Page 15 of Shadowed Witness

The mayor’s expression clouded. “Really? Does she know who he was talking about—or to?”

“No. But I don’t like the sound of it.”

“Neither do I. That’s ... concerning to say the least.” Jennings frowned. “Was anyone with her that could corroborate her story? Or did she get any photo evidence?”

“No, unfortunately. She was alone and afraid to show herself.”

“That is unfortunate. A photo would have been valuable proof.” Jennings thought a moment, then let out a sigh. “Listen, Detective. I would never doubt Allye’s word under normal circumstances...”

Normal circumstances?Eric left the question unspoken and waited for him to continue.

“But she seems to have been under a lot of stress or something lately. Her mother has been concerned about her. She says Allye’s been forgetting things, not acting like herself. And with the knock on the head last night? Perhaps she—” He shook his head and waved a hand dismissively. “Forget I said all that. Surely she’s not imagining things. And if you saw suspicious bruises...” He paused again. “I’m sorry. I really don’t have an explanation for what’s going on. All I know for sure is what I saw last night.”

Eric glanced over the notes he had so far. He had a few new details, but everything matched what Moore had passed on from last night’s call. Jennings glanced at his watch. He needed to get back on track and wrap things up.

“So Ms. Jessup refused to go to the ER, then you took her home and called the station?”

“Yes. She was obviously in no condition to drive. I made sure she got safely inside, then I called the nonemergency line and asked for someone to evaluate things, maybe take a look around.”

“Even though you didn’t think anything had happened?”

The mayor shrugged. “I promised Allye I’d report it—that was the only way I convinced her to go home and rest. And I’m aman of my word. I hated to use city resources on what was likely nothing, but with our low crime rate, I figured there would be someone who could spare a few minutes before the night was out. And what if I was wrong and something really had occurred?”

Eric held his gaze. “But you were convinced it hadn’t?”

“As much as I hate to say it, yes. The timing just doesn’t fit. And I can’t unsee finding her crumpled at the foot of the stairs—just like you’d expect if she’d fallen down them.”

“Fair enough.” Eric clicked his pen twice, then pocketed it. He stood, the mayor mirroring his movement, and offered his hand. “Thank you for your statement.”

Jennings gave him a firm handshake. “Thank you, Detective, for making sure Allye is taken care of. She’s the closest thing to a daughter I have. I don’t know what’s going on, but I trust you’ll figure things out.”

No pressure.

Eric inclined his head. “I will do my best, sir.”

8

After finding nothing to substantiateAllye’s alleged experience at the park, Eric returned to town and headed for Dion’s house. As he drove, he mulled through the details of Allye’s case.

Much as he hated to admit it, the mayor’s statement made sense. Allye’s ... didn’t.

And yet he didn’t feel comfortable dismissing the woman. Even without the concerning bruises on her neck, he’d known her for years. They weren’t close friends by any means, but he was a pretty good judge of character and had spent enough time around her to know that she wasn’t the type to blow things out of proportion. Yes, she came off a bit naïve at times, but she was smart and logical and very perceptive.

She was also an extrovert that could make friends with the grumpiest curmudgeon around. And her reputation was stellar. The worst thing he’d ever heard said about her was that she was too much of a Pollyanna.

And though he’d seen the fatigue Mayor Jennings mentioned, there’d been no sign of deceit or delusion when he spoke with Allye earlier today. But that didn’t mean she wasn’t mistaken. The mayor believed she’d had a traumatic fall, and trauma did weird things to people sometimes. And there was always the possibilitythat she experienced some sort of hallucination that left her with realistic-feeling, but totally bogus, memories from last night. Still didn’t account for the bruising though.

And the conversations she’d claimed to have overheard at the park complicated things too. According to her, one of the speakers had reassured the other that whatever they were exchanging wasn’t tainted. They hadn’t outright said there had been tainted drugs floating around recently, but that would fit with the ODs the department had seen in recent weeks, Ashley Harrison’s included. Regular meth users who didn’t realize their drugs had been laced with fentanyl would be even more likely to overdose than someone who knew what they were taking.

Would Allye have any clue that kind of thing was going on? The police chief was waiting to get more results back before making a public statement about the possible fentanyl situation, so the average citizen shouldn’t know about it yet. And if she’d just imagined a drug deal going down, that detail was conveniently on the nose. And then that cop comment...

This one was a puzzler, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to figure it out.

Darkness was falling as he pulled into Dion’s driveway again. No lights shined from the house despite the early evening hour, but he’d try knocking on the door anyway. The crime scene tape had been removed earlier today, so Dion could theoretically have returned home and let himself inside.

But as he expected, his knock was met with silence. The teen was still missing.

Returning to his car, Eric settled into the driver’s seat but didn’t reach for the ignition. Instead, he checked his phone. No missed calls or messages. He tried Dion’s number again, then the few remaining friends who hadn’t responded to his earlier calls. All but one of them answered this time, but as with the earlier group, they claimed they hadn’t seen or heard from Dion since school yesterday. Maybe they just didn’t wantto rat their friend out to a cop, but Eric didn’t get the sense they were lying.

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