come on.”

Her arm around the girl, Kayleigh steered the girl to the bodyguard. “And this is Mr. Morgan. He’s a friend of mine. He hangs out with us.”

He delicately shook the girl’s hand. “My name’s Darthur. You can call me that.”

The girl looked at the security man with curiosity. “That’s a funny name.”

“You bet it is,” the man said, looking uncertainly at Kayleigh, but following gamely.

“My name’s Mary-Gordon but it’s not two names, it’s one. Mary and Gordon, with a line in between. They call the line a hyphen.”

“It’s a very pretty name.”

“Thank you. I like you.”

Dance called Harutyun and told him that the sister and niece were safe. He reported they still had no ID on the victim but the fire was out and the CSU and medical examiners were about to go inside, process the body and run the scene.

Kaleigh and the girl vanished into the den and Kayleigh returned a moment later, steamed up to her sister and said, “What were you thinking?”

“What?”

“Do you know who gave you that ride?”

“That friend of yours. Said his name was Stan.”

Dance pointed out, “Stanton. Middle name.”

“Jesus Christ.” Kayleigh’s voice dropped. “It’s my goddamn stalker. Did you think to call? He’s the one who murdered Bobby.”

“What? Oh, my God. But you said he was fat, disgusting…”

“Well, he made himself unfat,” Kayleigh snapped, looking angrily into her sister’s brown eyes. She shook her head and relented. “Sorry. It’s not your fault. You just… you shouldn’t be here.” A cold glance toward Bishop.

Dance said, “We aren’t sure who’s behind it. Edwin Sharp is a possible suspect. But you should avoid any more contact with him.”

“Where did you go?” Kayleigh asked.

“He asked if we wanted to see something Mary-Gordon might like. He said it was on the way. We went to the tree museum near Forty-One and the Bluffs. He said he knew you liked to spend time hiking in the forest.”

Kayleigh closed her eyes. “He knew that too?” Her hands were shaking. “I was so scared! Why didn’t you pick up when I called?”

“The phone was in my computer bag. He put that in the trunk. I was going to keep it with me but he took it. I mean, I’m sorry, K, but he knew everything about you. He said you’d written a song about trees but it got co-opted by Greenpeace or some eco movement and you stopped performing it. I didn’t even know that. He knew about everybody in the band, he knew about Sheri. I thought he was a good friend.”

Morgan said, “So the other killing, just now? By the river? That couldn’t have been him?”

Dance considered the timing again. She decided that Edwin could have abducted and shot the victim, set fire to the body and made it to the airport in time to pick up Suellyn and her daughter.

“Oh, Jesus. We were in the car with somebody who’d just killed a man?” Suellyn whispered.

Bishop said, “Well, you’re safe now. That’s all that matters. But that fucker. He’s going down.”

Kayleigh wiped more tears.

Suellyn said, “This is just so strange. I almost got the idea he was your boyfriend. He said he was worried