Alone (Bone Secrets, #4)(47)

Mason had a mental image of the organizer as a tall thin man, walking away from the circle of unmoving girls; their shoes, phones, and purses in his bag.

Two girls had home landlines. No common calls.

Their Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and what-the-f*ck-other social media accounts had been searched. No flags were found outside of the girls all being “friends.” Some of the girls had more than a thousand friends, which blew Mason’s mind. Ray informed him that teens often didn’t actually know their “friends.” They just gobbled up friend invitations from friends of their friends, trying to build an impressive number.

An ego boost. That was a concept Mason understood.

Ray had also pointed out that most social media messages could easily be deleted. But would all six girls be consistent with their deletions? Somewhere there had to be a digital footprint left by one of the girls that would point to their killer.

The computer forensics guys were searching the home computers and laptops for evidence, but they didn’t expect results for at least another week. The amount of data had to be overwhelming.

The remaining public memorial services had been canceled. No one wanted a repeat of today. The community couldn’t mourn when they were checking the stranger next to them to see if he carried a weapon. The tragedy of the day had escalated to a whole new level. Because of some punk teen.

Ray hung up his phone. “That was Clackamas County. They haven’t been able to talk much to the kid they arrested. They’re waiting on his lawyer.”

Mason sighed. “He’s said nothing?”

“Nothing. But his buddy is talking.”

That got Mason’s attention. “And?”

“The kid with the gun is Kyle Carey. He went to school with Glory McCarthy. His buddy says Kyle was interested in McCarthy, but the two had never connected.”

“Interested? Like he had a crush on her?”

“Yeah, that’s the impression I got. Anyway, the friend saw Kyle pull the gun out of his coat during the service. That’s when the scuffle started. He’d told him to put it away and the other kid refused. Other people around Kyle argued with him, too, but Kyle wouldn’t listen. So the friend tried to wrestle it away.”

“Aw, shit. Seriously?”

“That’s when the shot was fired.”

“Christ, that could have killed someone!”

“The friend thinks his own finger was on the trigger when the gun was fired. County says he’s pretty shook up that he’ll receive the blame for the shot being fired.”

“That’s why you don’t grab at someone’s gun in a crowd.” Mason shook his head. The kid had good intentions, but sometimes the best intentions don’t work out the way you want. Sometimes someone dies. “Did the friend say why Kyle had a gun?”

Ray frowned. “That’s where it gets a bit odd. The friend—his name is Jason—thinks Kyle brought it, hoping to figure out the person responsible for Glory’s death.”

“What? Kyle knows something that we don’t?” Who on earth did Kyle expect to see?

“Jason said Kyle got really agitated when he spotted a girl at the service. That’s when words were exchanged and the gun came out.”

“This sounds more like an argument over another girl instead of Kyle wanting to shoot whoever he thinks killed Glory McCarthy.”

Ray nodded and he gave a grim smile. “Ready for the twist?”

“Ah f*ck, another one?”

“Kyle got agitated when he spotted Trinity Viders.”

Mason was silent as his mind did laps trying to catch up to Ray’s statement. “Our Trinity? The girl with Victoria Peres?”

Ray nodded. “That’s the one.”

“She was at the service?”

“According to this Jason kid.”

Mason stared at Ray. “Think Trinity might have more to tell us?”

“Only one way to find out.”





“What the hell happened?” The old man tried not to shout on the phone.

The reports of the shooting were all over the late-night news. He stared at his TV, a graphic of the memorial service overlaid with a gun hung behind the newscaster’s left shoulder. The female newscaster frowned as she related the story, her disapproval ringing in her tone.… a teenager pulled out a gun in the middle of a packed crowd saying farewell to Glory McCarthy…

Guns were the hot topic at the moment. A new rash of public shootings had escalated the subject to the top of every lawmaker’s list. Big changes were in the works.

“I don’t know. I haven’t been able to get any information, Father.” Leo’s voice cracked slightly.

Idiot.

“It’s bad enough you were seen at the medical examiner’s today. Now this?” the old man asked.

“It wasn’t our fault.”

“Why was he there? He was told to avoid the services. Police tape those, specifically looking for familiar faces.”

“Jason wanted to go with his friends. He thought it would look bad if he didn’t.”

The old man blew out a breath. “I gave specific orders to not go to the memorial services. You should have told me what he was doing.”

“I didn’t know.”

“That’s no excuse.”