Page 38 of Bourbon Bliss
“What?” Scarlett shrieked.
Cassidy nodded. “She didn’t go home that night because she was running away to be with him. She cut through the woods and hitched a ride out of town, trying to get to Perrinville. The guy she’d met had a bus ticket waiting for her.”
“Why in the hell didn’t he just come get her himself?” Scarlett asked.
“I don’t know,” Cassidy said. “The report doesn’t answer that. Maybe he didn’t have a car.”
“She hitched a ride?” Jameson asked.
I could almost hear the unasked follow-up question. Had it been their father who’d picked her up?
“She said your dad stopped and gave her a ride.”
“Shit,” Jameson said under his breath.
“They didn’t make it all the way to Perrinville,” Cassidy continued. “About a mile outside town, he almost hit a deer. Slammed on the brakes to avoid it. She hit her face on the dash.”
“Blood on her sweater,” Scarlett said under her breath.
“Yep. The report isn’t clear on what happened at that point, exactly, or why her cardigan was left behind. Only that she continued into town on foot and caught the bus.”
“This could explain the presence of her fingerprints in your mother’s car,” I said.
“It could, although I don’t know why he would have been driving our mom’s car,” Bowie said.
“We know he drove it a few days later,” Jameson said. “Maybe his truck was broken down at the time.”
Bowie shrugged. “It could have been. I don’t remember for sure.”
“Wait,” Scarlett said. “If Callie ran off with some guy she met online, why’d she disappear for so long? Did she marry him and move to Australia or something?”
“No, I don’t think she married him,” Cassidy said. “Not legally anyhow. It turns out the guy she’d met was in a cult.”
“What?” Scarlett shrieked again, and Devlin rubbed her back as if to calm her.
“Yep. He lured her into running away with him and kept her prisoner at the compound where they lived. Wouldn’t let her leave. She finally escaped this morning.”
“How?” Jonah asked.
“The report says that a couple of days ago the cult leader decided they had to move. She described the situation at their compound aschaotic. Sounds like they were all scrambling to get out of there before they were attacked by demons or something.” Cassidy shook her head. “Anyway, Callie hid, and they left without her.”
“Did they come back for her?” Jonah asked.
“She didn’t know. The Hollis Corner police have been assuring my dad all day that theyhave everything under control.” Cassidy rolled her eyes. “But they don’t know either.”
Even I could tell Cassidy was being sarcastic.
“Where is she now?” Scarlett asked. “Still at the hospital?
“Nope,” Cassidy said. “Judge Kendall whisked her out of there as soon as she was discharged.”
“They just let her go?” Scarlett asked.
“She was a missing person, not a suspect in a crime,” Cassidy said. “And she didn’t have any injuries that warranted hospitalization. With a positive identification from her father, there was no reason to keep her there. If it had been me on the scene, I’d have done more. Asked more questions. Taken fingerprints. Something.”
“Wait—they didn’t take fingerprints?” Devlin asked.
Cassidy rolled her eyes again. “The notes in the report say they had a hard time getting her to cooperate due to hertraumatized state. I think they had to really coax the story out of her. And once her dad showed up, he wouldn’t let anyone near her.”
