All He Has Left(37)
Brent: Of course.
Sarah: OK. I’ll text you in the morning.
Brent: Hey, be careful. This could get messy. For both of us, the way our families are so interconnected. Especially with my new job.
Sarah: I haven’t told anyone. You?
Brent: No. I’m being careful.
Sarah: Same.
Jake felt his entire chest tighten up. He was suddenly having a difficult time breathing. It was one thing to ponder the possibility of an affair. It was another thing to actually see it unfolding right in front of his eyes. Why would she do this? Dumb question. He knew why. Still—it crushed him. The new job Brent had mentioned in the text exchange was a big one. Brent had been highly involved in politics for years. He and his wealthy family were well connected. His new job was being the governor’s chief of staff. Jake thought about that. Could the affair somehow be connected to Sarah’s death? Did Sarah know something she shouldn’t? Did Piper know the truth? Had Eddie Cowens been hired by someone to keep her quiet?
Jake’s mind was flooded with questions. He needed to talk to Brent. But it wasn’t like he could just call up the guy and chat about this right now. And he had no idea where the guy lived. Brainstorming another strategy, Jake pulled his burner phone out of his pocket and typed in Brent’s phone number. Then he punched out a message.
I know about you and Sarah Slater. We need to meet ASAP. Or I’ll go straight to the media with it.
He pressed “Send,” waited, hoping he would get a quick reply. He did.
Who is this? What is this about?
Jake typed out another urgent message.
Meet me at Alliance Children’s Garden next to Palmer Events Center at 11. If you’re not there, I swear I will ruin your career.
TWENTY-FIVE
Dani stared at a whiteboard on a wall in a small FBI conference room. She’d turned the space into a makeshift war room. The table behind her was littered with files and paperwork. The whiteboard was covered with her different scribblings as she tried to examine every intricate aspect of her investigation thus far. Jake’s name was circled in the middle of the board. From there, she’d drawn lines to Caitlin Kingston’s house with notes about all that had happened there last night—both the police version of events and the version Jake had told the police.
There was a line drawn to the name Drew Beamer, whom Jake had met downtown last night. Dani planned to speak with Drew again today to see if they had missed something about his interaction with Jake. There was a thread drawn to the dead guy, Judd McGee. Dani had been able to confirm through both the stepdaughter and two neighbors that Judd had been home all night and couldn’t have been involved with what happened to Caitlin Kingston.
So why was Jake searching for him?
How had Judd McGee become a player in all this?
And why was he now dead?
Dani had drawn another line to the private plane that had landed in Austin early this morning carrying Logan Gervais—and then she’d drawn an arrow pointing from Gervais back to Judd, whom she felt certain the infamous hit man had killed. Why had Gervais been pulled into this? Did Jake know something that someone else didn’t want him telling the police about?
Over on the side of the board, she’d scribbled the name Piper Slater, Jake’s thirteen-year-old daughter. Dani had been checking in with different Kingston family members throughout the morning, and still no one had heard a peep from the girl. Where was she? The police search had turned up nothing. Did someone really take her last night? If so, who and why? How was this all interconnected? It made no sense to Dani that all this had begun to snowball last night because Jake had been upset about his niece’s involvement in a custody battle over Piper that had been resolved five months ago. Something bigger was at play here, and she was determined to figure it out.
Turning around, Dani picked up a photo of Piper that she’d printed off social media. Piper was a beautiful young girl with the brightest smile, and she had Sarah’s green eyes. Dani set the photo of Piper down on the conference table and picked up a photo of Caitlin Kingston. Another beautiful young woman. Such a tragedy that her life had been stolen. Dani had already spent an hour reviewing various files of paperwork Caitlin had been working on the last few weeks for the FBI. It was basic low-level administrative material. She couldn’t find a single connection yet that made her believe that what happened to Caitlin last night was somehow connected to the FBI. So if this wasn’t about the FBI, and it wasn’t about a family custody dispute, then why had this all happened?
She again stared at the board, hoping something would pop out and give her new direction. But it wasn’t happening. And she was growing frustrated.
Her phone buzzed. A number she didn’t recognize. She answered.
A man’s voice. “Agent Nolan?”
“Yep.”
“This is Carl Kingston, Caitlin’s father.”
Dani had given her number out to the Kingston family members. She wondered why the father of the victim would be calling. “Yes, Mr. Kingston. How’re you doing?”
“Not great. Didn’t sleep last night. Just feel numb all over, you know. I still can’t believe this is real.”
“I’m sorry. I can’t imagine it.”
“Look, I won’t take up much of your time. But I thought about something this morning. Not sure if it has anything at all to do with this but wanted to pass it along anyway. After the birthday party ended yesterday, Caitlin showed me a photo on her cell phone of one of the catering-crew guys who had handled the setup and teardown. She said Piper told her she thought she recognized the guy from the night when her mother was killed in the car accident last year.”