This had to be a long game. He would be as careful as he could, but he would not lose sight of his goal. This game had already left blood on his hands.
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
Jay trotted down the stairs. He needed to safely convince Dave to stay out of this, to let him go alone, otherwise his plan would not work. He wanted the fingernails scraped before it reached the hands of this forensic tech because he had no doubt that the answers he would get back would be censored by Dave.
He got downstairs and heard Dave’s steps at the top and moved into the kitchen.
“I was wondering when you were ever going to come up for air.”
Jay turned at Dave’s voice and gave him a small smile. “We’ve had nothing concrete for so long I was beginning to think the kidnapper had forgotten about me.”
Dave chuckled and shook his head. “I’m not an expert, but I’d say after all the trouble they’ve been through to get you here in the first place, that is unlikely to ever be possible.”
Jay nodded and prepared to launch into his prepared speech.
“I’m going out for a bit. Shall I bring back Chinese for supper?”
Jay swallowed his own words and tilted his head to the side. “Sounds good. Where you off to?”
“I got a lead on the sheriff and his men. Turns out their respective wives all go to the same cafe every Thursday. I’m going to check the place out now, see if I can get a good sense of where I might be able to listen in from. As we learned in Salisbury, never underestimate the power of a good gossip.”
Jay held in a rueful smile.
“Well, good luck, then.”
Dave winked. “I will. Back in an hour or so.”
Jay watched him leave and struggled to swallow his sandwich. Dave had been watching him for a lot longer than Jay was aware of, but hadn’t put together what it might mean. It seemed that Dave didn’t see him as an enemy necessarily. It seemed more likely, now, that Dave didn’t want to defeat him as an enemy, but as a leader. Jay was at the top of his field. If Dave surpassed him, there’d never be any danger of him being caught.
Jay dumped his lunch in the bin and pulled out the little cooler box for transporting the finger. Joe’s man should already be waiting. It didn’t matter that Jay would be tailed. All Dave’s spies would report was something that he had already told Dave he was planning on doing.
***
Dave arrived at the house just in time for the meeting. Today, other than Lloyd Bailen and Sheriff Du Preez, the mayor’s son, Jack Newman, was also there. He was the one responsible for keeping the media down.
Dave had arrived on foot and finished donning his mask. Dressed head-to-toe in black, he looked for the other shadow that would be gracing today’s meeting. Amara stepped out a little ahead of him, and he motioned for her to begin their plan.
“You sure we should be sitting in on this?” Jack was asking as Dave entered the room.
The sheriff glanced around but didn’t spot Dave in the shadows. “Watch your mouth. If they hear that, I don’t like to think where we’d be at.”
Jack scowled. “But if we alert the media about Miranda Williams, surely it will be far too public for them to do anything bad to us?”
“Idiot. Do you think the media will just materialize here? They’ll send snoops out first to make sure that the tip is legit. These people will have plenty of time to make good on their threats.”
Dave frowned. If the sheriff was really ordering his men to send out information, why was he being so hard line against Jack?
Lloyd looked more sallow than he had when Dave had first knocked on his door, holding the locket of the only person he cared about—his mother. The woman had been long dead, but Lloyd either didn’t realize or knew it was no good anyway.
“Both of you shut it. Look, he promised this would be over soon. When it is, we could tell whoever we want about the bodies.”
“A wise decision.”
They all jumped, and Dave had to hold back a wave of laughter. He had made a point of bumping into these men separately and randomly around town since his arrival here with Jay, and all of them had dismissed him as everyone always did.
Except Jay.
Dave sauntered a few steps forward so that they’d stop squinting into the shadows around him. On the other side of the room, Amara mirrored his moves.
“Sheriff,” he said softly. Amanda held in her hand the locket that had belonged to Lloyd’s mother, the allergy warning bracelet that was the sheriff’s sister’s, and a lock of fine red hair that belonged to Newman’s wife. “I have become aware of an information leak in your department.”
The man tensed. “It wasn’t me.”
His true laugh was cold and promised pain. “Yet you, or rather Anna, will still pay the price if you cannot get it under control.”
The man paled and nodded vigorously. “I will, I will.”
“Good. There’s a threat and request that will be put to one of the forensic techs soon. Tell her to comply, but to forward all finds to me first, then follow my instructions if I want anything changed before she passes it on.”
Again, the man nodded so fervently Dave was sure the action must be hurting his neck. He shifted to the other two.
“Lloyd. The leak seems to be making use of your people too. Plug it.”
