Page 15 of Shadow Sabotage
“Alright,” I said, accepting his explanation. “But just so you know, our coffee here is great. Andrea makes it, and she buys the good stuff. Plus, it won’t cost you an arm and a leg every time you need a cup.”
“Maybe next time. Did you read the file while I was gone?”
“Yes.”Twice. With time to spare.But I managed to keep my irritation to myself.
“Any thoughts?”
I took a sip of the coffee, annoyed that it really was better than what we had in the breakroom. “Yeah. I think they didn’t work very hard to find her.”
“I figured you’d say that, being a SAR operative.” He leaned back in his chair, giving me that half grin of his as he gestured for me to hand him the file.
When I did, he opened it and began repeating the facts.
“Katelyn Brown was an adult—age nineteen. Voluntary disappearance. Last seen March thirteenth of this year. Last known location was at a gas station outside of Casper on the same night she left Laramie. She was alone. No suspicious circumstances.” He looked up at me, a challenge in his eyes.
I nodded and picked up where he’d left off. “She got into an argument with an ex-boyfriend at a college party. Went back to the apartment she shared with a roommate, packed a bag, told the roommate she was done with college, and left.”
“Security camera footage confirmed the roommate’s story,” he went on. “Katelyn showed up at the apartment visibly angry. Left half an hour later with a bag. Drove her own vehicle away.” He looked up at me, watching for a reaction.
I didn’t give him one.
So he continued. “She left her cell phone behind at the dorm, so no way to track her with it. But they got a hit on her credit card that night at the gas station south of Casper. Security camera footage showed her alone, in her own vehicle. No further hits after that.
“Police contacted her mother, her friends, her job—all known contacts. Her mother said it wasn’t the first time she’d run away. Said she had a long history of being emotionally volatile and would usually show up on her own at some point. Katelyn’s picture went out on the news and social media. There weren’t any credible leads.”
He looked up and gave me a pointed stare as he closed the file and put it on his desk. “So what, exactly, would you have had them do differently?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted.
“But you think they didn’t do enough to find her?”
I let out a frustrated sigh. “Maybe. I don’t know. It just goes against everything inside me to give up on a search.”
He cocked his head. “That’s understandable. But I imagine everyone you’ve searched for has been anxious for you to find them.”
“Something horrible happened to Katelyn. You don’t think she wanted someone to help bring her home, too?”
“We don’t have confirmation that the remains you found are Katelyn—”
“It’s her,” I said firmly. I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I did.
There was something in his eyes that almost—almost—looked like approval. “Maybe. But back to the file. Did anything strike you as odd?”
The fact that he’d asked meant he thought so. But nothing stood out to me.
When I didn’t answer, he filled in the blanks. “What nineteen-year-old girl heads out on a trip and leaves her cell phone behind?”
And I finally understood what he was getting at.
Maybe Katelyn Brown hadn’t wanted to be found.
Chapter Six
Vance
Claire Hawkins was goingto drive me crazy.
She sat in my office, legs crossed, fidgeting and twitching like the pent-up energy inside her was going to explode if she didn’t let it out.
