“Nope.”
“LeVar, stay out of it. You’re not the kid’s father.”
LeVar folded his arms over his chest.
“Anthony doesn’t have a father, so I’m as good as he’s got.” LeVar shuffled his feet. “He wants to meet in Harmon.”
“Hell, no. Tell Anthony to come to Wolf Lake if he wants guidance. Or call the sheriff’s department. Thomas will protect him like he protected you.”
“That’ll raise suspicion. If Anthony plans to jump ship, you can bet Rev already knows. Anthony traveling to Wolf Lake will draw Rev, and you don’t want the leader of the Harmon Kings in our village.”
“I’m worried Rev will target you and Anthony.”
LeVar’s eyes hardened.
“He’ll get what’s coming to him if he does.”
“It’s not safe for you to return to Harmon.”
“I gotta help my boy. Who else he got?”
Raven looked to Darren. If they didn’t stop LeVar from driving to Harmon, Rev would kill him.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Friday, August 13th
11:10 a.m.
“Last session, we spoke about your father. You planned to visit your parents before returned today. How did that go?”
Thomas glances everywhere but at Dr. Mandal.
“I’ve been busy with two new cases.”
“I read about the skeleton below the fall, and the kidnapped woman.”
“Crime never sleeps.”
“And yet you still had time to get together with your friends.”
Thomas drums his legs. He knows Dr. Mandal is right. But he doesn’t appreciate the woman playing parent with him.
“I’ll go tomorrow.”
“You don’t need to promise me, Thomas. This isn’t about me. This is about you and your father.”
“He doesn’t want to talk about the lung cancer.”
She presses her lips together and leans forward with her hands clasped over her knee.
“Not many people living on borrowed time wish to discuss their projected funeral dates. This was never about you and your father discussing his cancer. You need each other, because you are father and son.”
“We’ve never had a father-son relationship.”
“And yet you are. You can’t change the past, Thomas, and you can’t change your father. But you can be there for him, as his child, during his time of need.”
* * *
Thomas hung up the phone and scrunched his brow. He didn’t like this at all. Paige Sutton had just called because she hadn’t heard from Justine Adkins.
Lambert rapped his knuckles on the office door and brought Thomas out of his thoughts.
“Everything all right, Sheriff?”
Thomas let out a breath and rocked back in his chair, his hands clasped over his belly. If he added a few inches to his height and fifty pounds around his gut, he’d be the spitting image of Sheriff Gray in twenty years.
“That was Paige Sutton. She can’t locate Justine Adkins.”
Lambert frowned and lowered himself into a chair.
“Perhaps she blew out of town and drove home. You said you sensed a riff between the women.”
“I did. But Aguilar pawed around the bed-and-breakfast last evening. Justine’s car wasn’t in the lot, yet the owner claimed she hadn’t checked out.”
“She had a room in Kane Grove, right?”
“At a place called the Orange Tulip.”
“I’ll make a few calls and check with Kane Grove PD.”
“Thank you, Deputy.”
Lambert exited the room and left Thomas alone with his fears. He felt the investigation spinning out of control, as the Thea Barlow case had a month ago. He drummed a pen against his desk as he considered his next move. Then he lifted the receiver, called the Orange Tulip, and waited while the clerk transferred him to Justine’s room. No answer. Next, he phoned the front desk at the Orange Tulip. The manager sounded harried and too busy to talk after confirming the woman hadn’t checked out this morning.
“Is her car in the parking lot? She drives a red Acura.”
The manager gave Thomas an exaggerated sigh.
“Hold one moment.” Acoustic guitar played over the phone while Thomas waited. “I don’t see a red Acura, Sheriff. If you locate Ms. Adkins, she needs to tell me if she intends to keep the room past tomorrow morning. I have many guests clamoring for the room, and I can’t wait any longer.”
The manager ended the call before Thomas could reply.
Rising from his chair, Thomas wandered into the operations center and rested his back against the wall. He watched Lambert across the room, the deputy’s head bobbing as he jotted notes on a sheet of paper. Lambert hung up the phone and turned his chair around.
“We found her car.”
“Justine Adkins’s Acura?”
“I put a call into Kane Grove PD. Turns out they received a complaint about an abandoned vehicle at the KG Shopping Market. The owner assumed somebody’s car broke down. But when nobody showed up to tow it away, he called the police.”
Thomas grabbed his hat.
“Call Kane Grove PD and have them meet me at the grocery store.”
“Will do.”
Thomas hopped into his cruiser and gunned the engine. He sensed time was running out on Justine Adkins, as if someone set an hourglass on its head. As he turned onto the highway, he radioed Lambert and had him run a check on Justine’s credit cards. Lambert confirmed she’d used her credit card at the KG Shopping Market after ten o’clock last evening, around the time Aguilar had searched for Adkins at the Orange Tulip.
The detective awaiting Thomas was a lanky woman in a dark blue pants suit and heels, her almond colored hair cut in a shaggy, angled bob.
“Thanks for coming over, Sheriff. I’m Detective Presley.”
“Thomas Shepherd,” he said, offering his hand.
“We’re fortunate your deputy called when he did. The manager wanted the Acura towed. Any idea what happened to the owner?”
Thomas gave Detective Presley the background surrounding Justine Adkins and her two friends.
“So this might be related to a missing persons case from six years ago?” she asked.
“It might very well be. This must be the car.”
Thomas followed Presley to the red Acura. The tires straddled the line, suggesting the missing woman struggled to park the car in the fog. With gloves on his hands, Thomas grabbed the handle. The unlocked door opened.
Presley turned away and plugged her nose. The interior smelled
