Page 89 of The Fragile Ones

Mason turned and stared at McGaven. “He’s always been messy. He had to leave in a hurry maybe.”

“We have some errands to do. See you around,” she said abruptly.

McGaven followed her, but after a few steps she couldn’t help but turn back around. “Oh, Officer Mason. Thanks for taking care of Robin Mayfield’s crime scene evidence.”

He didn’t say anything, but pushed his weight from one foot to the other.

“There was a piece of evidence that I didn’t identify when searching the scene. It was a small five by eight inch photo album. Do you remember it?” She watched him closely.

He thought about it for a moment, for her benefit, she guessed. “No, I don’t remember anything like that,” he said, subtly shaking his head.

“Oh, okay. Just checking. Thanks.”

Katie turned and walked to the Jeep. The windows were fogged up and Cisco’s nose pushed out the top of the window. They both got back in and she started the engine. Setting the defroster on high, she turned to McGaven. “How’s your head?”

“I’m feeling fine. Isn’t this like a typical day for you?” he said, touching the bandages on his head.

“Very funny. But what was that back there?” She motioned toward the police office. “Do you think the chief is missing, or he’s on some type of errand?”

“Let’s wait a bit longer before calling in the troops for a missing chief. There is probably a logical explanation.”

“You’re right.” Katie put the car into gear and drove away from the station. “There must be a logical explanation.”

But she wasn’t so sure.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Tuesday 1745 hours

Katie kept looking at her watch and tapping her pen with growing impatience. She sat on the floor going over reports on her laptop and looking up information on ACE Visions Inc.

“Still nothing from the chief?” said McGaven, as he worked on his laptop from the couch.

“No,” she said. “I’m actually worried. Too many weird things are going on here. That guy last night with the gray truck, and you being attacked. We need to talk to him.”

“And there’s not anyone else we can ask.”

Katie dialed Officer Mason’s number, but it went directly to voicemail. She decided to try Officer McKinney and waited. It rang twice and then nothing—just dead air. She tried the number again with the same outcome.

“No luck. How can this town function without any available police officers?”

The rain pounded the side of the building.

“I don’t know, but did you notice how quiet the streets were on our way back here?”

“I know,” she said. “I don’t think there is anyone else staying here tonight.”

“Well, it is a Tuesday and it’s raining… Another storm is coming in for the next few days.”

At that moment a crack of thunder rolled through.

“Ha! Perfect timing,” he said, half grinning. “We’re going to lose electricity again, no doubt. And there will go the Internet. I’m charging extra batteries…”

Katie tried to keep her mind on the job in hand. “This video camera company is actually really cool, they offer all types of services. I hadn’t heard from them from my earlier message, so I left an email for them to call me telling them what we’re looking for.” She sat back and closed her eyes. “Should we call the sheriff?”

“I think we should wait.” He swung his legs over onto the floor. “For all we know, the chief is out of town visiting someone.”

“Well, first thing in the morning, if I still haven’t heard from him…”