Too Far Gone

25

“Grace isn’t involved,” Casey insisted. “I know her like I know myself. Better even.”

“I have to check out everybody who’s involved with you and Gary on a regular basis. It’s standard operating procedure to look first at everyone close and work our way out. Make me a list as soon as you can. For the time being, I’m assuming that whoever did this knew yours and Gary’s schedule-when he’d be where.”

“Grace Smythe. One twenty-three Durban Place. I’ll make up a list of our other friends and close associates and their addresses and phone numbers.”

“Okay,” Alexa said.

The phone rang.

“Grace’ll get that,” Casey said. “Every time it rings I pray it’s a kidnapper just asking for some money. If they ask, I can pay the ransom. You wouldn’t interfere with that, would you, Alexa? If an exchange got messed up and Gary suffered for it, I couldn’t live with myself.”

“It’s totally your decision, Casey. I’ll make suggestions based on my experience, though, and you’d be smart to take them. If you get a demand, you should let me know immediately.”

“They usually say not to tell the police, don’t they?”

“Yes, but they won’t know you did.”

After a few seconds spent in silence, Grace Smythe, wearing a worried expression, came back with a chilled bottle of water in her hand and gave it to Alexa absently and unopened. “It’s Lucille Burch. The bottle blonde with the sharp nose and whiny voice. The reporter, or whatever she calls herself.”

“What does she want?” Casey asked.

“She told me she wants to get your reaction to something.”

“Gary?”

“No. She says that she’s been told that the Danielson woman is out of the hospital. She’s trying to confirm the story before she puts it on the air.”

Casey gasped.

Alexa knew who Sibby Danielson was, but not that she had been released from the hospital she’d been committed to after murdering Casey’s parents twenty-six years before.

“Don’t talk to her,” Alexa advised. “Grace, tell her Casey has no comment.”

“No comment always looks worse than anything people say,” Grace insisted.

“I know Lucille Burch,” Casey said. “She’ll never give up.”

“She’s likely just looking to get her facts in line and spice up a story by getting you to tell her something she doesn’t yet know is true,” Alexa said. “She probably doesn’t know about Gary’s disappearance yet, or she wants to get confirmation if she has caught wind of it. You shouldn’t talk to the press until the time is right, and I don’t think it is.”

“I’d think you’d want people calling in tips,” Grace told Alexa.

“We need good tips, but we don’t have the manpower to run down hundreds. So far we’re lucky not to have to deal with the complications the media would provide. When the time is right, we’ll fill them in and ask for their help if we think it’s in Gary’s best interest. I’ve been here before. Trust me. With the hurricane heading this way, and nothing from you to fuel chasing after Sibby rumors or looking into a tip about Gary, she’ll probably put it on a back burner. When and if we decide to announce that Gary has been abducted, we’ll get maximum exposure. Let’s give it a few hours before we make that call. If this is a kidnapping, the perps probably will be watching the news, and the media will make any coming and going unobserved very difficult.”

“You could say she doesn’t concern you,” Grace told Casey. “You could say if she’s cured, it’s cool, or something like that.”

Casey’s eyes went from Alexa to Grace and back. “Tell Burch I said this is the first I’ve heard about it. Tell her I won’t involve myself in speculation.”

Alexa nodded. “Grace, tell her Casey has no knowledge about Ms. Danielson nor any comment at this time.”

Grace left the room, headed for the kitchen.

“I didn’t know that woman could ever get out,” Casey murmured. “How could Sibhon Danielson be let out and me not know about it?”

“If she was insane when she committed the offense, she could be released as long as she was no longer a danger to herself or others. They don’t set specific sentences for those adjudicated insane.”

Alexa figured the anniversary could explain why the media was snooping around after information on a twenty-six-year-old case. The date had drawn media interest, and with a few phone calls a researcher could easily discover whether or not the perpetrator was still incarcerated. Alexa wondered how long it would be before some cop clued them in on Gary’s disappearance. She was amazed it hadn’t happened yet. That could only be due to the threat of the storm and the fact that most people in the area, including the police, had more pressing things to be concerned with at the moment. It appeared that the hurricane might actually be beneficial to the investigation.

She knew that she had to find out where Sibby Danielson was. It seemed unlikely, but if the murderer was really out in the world, she might be somehow involved-especially if the person, or persons, who took Gary might have been after his wife. Casey was the lone witness to a twenty-six-year-old double homicide. It was remotely possible that, in a psychotic mind, Casey West might fall under the heading of unfinished business.