Page 100 of The Lost Bones
“He’s with her. She picked him up from school. She sounded very worried.” Rivera took a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry. This is my fault. I brought him in. No wonder we were always one step behind. He’s been part of the team and even supplying information to the rest.”
Nothing gnawed on the soul with sharper teeth than betrayal. And Mackenzie held a grim view of the world. The older she got, the more experiences she garnered, the more she realized that there were only going to be a handful people who would never betray her. Whenever she thought of Andrew, red spots dotted her vision.
“When you two went to Hamilton’s house, did Andrew know?” Sully asked.
Nick shook his head. “That’s why he wasn’t able to warn them off.”
“No wonder he was so keen on coming to Lakemore,” Mackenzie said. “And he’s been at Jane Doe’s side the entire time.”
“When Jane Doe handed you that key, was Dr. Turner around?” Rivera asked.
“No.”
“The one time you were together without him.” Nick ran a hand through his hair. “So that’s why he was so invested in her treatment.”
Sully picked up the cross-stitch and tossed it, frustrated. “He was keeping an eye on her so that she didn’t reveal anything.”
“And he conveniently wanted to hand her over to another organization after she gave me that key. Maybe he suspected something and was looking for the opportunity to send her back into the prostitution ring,” Nick said.
“It was Andrew who brought in the Ivy Pierce lead. After we found out about Jennings and arrested him, he changed the direction of the case and scrambled for an explanation, randomly suggesting that Jennings and Ivy could be related,” Mackenzie spat.
“We already had Jennings.” Nick nodded. “So he tried to save his own ass.”
“He played us like a fiddle.” Rivera clicked her tongue. “Go to his house. Maybe you’ll find some clues there. We’ll get Clint to try and track down his location. And we’ll issue an APB.”
Mackenzie and Nick went back to their desks and collected their jackets and Glocks.
“Fucker,” Nick mumbled, checking the bullets. “I’m going to make him pay.”
Mackenzie’s hopes threatened to plummet. If Andrew was aware they were onto him, it might be too late to save Sterling.
Mackenzie’s boots squelched in a puddle as she got out the car. Sheets of rain were blasting across the town that night. It wasn’t the kind of rain that made leaves glossy; it tried to strip trees bare. The cold droplets traced patterns on her skin. There was no thunder. There was no lightning. There was no pitter-patter. Only white noise blaring. Water was already collecting in the roads. There were flood warnings.
“It’s that way!” Nick yelled over the racket.
Mackenzie winced under the slapping stings of the rain falling on her back. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open. There was no point in using umbrellas. They wore raincoats instead.
Andrew Turner’s cabin was located at the end of a hunting trail. In this thick darkness, Mackenzie couldn’t make out any geographical markers that might give her a sense of where she was headed. She relied on Nick for navigation. They both had to wear flashlights around their wrists to see the path ahead and to spot each other. As they walked, Mackenzie’s feet caught in creepers and her face was brushed by branches and thickets.
At last she saw the shadowy outline of a cabin ahead of her. There were no lights on. The place looked abandoned. They headed for the front door. Reaching the porch, they found some respite from the rain.
“What the hell is wrong with this weather?” Nick groaned, ruffling his hair to get some water out.
Mackenzie’s clothes weighed a ton. Her red hair had fallen out of its ponytail and was plastered to her face.
It was too loud for anyone to hear if they knocked or rang the bell.
Together they slammed their shoulders into the front door. It ripped from its hinges and hung loosely. They stepped inside, waving their flashlights around the open-plan living room and kitchen. Mackenzie found a light switch, but it didn’t work. The storm must have messed up the wiring. But at least inside they were shielded from the rain and the noise.
“What are we looking for?” she asked.
“Anything that might give us a clue about where Sterling and those women are being held, or where Turner could be,” Nick said. “I’ll check upstairs.”
“Okay.” She wasn’t comfortable alone in the pitch blackness, but she didn’t protest as he headed up the spiral staircase.
They were on a clock.
All she could see was whatever the beam from the flashlight was illuminating. A part of her kept expecting something to jump out at her from the darkness. She could hear Nick’s footsteps above. It made her breathe easier. Her light fell on a wall that held a framed picture of Andrew and Robbie as a baby.
