Page 109 of Whiskey Chase
“Scarlett didn’t do anything this time. No one did anything. Let’s say this is all hypothetical.”
“I’m not liking how this conversation is going,” she said, sitting back in her chair and crossing her arms. She had the cool, flat eyes of a cop.
“Did a good friend of yours come to you recently with something he or she found?” I asked.
“Like what? A missing dog?”
“Like something connected to a crime.”
“What are you getting at, Devlin?”
I waited a beat and repeated the question.
Cassidy sighed, grudgingly. “No. No one brought me any evidence recently.”
Scarlett trusted Cassidy with her life but not with this. Either I’d have to trust her, or I needed to get up and walk out of here right now.
“Spill, McCallister.”
I leaned in and lowered my voice. “What if someone found something in a deceased relative’s house? Something that was connected to the biggest crime ever committed in Bootleg?” I asked.
Cassidy stiffened. She glanced around us and leaned in. “What did Scarlett find?” she asked in a voice barely above a whisper.
“Let’s say my client,” I said.
“Fine. What did your client find?” Cassidy asked.
“First, what wouldn’t you do for Scarlett Bodine?” I pressed.
Cassidy’s eyebrows winged up toward her hairline. “Whatwouldn’tI do? There’s not a damn thing in this world that I wouldn’t do for her. If she needs help burying a body, I’m there with a shovel and duct tape.”
I nodded. It was the answer I wanted. And I believed her.
“What was Callie Tucker wearing when she disappeared?”
“Cut off shorts, a blue tank top, red sweater, and blue flip-flops.” She rattled off the list, and I remembered that Cassidy had been one of the last people to see Callie alive.
“My client,” I said, placing emphasis on the words, “found a red cardigan sweater that matches the description tucked away in her deceased parents’ possessions.”
Cassidy leaned in until we were almost nose to nose. “Are you fucking kidding me?” she hissed.
I shook my head and glanced around to make sure none of the bar flies were listening.
“And she told you and not me?” Cassidy hissed. “And she didn’t go to the cops? What is wrong with her? I’m going to kill her.”
I put a hand on her arm. “She didn’t tell me. I was there when she found it. But she didn’t tell me that it’s what Callie was wearing when she disappeared.”
“Then why are you here? How did you find out?”
I shrugged. “I connected the dots. I’m guessing Scarlett’s trying to handle this on her own. Whatever that means.”
“If word gets out that the first clue in a decade has turned up in that case, we’ll have the state police and FBI and media crawling all over this place. Jesus, Judge Kendall just got back in town.”
I nodded. “And the Bodines will be under the microscope.”
She flopped back in her chair. “Dang it, Devlin. I thought you asked me here to talk about engagement rings.”
I looked into the depths of my beer. “I wish. Scarlett decided this is just a summer fling and that, when I go back to Annapolis, we’re over.”
