Page 30 of The Wolves Come at Night
“I was texting with Lincoln while you talked to Simeon Chase. He wants Carson’s phone. If we can find it, he can run diagnostics and see why it was being weird. Something there, though. If there was an app or download sophisticated enough to disrupt her network, we at least have a place to look. But why Carson Conway? Why would she of all people end up with malware on her phone, stumble into a murder, then go missing? It doesn’t add up.”
“Agreed,” Taylor said. “Think someone was tracking her?”
“I think that’s a leap, too. But all right. Let’s play that out. Why would someone be tracking a Vandy first-year?”
“Either she got into something, or her family is in trouble. Have you talked to her family?”
“Oh, yeah. Her mom called right before you got here. She’s on a plane down today. She’s an ER doc in Connecticut. The dad’s dead. Drugs, maybe? Though no one’s breathed even a hint of this girl being anything but a weekend warrior.”
“Drugs are an angle. Either her own relationships went south, or she stumbled into a situation and didn’t realize what it was, but just in case, someone wanted to cover themselves?”
Marcus rubbed his chin, the stubble rasping under his fingers. “I don’t know. According to the roommate, they’ve done nothing more exciting than yoga classes and crashing a few frat parties. Doesn’t sound terribly suspicious. And if they had, don’t you think the roommate would have been targeted, too?”
“Good point. She probably just clicked a bad link then. And we could be overreacting. She could have run, you know. Gotten scared with all the press and took off.”
“Could have. Though I don’t get the sense Carson’s terribly independent. The roommate said they do almost everything together. No, I think we gotta assume she’s been taken.”
A few minutes passed. Taylor was surprised to realize the sun was starting to set. They’d been at it all afternoon and gotten exactly nowhere. The campus was quiet, holding its breath; squirrels and birds emerging to fill the air with chirps and song while they feasted before their overnight naps. The students were giving Taylor and Marcus a wide berth now, concerned, obviously, but still so wrapped up in their own lives that the alarm wasn’t too high. Not yet.
That would change. She knew it.
Marcus’s phone chirped. He glanced at the screen. “The mom’s in town. She’s going straight to her hotel and wants to meet us there.”
“That’s fine.”
“Guess we should go see her, huh?” Marcus said finally, not moving.
“Yep,” she replied, also staying put. After a few beats, Taylor sighed. “Let’s press hard on that warrant to track all the activity on Carson’s phone. See if anything pops.”
“Will do.”
The birds chirped. The squirrels foraged. The students wandered. Somewhere, there was a girl. Hiding. Scared. Alone. Dead.
“We’re missing something, aren’t we?”
Taylor pulled out her keys and ambled toward the truck. “Yes. We are.”
Fifteen
With the missing girl’s mother from out of state, Taylor felt a bit at sea—she was used to being hands-on with the families, being in their homes, searching through the detritus of the victims’ lives. She’d solved more than one case by physical searches through a victim’s personal items. She’d had a chance to see Carson’s room at Vanderbilt, yes, but it simply wasn’t the same. Now, she had to make do with the anonymity of the mother’s hotel. Taylor had happily granted the request to speak to Avery Conway there instead of dragging her into headquarters or trying to interview her in her missing daughter’s dorm room. The media were crawling all over town, and she had a feeling they’d need the privacy.
The opulent lobby of the Hermitage Hotel wasn’t terribly crowded, but Taylor still drew attention striding across the marble floors to the elevators, Marcus at her shoulder. She’d last been here with Baldwin before a Predators hockey game, eating at one of their favorite downtown venues. She wished that was her mission today. Speaking of…Florian had wanted to meet at the now-closed Oak Bar, downstairs in this very hotel. Odd.
She’d sent Florian a brief text earlier, cancelling their lunch date. When she checked her phone, he’d gotten back to her.
Dinner, then? I’ll find someplace discreet. I do want to see you. Very much.
She sighed. Florian was persistent. He might be your new boss, Taylor. Play nice.
Assuming things calm down, I can make that happen. Let me know when and where.
Merci. You won’t regret it.
They were quiet on the elevator, each lost in their own thoughts. At the door, Marcus said, “I’m going to let you take the lead.”
“Jump in anytime,” she said, and knocked.
The door was opened by an older version of Carson. The resemblance between mother and daughter was incredible.
