A Necessary Evil(25)

“Nossir. Didn’t see no young girl. Told that other feller the same thing. I reckon that was his granddaughter?”

“Yeah,” Kurt said.

“Girl’s missing,” Lonnie said. He pulled out his phone and turned it to face the old man. “Looks like this. Are you sure you didn’t see her?”

“Naw. Ain’t seen her. Reckon I’d remember if I’d seen her. She’s a pretty girl.”

“That she is,” Kurt said, trying to hide his frustration. If only Gerald Harvey had thought to call the police last night, maybe they could have found Mollie. Lonnie must have read his mind.

“Why didn’t you call someone? You see a strange man walking around your property, and you didn’t think to call the police?”

Kurt winced. It was not the tack he would have taken with the old geezer. Pissing him off wasn’t the way to get the information they needed.

“Hang on there, young ’un. Now, I know you city slickers call the police every time you see something ain’t right. But not out here, son. Out here, the law has two names. Smith and Wesson. You hear? And by the time I even thought to get my gun, he was drivin’ away anyhow.”

“We understand,” Kurt said, trying to keep the peace with Gerald. “Did you tell the other man the same thing you told us?”

“Don’t see why I shouldn’t have.”

“That’s all right,” Kurt said with a smile. “Is there anything else you can think of that might help us? Did you see the direction the man drove off in, by any chance?”

“Sure did. He drove off attaway.” Gerald pointed north up Delong Road, headed out of town. Kurt’s heart skipped a beat when he remembered that Delong Road ended at the border of Fayette County. There was only so much undeveloped land that way, so if Kurt’s hunch was right, Mollie could be within mere miles of the grocery store. He wondered if Frankie had come to the same conclusion.

“Thank you, sir.” Kurt shook the old man’s hand once more then handed him a business card. “My number’s on there. If you think of anything else at all that might help us find this girl, give me a call.”

“Will do,” Gerald said with a curt nod.

Kurt and Lonnie turned and walked back toward their cars.

“Think we ought to go back to the precinct?” Lonnie asked as he opened the cruiser’s door.

“Probably should. We need to look at the land records for this area. Maybe we’ll get lucky and figure out where this bastard took Mollie.” Kurt hadn’t shared with his partner what he’d learned from Frankie about Julian McAllister’s son. He wasn’t exactly sure why he hadn’t, but something told him it was premature.

As he climbed back into his Camaro and pulled out onto Delong, he wondered at his own motives for not sharing all he’d learned with his partner. Was it because he didn’t believe Frankie? Or was it that he did believe him, and a small part of him was hoping, despite his protestations to the contrary, that Frankie would be the one to find Julian’s son and handle him the way he’d handled his father?

No. Surely not. He was a cop, after all. And there was no way he could condone what Frankie had planned for the man if he found him. Kurt cursed himself for considering it for even one second and pressed the gas pedal down to the metal. He needed to make it back to the precinct and research Julian McAllister and find his son before Frankie did. He could not, would not, let history repeat itself. Not as long as he was wearing a badge.





Chapter 13




Mollie



She tried to remain as calm as possible when the man held the knife to her throat, but knowing her life was about to end violently made it impossible. Mollie opened her mouth, and what came out sounded more animalistic than human. She’d never felt such terror in her entire life. In fact, nothing much at all scared her. But now her limbs were trembling, she had difficulty breathing, and she felt like she was going to faint as he slowly dragged the knife from just below her ear all the way down her neck and to her jugular notch. She didn’t want to beg him for her life, but she wanted to die a slow and painful death even less.

“Please, I beg you. Don’t kill me. I promise you my grandfather will pay you whatever you want. Just please, call him again.”

He grinned the way he always did whenever she begged him. “Oh, I’m not going to kill you yet. We just need to send your pops a little something to properly motivate him.” The man grabbed hold of Mollie’s long blonde hair in a tight grip, and in one swift motion, sheared off a large section. He held it up for her to see. “I’m going to send him your hair. Trust me, he’ll understand the significance. Maybe then he’ll think about what he’s done and repent of his sins.”

Mollie was horrified to have lost so much of the hair she’d always been so proud of, but relieved to not be bleeding and, most of all, still breathing. She drew in a deep breath to calm her nerves and slowly exhaled. “What did he do to you, anyway?”

The man stood tall and looked down at Mollie with one eyebrow cocked. “You really don’t know, do you?”

“You said he hurt someone you loved. What did he do? I’m sure he’s sorry. If you’d just talk to him, I know—”

“Talk to him? Are you serious?” He ran a hand through his longish blond hair and paced in circles in front of her. After a few seconds, he stopped and looked down at her again. “Your grandfather killed my father. Made me a bastard. So, you see, there’s no amount of apologizing he could do to that would bring my father back.”