Page 90 of What She Saw

Taggart said, “Have you seen the money?”

“Not yet. That kind of thing takes a little time.” Briggs sipped his coffee. “Don’t tarnish Dawson’s reputation.”

“I’m going to keep looking for these women.”

“Try to be discreet.”

“That’s going to be easier said than done. Sara Grayson called a local reporter. She’s trying to get interviewed.”

His face paled. “Does she know about Debra or this guitar girl?”

“Sara and Monica Carr spoke at the station.”

“Shit. This is a small town, and rumors run through Dawson like wildfire.”

“Good.”

The mayor tossed his balled-up napkin on the plate. “What’s good about it?”

“The more people who know about the three missing women, the more tips I receive. I’m considering a press conference.”

“You know that’s not how it works. Every nutjob and his brother are going to be calling the station and reporting a sighting. That happened five years ago when the Taylor boy went missing.”

The Taylor boy had been a five-year-old who’d wandered off from his parents’ campsite. “I heard about that case. One tip from a couple of hikers led to his rescue. That’s how it goes. Needle in a haystack.”

“That’s not very efficient.”

“Solving a crime isn’t an easy process.”

“Crime.” The mayor leaned forward and dropped his voice. “We’re not talking about a crime. We’re talking about three girls out of thousands who got a wild hair and took off.”

“Three young women who were known for being reliable. And now they’re gone.”

“They’ll turn up.”

Taggart wasn’t so sure. He took two more gulps of coffee. Monica had said Debra had broken up with Kevin Pascal. Time to track him down.

Taggart found Kevin Pascal working security at the local furniture plant east of town. Rumor had it the company was going out of business and everyone there would be out of a job soon. Kevin had been hired to make sure none of the exiting employees did any damage or hurt the management.

Inside Taggart found a receptionist sitting at a small brown desk. She was in her sixties, and he was willing to bet she’d worked there most of her life. Her smile was tired, as if she knew the job was going away. “I’m looking for Kevin.”

Without much fanfare, the receptionist picked up her phone and dialed. Five minutes later Kevin emerged in a security guard uniform.

“Kevin?” Taggart asked.

Kevin didn’t appear surprised to see the sheriff as he walked up to him. His hand was outstretched. “Yes, sir. What can I do for you?”

“I got a call from Marsha Sullivan. You know her?”

Kevin cleared his throat. “Yeah. I know her.”

“Marsha said her sister, Debra, is missing.”

His smile disappeared. “What do you mean, missing? I dropped Debra off at the music festival Friday night. Her car was parked in front of the dry cleaner’s this morning.”

“You drove her?”

“Yeah. You saw me. I was working the event.”