The Girl With No Name

Chapter Thirty

Josie walked through Denton’s City Park and the woods surrounding it until her feet ached and the sun dropped below the edge of the horizon. It would be another two hours before the sheriff’s dog unit showed up. Several officers had fanned out across the park while patrol cars weaved throughout the city streets, searching for any sign of Kim Conway. Other officers were going door to door on the surrounding streets to see if any residents had seen or heard anything. After stumbling over a tree branch and twisting her ankle, Josie started using the flashlight app on her phone. She limped through the forested area, sweeping the beam of light across the ground, at the tree trunks, and even upward into the low branches of trees that looked particularly climbable.

Where the hell had she gone?

The snap of a branch froze Josie in place. She swung her phone around, the light dancing wildly on the tree trunks until she caught a snatch of blue police jacket in her periphery. She homed in on it only to see Noah rubbing his forehead gingerly. “Didn’t even see that branch there,” he muttered.

“You startled me,” said Josie. “What’s going on? Did you find anything?”

He drew closer and shook his head. She could see a red welt forming where the tree branch had hit him. “No, nothing.”

Josie sighed, turned away from him and limped ahead, her flashlight pointed away from both of them. “Well, how about a status report, then?”

“You’re limping,” Noah pointed out.

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

He ignored her question and gave her a rundown of where they stood with their dual investigations. “We tracked down the last potential father on the list of Misty’s lovers. He’s been in jail for the last three months on a drug charge so he alibis out. I’m still trying to make a connection between Denny Twitch and Eric Dunn. Word is that Dunn is still over at the Eudora. He’s holding meetings this week with some council members about the plans for his casino. Gretchen’s at the hospital with Dr. Feist for the autopsy. She said they’ve got a phone, but it’s damaged so she’s going to take it to that techie repair place near the college and see if they can’t get something from it. Her locksmith is going to borrow the tool he needs to get Misty’s desk open without damaging it. He’ll pick it up tomorrow and meet Gretchen at Misty’s house in the morning. Oh, and Misty came through surgery quite well, they say, but she is still heavily sedated. Her surgeon said the earliest we can talk to her is tomorrow. Also, I think you should go home and get some rest.”

Josie stopped and put her hands on her hips. Her ankle throbbed. She longed for her bed so she could put it up on a bunch of pillows and pack some ice on top of it. Wine might also take the edge off. But doing that would mean stopping, and both Luke and Misty’s baby—and now Kim Conway—were all missing and presumably in danger, and Josie wasn’t even sure why. How could she stop? Luke needed her. Misty’s tiny, defenseless, days-old baby needed her. She sucked in a deep breath and kept walking. She heard Noah’s footsteps padding behind her.

“Boss.”

“I can’t, Noah. I just can’t.”

She felt him gently take hold of her elbow, stopping her from going any further. She could see his face from the glow of the flashlight beam. So serious, so concerned. She almost laughed. “I’m fine,” she lied.

“You’re tired, you’re limping, and I’ll bet any amount of money you’re starving. We’ll have people working every angle throughout the night if that will help you sleep. But you’ll be no good to anyone if you don’t rest. Go get a pizza, go home, and talk to Carrieann. She’s been alone all day.”

Josie had nearly forgotten about her would-be sister-in-law. “I think we should take a look at the Conway house,” she told Noah.

He raised a brow. “You think that’s where Kim would go? That’s a hike from here. It would take her a couple of days to get there on foot.”

“I think we should check.”

“I’ll call over to Bowersville and ask them to send a car over.”

“Okay, great. Also, see if we can get in there tomorrow. I’d like to have a look at the house, even if Conway’s not there.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me?” Noah asked.

Josie had wanted to visit the Conway house after the shooting, but Luke wouldn’t let her. There was no point, he said. She had offered to lend the Bowersville PD her Evidence Response Team the night of the shooting, but their chief had said there was no need. “Pretty obvious what happened here,” he had told her. “No sense wasting manpower and money.” Personally, Josie wouldn’t have handled it that way, but the Conway scene was out of her jurisdiction, and she wasn’t about to get into a pissing match with a small-town police chief whose shoddy work had no bearing on her own city. Still, she had never been able to shake her annoyance with the Bowersville chief’s easy dismissal of the entire thing. But the more she brought it up, the angrier Luke became, telling her: “There’s nothing you can do. They’re dead and you going to that house won’t change it. Believe me, you don’t want to see it. Leave it alone!”

She had left it alone except for when he seemed most distant and closed-off, and even then she had only suggested—sometimes quite strongly—that he get counseling since he was obviously dealing with some unresolved feelings about the shooting. Now Josie had three missing persons on her hands and everything seemed to come back to Brady Conway.

“There’s a connection—multiple connections—to Brady Conway,” Josie explained to Noah. “Brady had had an affair with Misty, he’s on the list of potential fathers. Luke was meeting with Misty weeks before the Conway shooting. Kim was Brady Conway’s younger half-sister—and by her grandmother’s account, Brady was the only one in the family who still spoke to Kim.”

“I see,” Noah said.

Josie wondered now if Brady had asked Luke to look after his little sister for some reason. Was that why Kim was at Luke’s house? Maybe, but that didn’t explain why she had been sleeping in his bed or wearing his clothes. Maybe she’d been staying with Luke because he had been Brady’s friend, but that didn’t explain the intimacy. And it certainly didn’t explain why Luke didn’t just tell Josie.

“I think maybe Luke was hiding Kim from Eric Dunn. It’s the only scenario that makes sense to me. From what Trinity said, Dunn is as ruthless as they come. He obviously has no regard for the law if he was willing to send Denny Twitch to impersonate a United States marshal in order to retrieve Kim. I mean, I know we don’t have confirmation that Twitch was working for Dunn, but I think that’s what we’re going to find.”

Noah frowned. “Even if Luke knew Kim was in danger and wanted to help his friend’s little sister by hiding her, why didn’t he just tell you—or anyone—what was going on?”

Because Mickey Kavolis was buried in his backyard. She didn’t say this to Noah. A scenario was beginning to form in Josie’s mind, but she didn’t want to lay it out for Noah until she was absolutely certain. She was sure that her visit to the Conway house would confirm her theory. It still wouldn’t explain why Kim’s prints were found at Misty’s house. Other than Brady Conway, Josie could see no connection between Kim and Misty. But she had to start somewhere.

Josie said, “I have an idea, but I’d like to see the house first.”

Noah didn’t argue. “I’ll call over to Bowersville and talk to them about getting into the house—but in the morning, okay?”

She thought about Carrieann alone at her house. Alone with her anxiety. The same anxiety Josie had been able to keep on the edges of her consciousness by staying in a perpetual state of motion. Luke had lied to Josie—about a lot of things—and maybe even cheated on her. But Carrieann had always been good to her. Had stuck her neck out pretty damn far for her when it mattered most. She deserved better than to be pacing Josie’s house alone worrying about her brother. Noah was right. A few hours of rest and some sustenance wouldn’t hinder the investigation. She was chief now, and had to learn to delegate.

“Okay,” she conceded. “But only for a few hours.”