Page 38 of Guess Again
“The argument of saving his political career is valid, but that’s assuming he knew Callie was pregnant. Everything I’ve uncovered suggested he did not. Also, why would he reopen the case ten years later if he got away scot-free?”
“Yeah,” Maddie agreed. “Pretty risky, especially when no one was putting pressure on him to reexamine the case.”
“The stepfather is a pretty ugly thought. I’ll have to put some thought into how to approach that topic.”
“So that leaves the father of Callie’s baby,” Maddie said. “Any idea who that was?”
“Nope. But I have to believe he was communicating with Callie through the prepaid Samsung.”
“Are you running forensics on the phone?”
Ethan shook his head. “Not formally, but I’ve got a friend working on it.”
“You haven’t told Pete about the phone? Or Governor Jones?”
“Not yet.”
“They asked for your help, Ethan. You’ve found something no one else found back then—she was pregnant. And you found the prepaid phone Callie was calling and texting, which likely belonged to the father of her unborn child. They’d want to know all that.”
“Yeah. They’d also want to know how Francis Bernard led me to the prepaid phone in the first place. I don’t know how to explain that yet.”
“Then go back and ask him.”
Ethan nodded and closed his eyes momentarily at the thought of speaking with Francis again.
“I’m meeting with Lindsay Larkin today to retrace Callie’s footsteps from the night she disappeared.”
“And Francis?”
“I’m on the visitor’s log to see him tomorrow.”
Ethan knew he had no choice but to return to Boscobel. He had to find out what Francis wanted from him, and what else the man knew about Callie Jones.
CHAPTER 35
Cherryview, Wisconsin Saturday, July 26, 2025
ETHAN CLIMBED ONBOARD THEMETALSHARK32 DEFIANT, WHICHwas part of a fleet of patrol vessels owned by the DCI and housed with the Madison Police Department. He turned and offered his hand to Lindsay Larkin, who stepped from the dock and onto the boat. He reached to help Pete Kramer, but Pete swatted his hand away.
“I’m not some damn invalid,” Pete said.
Ethan didn’t protest or mention that Pete was, in fact, the very definition of an invalid. Instead, he stepped back as Pete tossed the cane he had recently started using into the boat and managed to step down into the cabin unassisted, landing hard and unceremoniously onto the seat. An officer with the Madison PD fired up the engine and pulled away from North Point Pier.
The humidity was thick, and the afternoon temperature hovered around 100 degrees. Ethan was dressed in slacks and a short-sleeved shirt. Lindsay was in a silk tank top and jeans. Pete had mercifully removed his sport coat once he was seated on the boat. As the Defiant took off, they all welcomed the breeze.
“There’s an island in the middle of the lake,” Pete said over the hum of the engine. “They call it The Crest. There used to be a bar and grill out there, but it shut down in 2017. Callie was there the night she disappeared. To the best of my knowledge, it’s the last place anyone saw her alive.”
“You were there?” Ethan asked Lindsay. “That night at The Crest?”
“Yes, all of us were. All our friends and most of the volleyball team.”
“And you saw Callie?”
Lindsay nodded. “Yeah, we drove out to The Crest in her parents’ boat. I was with her all night, until she left.”
The Defiant banked to the left as it cut across Lake Okoboji. A light mist came from the bow and sprayed Ethan’s face, offering a reprieve from the heat. They glided across the lake for fifteen minutes until the engines revved down and The Crest came into view. It was a small piece of land just a few hundred yards wide that peeked from below the surface of Lake Okoboji. A long pier that had seen better days reached out from the land like an arthritic finger. The driver guided the Defiant alongside the pier and Ethan tied off the bow.
“Back in the day,” Pete said, “this used to be a popular restaurant and bar. The only one on the lake.”
