Page 19 of Vanished in the Mist
“You got it.” He held his phone in one hand while he made scrolling motions with the other, as if he was surfing the internet. But every now and then he’d zoom in on someone and take their picture.
“Are you sure you haven’t done this kind of work before?” she asked. “You’re pretty good at it.”
“If that’s a job offer, I’m not sure you can afford me.”
She laughed, then sobered as a diver surfaced and motioned for one of the forensics guys on the dive boat to take something from him. “I think they found another bone.”
Kaden nodded as he snapped a picture in their direction, then pulled up the photograph and zoomed in. “Wait. That’s not a bone. That’s—”
“A steel rod. Like the kind they implant in bones when they’ve been shattered. Which means—”
“They’ll be able to trace it.”
“Or we can.” She minimized the photos and typed in the address for the Mystic Lake High School website.
He hovered over her shoulder, watching the screen.
“Take pictures,” she reminded him. “We need to identify all the onlookers.” She blinked, then looked up at him. “I’m being bossy and aggressive, aren’t I?”
He slowly shook his head. “No. You’re being the boss, as you should be. You’re heading the investigation. I’m your helper. Forget what Troy told you. Those are monikers insecure jerks put on women to try to make themselves feel more superior. Don’t let him get to you.”
Her eyes actually started tearing up. “Remind me again why some lucky woman hasn’t snapped you up as a husband yet?”
He opened his mouth as if to respond, then seemed to think better of it and simply shrugged.
Her face heated. She’d expected one of his flirty replies. Maybe she was making more of the attraction between them than there really was. Or maybe the attraction was mainly on her side and he was just the kind of guy who was nice and made you feel good about yourself, without meaning anything deeper by it.She cleared her throat and started typing again. “We need more pictures. Please.”
“Peyton Holloway.”
“What?”
He held up his phone, showing the photograph he’d just snapped. “Prom queen. Another recently graduated senior. Most of the people out here this morning are older, the retiree type who can check out what’s going on without worrying about missing work. Sure is odd that the younger ones watching the recovery of a body in the lake are mostly kids from Tanya’s school. You’d think they’d be at college, or working right now.”
Shanna swiped through several more screens on the school website. “Here’s the one I was looking for. Tristan Cargill.”
He set his phone on the picnic table and looked over her shoulder again. “Another senior who graduated last year. I haven’t seen him here. Why did you bring up his photograph?”
“I remembered reading his interview, the opening discussion where the police make small talk to establish rapport. He was in a boating accident several months before graduation, shattered his left leg. He was in a wheelchair for a while but was walking with a cane when it was time to head down the aisle to get his diploma.”
“Shattered his leg?” Kaden took his phone and zoomed in on the picture he’d taken of the diver handing what he’d found to a forensics tech. “It might be long enough to stabilize a femur. Or a tibia. But I sure hope our John Doe isn’t another teenager.”
“Preaching to the choir.”
Neither of them spoke for a while. They sat quietly, openly watching the flurry of activity taking place on the lake. When the news came, in the form of Officer O’Brien hurrying over to them as she put her cell phone away, it was no surprise to learn that their John Doe had been identified, by following up on the serial number on the steel rod.
It was Tristan Cargill.
“What are the odds?” O’Brien said. “A local high-school kid is found murdered in the same area where another missing high-school kid is believed to have disappeared? I don’t think Jericho’s disappearance should be treated as a potential drowning anymore.”
“I agree,” Shanna said. “Although it still might be, it’s not much of a leap to think the two could be connected.”
O’Brien looked around. “Everyone here is a local. If the killer came back to visit the scene of his crime today, he’s no stranger. He’s one of us.” Her eyes took on a haunted look. “And if Tanya was killed, murdered, and it’s the same perpetrator, we may have another serial killer on our hands. We may be looking for more bodies.”
“Another serial killer?” Kaden glanced at Shanna. “You don’t seem surprised to hear that there’s already an active serial killer in this area.”
“That’s because he’s not active. That case is closed. My sister told me about it.”
“That’s right,” O’Brien said. “The killer, well, he’s not a threat to anyone anymore. And that all happened long before Tristan Cargill was killed.” She looked around at the curious faces turned their way, then lowered her voice. “I hope no one else heard that. I need to perform the notification before Tristan’s family finds out from someone else.” She started to turn away, then paused. “We’ll obviously be actively working on Tanya’s disappearance again to see if there’s a link between these two cases. I recommend that you both back down, go home. If the killer knows you’re looking into any deaths for which he’s responsible, it could be dangerous for you. Cassidy will understand you stopping your search.” Without waiting for a reply, she hurried toward her police SUV, which was parked where the road ended.
