“That’s when I felt where she was, and the distance she’d gone, which ended up being much further than anyone had anticipated. After I directed the search-and-rescue team to that area, that’s exactly where they found her.”
She didn’t mention that the dogs sniffed the toy as well, but I picked up that she was telling the truth, and the direction she sent them did, in fact, save them a lot of time. I got the feeling the child had wandered all over the place, so directing them to a specific area had made a big difference.
“Just out of curiosity, do you remember Mack Haywood? I believe he was one of the search-and-rescue people.” Willow tried to remember, but the name didn’t ring a bell, so I described him. “Mid-fifties, good-looking in a rugged kind of way. He had a German Shepherd named Coco.”
“Oh… yes. I remember him. He’s the one who found Ava. He was pretty happy about that. I think he carried her all the way back to our group and handed her off to her mother.”
“Did you speak with him?”
“No, I didn’t.” She remembered watching the scene unfold. Carolyn and her daughter, Misti, were so overjoyed to have Ava back that they were hugging everyone who had helped. Thinking back, it had seemed a little odd that Mack had hung around. He’d spoken to both Carolyn and Misti a second time before they left.
Misti had hugged him, but it surprised her that Carolyn did as well, especially since she wasn’t a demonstrative person. It irked her that Carolyn had even offered to pay him. Of course, he’d quickly refused, but if Carolyn was paying anyone, it should have been her.
She’d watched them exchange numbers, and she’d wondered what that was about. But she forgot all about it when Carolyn pulled her into the circle and acknowledged that they couldn’t have found Ava without her.
Carolyn had offered to pay her as well, but, after Mack’s refusal, she couldn’t exactly accept any money. Still, Carolyn did send her a two hundred dollar gift card, so it all worked out.
Curious, she glanced my way. “Why do you ask? Do you know him or something?”
“Yes, you might say that.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to give Willow any information. Who knew what she’d do then? “I might want to speak with Carolyn. Could I get her phone number and address from you?”
“Uh… I guess… but why?” She was thinking that, if I was checking up on her, she’d have to make up some excuse as to why she couldn’t give it to me. She wasn’t about to let me go behind her back, especially with a well-paying client.
Now I had to tell her. It should be okay as long as she didn’t go running to Carolyn. “Well… here’s the thing. Mack was murdered last week, and I’d like to ask her a couple of questions.”
“What? Are you kidding me? Wait… you think she had something to do with it?”
“No. Not at all. I’d just like to talk to her about the rescue and see if she remembers anything about it that seemed unusual. Mack was murdered only a week later, and that was his last search-and-rescue job. I’m just trying to cover all my bases.”
“Is this something you’re doing for the police?”
“No. His son, Austin, asked for my help. I have my own consulting agency, so I do a lot of my own work.”
“Oh… I didn’t know that.” She pursed her lips before coming to a decision. “Okay, I’ll give you her phone number and address. But you’d better call her first. She hates it when people just drop by.”
“Does she live alone, or does her daughter live with her?”
“She’s alone. Her husband died when Misti was young, and she raised Misti on her own. Misti lives close by with her husband and Ava, and they’re a really tight, close family.” Willow found Carolyn’s contact info on her phone. “Can I text this to you?”
“Sure.” I gave her my number, and she sent it to me. “Got it. Thanks. I really appreciate this.”
Willow nodded, but she was wondering if she should call Carolyn and warn her about me.
“Uh… if you call to warn her about me, do you mind not giving her any specifics about my case? Maybe you could just tell her that I’m interested in the search-and-rescue team, and I want her view on how they worked together, or something like that.”
Willow sucked in her breath. It was like I’d read her mind. “Okay… I guess.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll be nice.”
She shook her head. How did I know she was worried about that? “I… uh… thanks, I appreciate it.”
Dimples pulled into the precinct parking lot, which put an end to our conversation. He was thinking that I needed to be careful, or Willow might figure out my secret. Did I want her to know? He sure didn’t.
We got out of the car, and he glanced my way. “You coming in?”
I checked my watch, surprised to find it so late. “Uh… no. I need to get going. But you’ll call me tomorrow, right? So I can lis… uh… be there to question those guys?”
“Yeah. We’ll bring them in, and I’ll let you know.”
“Okay. I’ll see you then.”
I headed home during rush hour traffic, so I had lots of time to think. Finding out about Carolyn from Willow had been a huge help, but I wasn’t sure how it was tied to Mack’s murder. It was obvious she’d been grateful to him, and they’d exchanged numbers, but if she’d sent a gift card to Willow, she probably wanted his information to send something to him, too.
It sounded like another dead end, but it couldn’t hurt to talk to her. I briefly considered telling Detective Williams and Clue what I’d found, but decided against it. I’d tell them if I found
