Page 52 of Last Seen
A soft southern voice answers the call. “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”
“My name is Halley James. I need someone to come out to 6542 Travis Lane. My friend Katie Star didn’t show up for work this morning. I’m at her house now. All of her things are here, her purse, her phone, and her car is in the drive, but she’s not home. Water was running in the bathroom sink, there are scratches in the paint by the back door like someone jimmied the lock. Something is wrong.”
“I’ll send the chief right now. Halley James? You remember me? Jessie McGraw? I gave you a tour of the department when you interviewed.”
“I do remember, Jessie. Hi. It’s been a while.”
“You think something happened to Kater?”
The nickname instead of a formal query: this is the joy of a small town. “She missed her shift this morning, so I stopped by. We were out together last night. Everything here feels ... off. Water was running in the bathroom. Even if she got distracted and went for a run, would she have left the back door unlocked?”
“I don’t know, hon. Chief’s on his way. You stick close and keep your eyes open. Want to stay on with me until he gets there?”
“No, I’m okay. Thanks, Jessie.”
“You ever think about joining the force? I know there’s an opening.”
Halley cringes. Does everyone know she got fired? But no, there’s no way. Jessie’s just making conversation.
“Yeah? I will take it under advisement.”
“We’d love to have you. Smart young thing like you could really rattle some of the good old boys’ cages around here, you know?”
Despite her concern for Kater, Halley is amused. “You know these calls are recorded, don’t you?”
“Oh, what’s Baird Early gonna do, fire me for telling the truth? Besides, I turned it off after you said you were okay. No one here in the room but me.”
They chat for a bit about the crime in the area, mostly petty stuff, and Halley gets the sense this is the most excitement Jessie has seen in months.
She hears the faint wail of a siren. “Sounds like the chief is nearly here.”
“All right. You take care, now, you hear? Think about it. Marchburg could use a bright light like yourself.”
“Thanks, Jessie.” She flips her phone closed as the Marchburg police chief pulls into the drive, his tricked-out black-and-white Ford Expedition effectively blocking her in. Baird Early is a large square-faced man in a tan uniform and a green trooper’s hat. Everything about him is slow—his walk, his speech—but his mind is as sharp and intense, the finest of any law enforcement individual she’s ever met. He is a transplant from Richmond who followed his wife to town when she came home to care for her ailing father.Like you have,Halley thinks. Only Mrs. Chief Early got it in her head that it would be a good idea to stick around, and now they are never going to leave.
And they say you can never come home again.
“Chief. Thank you for coming so quickly.”
“Hello, Miss James,” he drawls. “It’s good to see you. Sorry to hear about your daddy. Glad he’s gonna be okay.”
“Thank you. And you can drop the good old boy with me, Chief. I know better.”
He laughs. “You never do miss a trick, do you, Sass?” He called hersassy pantswhen she was younger, and won’t give it up. “You say Miss Star is missin’? Why would you think that?”
“There was a stranger at Joe’s last night. He creeped me out. I’ve never seen him around, but there was something about him that felt familiar. He asked her about me, but she told him to take a hike. He had a motorcycle, I don’t know what kind. Are there cameras at Joe’s?”
“Nope. But there’s a security camera pointing toward that lot from the feedstore across the way. They put it in last year, someone was stealing the bags of grain from the stack out front. I’ll have a look. So this stranger, he was paying attention to you and Kater? Did you get his name?”
“No. Kater chased him off. God, you don’t think he was pissed and took it out on her?”
“Any idea why he would do that?”
“Maybe. Some men don’t like to be told no. Chief ...”
“What?”
“Do you know anything about my mother’s death?”
