Death and Her Devotion (Rogue Vows #1)(24)

“Holy crap,” Zane muttered behind her as he took in the images.

“Look at those.” Stevie pointed to a shelf. Chase Ryan action figures, all the TV show DVDs, coffee mugs, T-shirts, and ball caps. Cyndee had gathered every collectible related to Chase and his show.

“This looks like an episode script,” said Zane, picking up a clipped stack of paper. “It’s been signed by the entire cast.”

“That must have been expensive,” whispered Stevie. “No wonder there’s no food.” Her fury had been rapidly growing as she took in the items. “I don’t know what’s going on here.”

“What’s going on is that she’s neglecting her daughter in her pursuit of the impossible,” stated Zane. “Wait a minute. What’s this?” He picked up two cell phones. One was a sleek new iPhone and the other was an old BlackBerry. “Alex, I thought you said your mom only had one phone.”

The girl wiped the crumbs off her lips before speaking. “She does. She’s always complaining about it. I don’t know where that other phone came from. I saw it yesterday for the first time.”

Zane frowned and powered on the iPhone. “Plain sight,” he said quietly to Stevie, referring to any future questions about whether they’d searched the trailer illegally. After a few seconds, the screen lit up with an image of Chase and his three buddies.

This has to be Chase’s missing phone. Stevie’s heart started to pound.

“She must have been there that night,” she said in a low voice to Zane. “The guys said the phone was missing the next morning.”

“We can’t talk here.” Zane glanced over his shoulder at the child. “Start taking some pictures. Start with the food situation and those marked-up pictures of Chase.” He picked up the BlackBerry. It was on and didn’t ask for a passcode as he started pushing buttons.

Stevie made a quick call to Carly, who promised to be there within minutes, and then she moved into the “kitchen” and started photographing the interior of the camper.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked as she started the second granola bar. “My mom isn’t going to like you doing that.” She frowned at Stevie, and the resemblance to Cyndee grew stronger.

“How old are you?” Stevie asked.

“Thirteen.”

Stevie nearly dropped her phone and turned to study the child. “You are?”

The small elfin chin rose. “I’m small for my age. My mom was too.”

Stevie froze as a thought struck her. No. She’s way too old to have been named after Chase Ryan’s TV character. “I like your name,” she told the small girl. “It can be a boy or a girl’s name. Mine’s the same way. Stevie. My real name is Stephanie, but no one ever calls me that.”

The girl’s shoulders slumped. “My real name is Kylie, but my mom changed it a few years ago.”

“Why did she change your name?” Stevie asked faintly, strongly suspecting she knew the answer.

Alex twisted her lips. “She likes that guy.” She pointed to the photos of Chase on the wall. “I’m just glad she picked his TV name and didn’t name me Chase.”

“Do you not like the name?” Stevie was shocked. Cyndee was so fanatical about Chase Ryan she’d changed the name of her daughter to that of someone he played on TV.

“It’s okay. I always liked Kylie better. It’s more girly.”

“Stevie?” Zane said in an odd voice from the back of the trailer. “Can you take a look at this?”

Her suspicion rising, Stevie took the three steps to reach him. He was staring at the BlackBerry.

“Watch this.”

She leaned close to see a video on the tiny screen. Trees. A campfire. Guys around the campfire. Guys yelling at one another around the campfire. She recognized Chase, Josh, Spider, and Toby. Chase was wearing the same clothes they’d found on his murdered body.

“Oh no,” she whispered.

Chase was clearly drunk, and all of them appeared to gang up on him. She caught her breath as Josh stepped forward and slammed his hands into Chase’s chest, sending him stumbling backward, nearly into the fire. “Your cock is going to ruin your life!” Josh shouted. “Get it under control!” The other guys chorused in agreement. Their words were slightly slurred and their jerky movements told Stevie they’d had too much alcohol.

Chase caught his balance and rushed Josh, swinging a fist at his face. Josh neatly sidestepped the movement, and the guys all howled with laughter as Chase went stumbling past him. Stevie heard Cyndee take a sharp breath in the background of the video—she assumed it was Cyndee filming the argument.

She watched for another thirty seconds. The men continued to argue, and Chase was held back by Spider as he tried again to attack Josh. He turned his rage on Spider, who finally shoved him away. Chase stomped off, and Cyndee filmed him climbing into the Hummer. The video ended as he drove away from the campsite.

“This has to be from the night he died,” Stevie stated.

“None of them even tried to stop him from driving drunk.” Zane was furious. “We’re lucky we only had one casualty that night.”

“None of the guys mentioned this fight,” Stevie pointed out. “According to them, it was a typical evening, and no one saw Chase drive away. I’m pretty certain all of them just witnessed it.”