Secrets Never Die (Morgan Dane #5)(13)

Morgan thought the opposite was more likely. Kids with previous legal problems did not rat out their friends to the cops.

“Do you have any reason to believe these kids are not being forthright?” she asked.

“Nothing specific.” Sheriff Colgate shrugged. “But you know how these kids are.”

Morgan didn’t. “What do you mean by these kids?”

The sheriff met her gaze. His face hardened. “None of these kids are honor students,” he said, as if that one statement was explanation enough.

Morgan didn’t let it go. Did the sheriff know that Evan wasn’t an honor student either? And more importantly, did that make him less important? “I don’t understand.”

The sheriff’s jaw tightened. “Kids with prior arrests are less likely to be honest with us.”

Morgan didn’t respond, but her mind was busy. Evan had prior arrests. Was the sheriff making similar assumptions about him?

Sheriff Colgate scratched his head. “Do you have Evan’s email account information?”

“Yes.” Morgan handed the sheriff the paper, glad that she’d made a copy for herself. The stubborn set to the sheriff’s shoulders gave her an uneasy feeling that she and Lance could be shut out of his investigation. Paul had been a deputy. His retirement was recent, and the sheriff’s department still considered him one of their own. All of these factors might make the sheriff want to keep the case details to himself.

“What are you doing to find my son?” Tina’s voice had toughened. She was no longer begging, and her tone was more defensive. Clearly, she had also noticed the sheriff’s change of attitude.

“Law enforcement has been notified statewide.” The sheriff looked up from the list he was scanning. “Officers are trolling the teenage hangout spots in Randolph County. The Scarlet Falls PD is looking for him there in case he went back to visit his old friends. I’ve put out a press release with his photo. We’re reviewing his phone history, and we’ll go through his social media accounts to see if he had any new or strange contacts.” Colgate paused, his mouth flattening into a grim line. “We won’t stop looking for him, Mrs. Knox.”

Tina studied the sheriff with an intense expression. “What about an AMBER Alert?”

“We can’t issue an AMBER Alert unless we confirm that Evan was abducted,” he explained.

“Have you talked to the neighbors?” Morgan asked. “Surely someone heard the gunshots.”

“We have. The neighbor over there”—the sheriff gestured toward one side of the house—“is away on vacation. The neighbor on the other side is deaf and was in bed without her hearing aids. No one else heard anything except thunder, which could have masked the sound of the gunshots.”

“Paul was a deputy for a long time,” Morgan said. “He must have put away some nasty criminals. Have any violent offenders been let out of prison recently?”

“We’re looking at Paul’s old cases.” The sheriff nodded. “Mrs. Knox, did Paul say anything recently about being threatened? Was he getting unexplained calls or texts? Was he acting strangely, or did he seem particularly worried about anything?”

“Paul is—was serious about home security. He changed all the locks when we bought the house, and he was going to install a security system. We didn’t have the money for a professional company. Paul was going to do it himself. He was worried about my ex-husband. Kirk was in prison for assault for the last couple of years. He was released on parole a few months ago.”

“Has your ex-husband ever threatened you or Paul?” Colgate asked.

“No, but he hated Paul.” Tina’s fingers worried the seam of the sofa cushion. “Paul was the deputy who arrested Kirk for assault. It’s how we met. Although we didn’t actually get together until months later when Paul came into the urgent care. Kirk blames Paul for the divorce. Kirk had zero interest in Evan when we lived together, but the minute Kirk was paroled, he sued for visitation. He just wants to get even with me. Can you believe he even tried to get alimony? Thank goodness the judge turned around and asked me if I wanted to countersue for child support.”

Did Tina’s bitter ex kill Paul?

Tina paused for a breath. “Kirk lives in a group home. Visits with Evan are supposed to be in a public place. We agreed that they would have dinner every Sunday night, but I still can’t believe the judge granted him visitation, even community supervised. Anyway, two months ago was Evan’s first scheduled meeting with Kirk. Evan isn’t happy about it, but he goes.”

A sixteen-year-old did not have the authority to refuse a court order, and the custodial parent was obligated to foster a relationship between the child and the noncustodial parent. A strained relationship was not enough justification to refuse visitation. Generally, the court’s opinion was that the relationship could not improve if the child and parent did not see each other, and that it was in the best interest of the child to know both his parents. Since the visitation was community supervised, in a public place, Tina could not argue that Evan was in any physical danger. In short, she had no grounds to petition the court. Judges did not like to terminate parental rights.

“But to your knowledge, your ex-husband never communicated directly with Paul,” the sheriff clarified.

Tina shook her head. “Not that I know of. Kirk called me or texted Evan if he needed to cancel.”