At the Quiet Edge(75)

Wrong again. He was flying down the road.

“Hey there!” he called out as he came to a stop with a scream of rubber against asphalt. He typed in his code, and the gate squeaked open. “Detective, what brings you out? Arresting our little Lily here?”

“Mac,” Mendelson drawled, holding out a hand to shake. “Still on the bike, I see.”

“I’ve got a checkup next month, so light a candle for me, folks.” He winked at Lily, flashed Alex a friendly grin, and then he was through the gate and heading off to visit his stranded boat.

Mendelson finally cracked a flat smile in Alex’s direction. “A couple of weeks, huh? Well then, welcome to Herriman.”

“Thanks,” Alex said curtly.

“Ms. Brown, I’ll come back later,” Mendelson offered in farewell before he retreated to his car.

Alex gestured toward the office as if they’d been headed there, but Lily wasn’t going to take him inside. She glanced in that direction and saw Everett’s dark waves of hair at the edge of the glass, one eye shining out at them with vigilant caution.

“What the hell is going on?” she snapped, rounding on Alex.

He blinked owlishly at her.

“No more bullshit, Alex. I want the full truth from you. What are you doing here? Who are you?”

“Can I . . . ? Can I come in?”

“No,” she said with no remorse. “Absolutely not. We’ll stay right here by the camera and discuss this.”

He glanced up at the gate camera and sighed before tipping his head toward the bench near the parking area. “Can we sit down, anyway?”

She walked over and sat without answering. Once he’d taken a seat on the opposite side, Everett came out. She held up a hand to make sure he stayed close to the door.

Alex stared into the distance for a few heartbeats before shaking his head. “I know when I told you I didn’t have the space to look through my uncle’s things you assumed I was staying in a hotel. And I let you keep thinking that. I’m sorry.”

“That isn’t really the biggest issue here,” she said past clenched teeth.

“Of course. But it’s the reason . . .” He hesitated and smiled, though it looked more like another grimace. “You definitely have a very smart son.”

Everett glared at his attempt to be friendly, and Lily felt proud of him in that moment. She believed that he genuinely thought this man was dangerous. Maybe he was. But he still stood there like a guard dog, if only in puppy form.

“My uncle did know those girls who disappeared back then,” Alex started. “He’s a good guy. Exactly the kind of caring administrator you’d want working in a school district. He hated to see any kids drop out. He fought for them.” Eyes on the ground now, he nodded to himself.

“What about you?” Everett demanded. “Maybe you did it!”

“I wasn’t here when most of those girls disappeared. You can look that up if you want to. I was in school in Ohio, writing for my college paper.” He waved a hand. “It’s all on record.”

Everett demanded the name of the paper. Alex gave it, but then said, “That’s not the problem. I wasn’t here, but . . . but my cousin was. Brian. And he was the last one seen with Mary Elizabeth Sooner.”

“She disappeared in 2001,” Everett blurted.

“Yes. Someone saw them talking outside a party; then she was reported missing a few weeks later. No one is even sure what day she vanished, but Brian got pulled in and questioned several times.”

Alex scrubbed a hand through his hair, and Lily thought she caught a sheen of tears in his eyes. “He’d already had some major depressive episodes, and he spiraled after that. He felt responsible, you know? Like, if he’d done one thing differently, maybe she’d still be here. If he’d invited her to hang out, or grab dinner, or just walked her home. It really messed him up. He started drinking heavily. He tried to kill himself.”

“Oh no.”

“He was too young to be a kidnapper. Like, fifteen-year-olds don’t start kidnapping adult women out of the blue, and that was how old he was when the first girl disappeared. He was eighteen the day he was seen with Mary. But it wasn’t him. I know it wasn’t. He didn’t even have a car. But when he attempted suicide, the police kept bothering him. It went on for months until Uncle Alex finally sent him away to get in-patient treatment. He never came back. He hated this place.”

“But are you sure it wasn’t him?” Lily asked.

“I thought I was. But of course doubts have crept in over the years. That was why I wanted to keep my uncle’s papers here. I didn’t want Brian to know I was looking into this.”

“Because now you think your cousin could have kidnapped those women?”

He bent his head as if the weight of the world were bowing his spine, but he finally pushed himself straight and sucked in a breath. “No. Because either he was involved—and I don’t think he was—or I’d be triggering the worst memories of his life. Those are both really bad options. But no, he wasn’t involved. I’m ninety-nine percent sure.”

“Why?”

“First, like I said, I don’t think he was capable as a teenager without a car. But mostly because of the boy he was. He wasn’t angry. He wasn’t dangerous, not to anyone but himself. He still isn’t. He’s a gentle, thoughtful man struggling with demons that can only harm him.”