Page 48 of The Lost Bones

Andrew didn’t look happy. “I’m getting more one-word responses, but she still goes catatonic when I ask her who she is and what happened. The comment about your watch, Detective Price, is the first time she has initiated conversation.”

“I can imagine she feels safer around me, since I’m a woman,” Mackenzie guessed. “The way I found her, with all those bruises and torn clothes… It doesn’t take a genius to deduce what she went through.”

“It is a possibility I strongly considered, which is why I brought her here. We were in Lieutenant Rivera’s office, but she didn’t seem interested in the lieutenant. She wasn’t as jumpy as before, but she was still quiet and mostly non-responsive.”

“I don’t know what to make of this,” Mackenzie confessed.

“She’s anchored to you,” Andrew said simply. “You were the first person she saw after she escaped whatever ordeal she was running from. You saved her. It’s the only thing that explains this attachment.”

“Well, at least I’ll have an ally if this town decides to burn me alive,” she muttered. “We’re getting late for our meeting. We’ll see you in a bit.”

“I told you to avoid the news,” Nick said on their way to Sully’s office.

“Sterling knows the killings and disappearances are related to me.”

His eyebrows shot up. “How?”

“People talk.” Her chest tightened. “How long do you think before someone slips it to the media?”

Nick didn’t reply. His silence was blaring, and his muscles had gone rigid.

Entering Sully’s office, she noticed crayons of different colors on his desk. A coloring book was open, and the sergeant was feverishly filling in the shapes. Rivera sat across from him, thumbing her phone, used to Sully’s nuances.

“We just got off the phone with the sheriff’s department and with the Riverview PD.” Rivera removed her glasses. “There’s no trace of Debbie. The woods around the news station have been thoroughly searched. Riverview PD had a few tips, but they’re all bogus. What do you have?”

Mackenzie updated them on the connection with the car rental company. “It’s the only tangible link we have between the two cases.”

“The only way is to get into the company’s books,” Nick said. “If we can get the client list and who the company belongs to, we can get to the bottom of this. With Tag’s involvement, our affidavit is stronger, so we’re hoping—”

“We got nothing,” Sully said, still coloring in the book.

“What do you mean?” Nick inquired.

“Didn’t you hear? Our servers went down last night. When they came back up, random files had been deleted.” Sully’s face was grim. “Including the surveillance video from the school showing the car.”

Mackenzie’s mouth fell open. “What?”

“Clint’s been trying to salvage the missing data, but he’s got nothing. Why do you think I’m coloring?” He lifted the book to show a half-finished peacock. “Even the Special Investigations Unit was hit.”

“What about backup servers?” she asked.

“Those were hit too.” Rivera glowered. “A lot of ongoing investigations have been compromised.”

“We’ll contact the school again to get the footage,” Nick said.

Rivera sounded annoyed. “Do you have any other leads?”

“An address.” Mackenzie spoke up. “We believe it’s linked to the rental company.”

“How did you get it?”

“The shop owner who sold the wristbands. He remembered something later.” Mackenzie conjured the lie in a heartbeat, knowing it was best to keep Austin out of this until things cooled down a bit.

“Okay. Follow that up,” Rivera ordered.

“One more thing.” Nick shifted uneasily. “I think we need to tighten measures around here.”

“What do you mean?” Sully picked up a pink crayon.