Page 48

Luke was walking a tightrope.

All through his shift, he grappled with what he’d launched in that morning’s dustup with Reeger.

Luke had been pressed; he’d needed to think fast.

So, under the guise of helping Reeger’s case, he’d urged for the cell tower warrant to pursue his own.

It was a risk.

But one he had to take. Because, sooner or later, the truth would come to light. For now, he still had control of it.

At the same time, his guilt over striking the mystery woman, and for failing to support Carrie, was eating him up. He could barely focus on his duties.

Just like it was in LA.

Much of his day he responded to calls: two silent alarms; a welfare concern; a loose livestock complaint; and a minor traffic accident. Later that afternoon, he was cleared to end his patrol early so he could return to the office and work on the warrant. Reeger waited with a laptop in the meeting room, his jaw firm, telegraphing that he was cooperating under duress.

“Exactly how does this cell tower BS work?”

Sitting next to him, Luke outlined how cell phones are always communicating with cell towers to find the strongest signal. The records sought in their warrant would show that a specific phone, or phones, were communicating with a specific tower.

“With that information,” Luke said, “we can confirm that a person’s phone was in a location at a given time.”

They got the names of the service providers operating the towers closest to Fawn Ridge. In their request, they provided perimeters, location, date and time covering the forty-thousand-dollar theft from Fawn Ridge.

“That should do it,” Reeger said.

“Wait,” Luke said. “Let’s extend it to include the location, date and time of the storm, when I thought I saw someone on River Road near the subdivision.”

“Why?”

“Like Ellerd said, it could’ve been someone scoping the construction site.”

Luke gave Reeger the date and time. When they’d finished, they sent the request for the warrant to their supervisor to look over before it would be sent to the clerk for the court. With that done, they’d need to wait out the next steps in the process, which could take a few days. Reeger, his cheek twitching, said little and left without looking at Luke.

***

At his own desk in the patrol room, Luke worked on completing reports. But his misgivings wrenched him back to the ramifications of the warrant.

Sure, it was possible the action would yield a phone linked to the theft from the construction site. It could even be a phone owned by Raylin Nash. It would deepen the need to take a look at him for the theft. But Nash lived close to the site, which could make it difficult to prove anything.

Luke’s greater concern was his own situation.

His phone would come up. But that was to be expected, as he’d already related that he was in the area.

No, something else terrified him.

If the woman he struck had a phone, the warrant would yield a number; it could be traced to her, or her family.

Luke felt his heart beat a little faster.

On the other hand…

What if she was fleeing someone? What if she got picked up? What if Nash picked her up?

He’d seen a car approaching at that time.

And if the driver, or a passenger, had a phone, the cell tower record could yield another avenue of pursuit for Luke.

He clenched his eyes shut for a moment.

I’m walking a tightrope without a net.

***

After finishing his shift, Luke changed, then headed to the parking lot, where he noticed Clay Smith standing near his Chevy Blazer.

“Hey, partner,” Clay said. “How’d it go today?”

“Helped capture a fugitive donkey, among other things.”

“Speaking of asses, how’d it go on the warrant with Reeger?”

“It went.”

Clay took a moment, staring at Luke.

“Listen, I know what’s going on.”

Luke swallowed.

“What’s going on?”

“Lacey told me that Carrie’s having a hard time with all the news attention on the murders. Like it just won’t end for her.”

Luke nodded with a mix of relief and guilt. “Yes, she’s set on remembering what happened.”

“I don’t get it. Hyde’s dead; the case is over.”

“I know. I don’t think talking to that reporter at the Chronicle helped. It seems to have opened up wounds.”

“Is she remembering more?”

“A little, maybe. I’m not sure.”

“Why’re you here? You should be with her. I’m sure Ellerd would give you some personal time.”

“Carrie wants to deal with it on her own.”

“You ought to think about helping her—” Clay pointed his chin to the office “—instead of this crap with Reeger’s case.”

“Just trying to keep busy, keep my mind off things. You know?”

Clay looked at him.

“I get it. If you want to talk over a beer, let me know.”

“Appreciate that, Clay.”

Luke got into his Chevy. Before starting it, he watched Clay walk off.

Then he placed his hands on the wheel, gripping it tight to stop them from shaking.