Page 45 of Hack
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Archer smiled at Carter as he walked into the small coffee shop, then nodded to the counter to let him know he was going to place an order before joining him. Carter gave him a nod and went back to looking at something on his laptop.
He placed his order, then turned, leaned against the counter, and watched Carter. He had his head down, his thick hair falling slightly over his forehead. He looked tired, and for a moment he wondered if he should have let him sleep more the night before, but the more he watched him, he realized it wasn't tired as if from lack of sleep, it was more mentally tired. He looked like someone who had been cramming for a college exam for far too long, someone who had forced too much information into his brain in a short period of time.
What they were doing had to be weighing heavily on him. After all these years, he was hopefully close to bringing Lyle to justice. He tried to put himself in Carter's place, imagine what it would be like to lose a daughter the way he had, but he couldn't even begin to know what Carter had to feel. He honestly didn't want to know. It had to be so painful.
Taking his coffee, he made his way over to the table and sat down. He didn't say anything for several moments, letting Carter finish whatever he was doing. When Carter looked up, he answered the question he assumed would be first on his mind. "Three blonde girls went missing from within a fifty-mile radius of here within six months of the Carmen's murder. I have the information in the car. I wasn't sure this was where we wanted to be talking about all that."
Carter nodded. "I wonder if we go back to talk to the historical society worker if she'd remember what she looked like?"
"What did she say?" Archer asked.
"That right after the murder, she took some food over for the boys and Lyle answered. There was a young girl with him who she assumed must have been his sister, but found it odd because she never recalled Tonya being pregnant after having Lyle." Carter rubbed his eyes, again looking worn out. "I also got a hit on Luis's credit card from three months ago. A single service repair at a mechanic in North Carolina. It was the only charge that wasn't here locally."
Archer's brows rose. "Well, shit. I guess we need to look for any ties to North Carolina then, don't we?"
"Yep, and it might not be a big deal, but Lyle's grandfather came from big money. What I want to know is why, if Mark's father had money, Mark and his wife lived almost in poverty as they raised their family. Where did the money go and why didn't Mark inherit it? It might have nothing to do with the case, but I'm not ignoring anything."
"Interesting. I managed to get the police report about the murders. It reads that there was little of value in the home, and that it was impossible to know what, if anything, had been stolen because the kids didn't recall ever seeing anything worth stealing around the house. The police were convinced it was a break-in as the back door was broken in, but they couldn't call it a robbery. They had no suspects, and there was very little evidence other than the back door and bullet casings. Even the rifle came back clean of prints." Archer blew over his coffee. "Like you said, the parents might have nothing to do with any of this, but something big happened shortly after their murder to cause Lyle to leave. I mean, I get having your parents murdered is enough to make you want to skip town, but my gut says something big happened."
"I always say follow your gut. It's never led me wrong." Carter sat forward. "Those pictures you have of the missing girls, are they just photos or is it obvious they are missing girls?"
"I have both." Archer wished he'd brought the files in with him.
"Let's grab them. We'll go back and ask Dana if she recognizes any of them as the girl, then head back to the motel and figure out a game plan for tonight. Unless you have more to do in town." Carter swallowed the last of his coffee and wadded up his napkin before shutting his laptop.
Archer shook his head. "I'm done. You going to finish that?" He nodded to the half-eaten sweet roll on Carter's plate.
"All yours." Carter pushed it toward him.
Taking it, he lifted it up, then paused before taking a bite. "You okay?"
"No worse than I was before we started digging." Carter stood, putting an end to the questioning.
Taking the hint to back off, Archer stood with him as he took a huge bite of the sweet roll to keep him from pressing any further. He was worried about Carter, had been before they'd even come to Atlanta. This had to be bringing emotions he'd buried away to the surface. The closer they got to finding Lyle, the harder this was going to get for Carter. There wasn't much Archer could do about it other than be there if Carter needed him. It was something, as the father of a victim, that Carter would have to deal with. Still, it sucked to know he was the one who'd asked Carter to help him and put him in this position.
"You find out anything else?" Carter asked as they headed to the car.
"Not much. Luis and Levitt have been keeping out of trouble the last few months. Other than a few calls to the bar for the usual bar fight and shit like that. Nothing involving the brothers." Archer unlocked the car, leaned in, and grabbed the files he'd brought with him. One was thick, containing the police reports of the murder, but the other was thin, holding the information on the three girls. He thumbed through and found the three black and white printed photos. "I'm assuming you're thinking like I am that Lyle kidnapped one or more of these girls after his parents died and held her at the house?"
Carter nodded. "I hope I'm wrong."
"Me too." Archer frowned as Carter looked at the photos. "None have ever been found. Two of the families still live in the area, the other moved shortly after their daughter was taken."
"I really hope our guts are wrong on this." Carter combed his hair back with his fingers. "Let's go talk to Dana. I led her to believe I'm a paralegal looking for Lyle. I gave no information as to why, but with me asking about the murder, I'm sure she knows something more is up. Still, the less she knows, the better. The last thing we need is her warning anyone that we're digging for information."
"I'm letting you do all the talking." Archer was more than happy to take a step back and let Carter play the investigator for a while.
They made their way back to the small historical society building and walked in.
"Oh, you're back. Did you leave something behind?" An older lady stood up from the table she sat behind, what looked like a romance book in front of her.
"No, I'm sorry to bother you again, but I was hoping you might look at some photos I have and let me know if any of them are the young girl you saw with Lyle when you took him food. I get that it was a long time ago, but I hoped you might recall her." Carter laid the photos on the table for her to look at.
"Well, let me look. I only got a small glimpse of the girl, but she had huge blue eyes." She touched each picture with her index finger, then went back to the one in the center. "If I'm not mistaken, this is her. She wasn't dressed as nice of course, but I'm pretty sure this is the girl I saw." Then she gasped. "Wait, I know this girl. She was the one who went missing down by the lake years ago. They thought she drowned." She held up the third photo. "Are all these girls missing?" Her gaze darted up to Carter's face.
Carter smiled as if he wasn't worried at all. "We are just looking into how Lyle knew the girl, since there is no record of a girl being born to the family. You could be right and he was just babysitting her that day. You've been a great help today, Dana." Carter took the photos.
