Page 82 of The Whispering Girls

The second desk was almost clear, but there were blank incident forms, a notepad, a couple of phone messages, and a cup with various pens and pencils. Katie supposed that Officers Clark and Banning shared the desk. Interesting. She opened the drawers and there wasn’t anything suspicious or out of place. The last desk was larger and had many drawers and small cubbyholes. Upon closer inspection, even in the insufficient lighting, it seemed to be an antique mahogany desk. Perhaps one that had been here for decades or something the chief owned that was sentimental.

“Anything?” said John. His voice sounded stressed.

“Not yet.”

“There’s definitely not a lot of serious crime here. These murders must’ve overtaxed the cops and the chief. Maybe they ran.”

Katie stopped and turned to John. “You mean abandoned their posts?”

“I don’t know, something like that. It’d be a perfect time during this storm.”

The thought had never occurred to Katie.

“Some of these cases…a Mrs. Arnold filed against a neighbor for stealing her chickens…a man exposing himself to children…someone skipping out and not paying for their breakfast…it’s all stuff like that.”

“What would make the entire police force, granted it’s small, disappear?” she said.

“It could be anything.”

Katie shook her head. “It’s one of two things:They skipped just like you said or they’re involved somehow in these cases. I’m not saying all of them, but I’m betting at least one of them.”

“Here’s something curious,” John said, pulling a file out of the bottom cabinet drawer.

Katie joined him.

“It’s dated a little over fifteen years ago…Carol Ann Benedict.”

“That’s the name on the memorial bench on the hiking trail.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, I’m definitely sure.” Katie’s curiosity heightened.

“It says she was found murdered, strangled, on a remote trail,” he said. “Looks like after an exhaustive investigation, where there were no suspects or forensics of use, the case stopped and is officially a cold case until new evidence comes to light.” John studied the report. “Look at this.”

Katie read the page John was referring to. She didn’t see anything to grab her attention until she saw the victim was referred to as Carol Ann Benedict-Cooper. “Cooper?”

“Think it’s a coincidence? Do you think she was married to the chief—well before he was appointed to his position?”

Katie looked at the chief’s desk to find a date. “It looks like he was sworn in six months after Carol’s death.”

“That would make sense. He became chief to solve his wife’s murder. In a small town it wouldn’t be difficult to get put in that position,” John said.

“How sad that this case hasn’t been solved. And there haven’t been any homicides in Echo Forest since.”

“Until now.” John studied Katie’s face. “What are you thinking?”

“It’s hard not to think that maybe all these cases, including the one from fifteen years ago, could be connected somehow.” Her mind was on overload. The crime scenes, the hospital, and now this made her more convinced that they all had something in common. And right now, the common denominator was Chief Cooper.

“The chief seems to be a part of all these cases,” John said, as if reading her mind.

“And he called us to the hospital before we were attacked, and now he’s gone missing.”

“He could be a victim too in all this.”

“It’s possible, but we need more. Grab everything pertaining to the recent cases and the old homicide. As well as who was the mayor and part of the town council fifteen years ago. It will be easier to comb through the reports back at the lodge.”

They systematically began pulling files that would be helpful.