Page 91 of What She Saw

“I saw you.”

“You know traffic was going to be hellacious, and I had a parking spot. I offered to drop her off at the front gate.”

“What were you doing at the dry cleaner’s?”

“Picking up my uniform. The call to work the festival security was last minute.”

“Last minute?” Colton had said security was all lined up.

“My boss called and said he had a request for security, and he was rounding up men. I rushed to get my uniform from the dry cleaner’s. I offered Debra a ride.”

“What did you think when you and Debra arrived at the festival?”

“The event was a crush. Poor borders. A security nightmare.”

“Did you and Debra hang out together at all?”

“We grabbed a quick picture together and then I had to get to work. I saw a fight that needed to be broken up. Debra went looking for her sister.”

Many guys like Kevin wanted to be cops. Most failed some portion of the entrance exam and often saw their job as a kind of deputization. Taggart found if he treated them as equals, they were very helpful. “Can you give me a report on the event?”

He shifted his stance and hooked a thumb in his belt. “Lots of theft. Pickpockets and snatched purses. I stopped a couple of guys who were getting handsy with drunk girls. And there was a small container fire near the woods.”

“Fire.”

“Folks filled an old metal drum with wood and set it on fire near the woods. They were trying to keep warm. It wouldn’t have been an issue, but the fire was so close to the tents and the trees. We were getting rain, but, you know, it was dry as a bone for weeks. I made them put it out.”

“That wasn’t the big one?”

“No, that came later. About one a.m.”

Taggart hadn’t seen the first fire, but there was a lot he’d missed that night. “Anything else?”

“I patrolled. There were kids trying to get on the stage to see the band. Had to chase them away. Then there was the basic urinating in public or indecent exposure.”

“Good work. And you never saw Debra?”

He shook his head. “I wished her a good evening, and she vanished into the crowd.”

“Was she meeting anyone other than her sister?”

“Yeah. Her friend Bailey Briggs.”

Bailey. “Blond. Petite.”

“Yeah. She and Debra go to high school together. You know her?”

“Came across her at the event.”

“Hard to keep Bailey down for long. She’s always on the move.”

“Those two tight?”

“I don’t know if they are super friendly. But they both love music and wanted to see the bands.”

“I hear Debra works pretty hard.”

“She’s driven. You know her stepfather is a bit of a douche. She moved out last fall.”