He didn’t want to let her go, but he had a job to do. “I’ve got to call my team. We need to gather evidence.”
“Of course.” She stepped away, wiping her face. “I’ll head back to the house.”
“Actually, I’m going to need you to stick around for a while. Provide an official statement.”
“Sure. I’ll wait in my Jeep. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Zain remained by the cave entrance until she was in her vehicle, then he called Detective Nate Steele, one of his forensics service team members and former partner. “I’m going to need a team at the Moore family ranch.”
Computer keys clicked in the background along with the typical hum of an office setting. Nate was most likely completing several reports he failed to turn into Zain last week.
“What for?”
His colleague had a bad habit of questioning everything. Of course, that’s what made him a good detective, but today, Zain struggled to provide the answer.
“A body’s been found in a cave located on the property.” He swallowed. “I think...it’s Sadie’s and if the medical examiner agrees, I’m going to need you to take the lead on this. Lieutenant Black will want someone other than the brother of the deceased overseeing this case.”
Zain paused for a moment and ran a hand over the back of his neck. “Do you remember who our key suspect is?”
Silence on the other end resonated through the call. No more key clicks. He had Nate’s full attention now. “Yeah, Tyler Moore.”
Zain gripped the phone tighter in his hand. The evidence had been circumstantial last go around and without a body, the man walked. Zain was convinced Tyler killed his sister. He was the last one to see her and everyone else in the vicinity had a solid alibi. Tyler didn’t.
Zain would prove his case this time.
“Exactly. This is what we’ve been waiting for. He messed up and my sister’s body is on his property. Time to bring this guy to justice.”
“What about Carli? She caused a lot of problems with our investigation last time.”
Zain glanced back at his former girlfriend. She sat inside her air-conditioned Jeep, head resting back against the seat, eyes closed. Every few seconds she swiped tears from her face.
The defense lawyer she hired for her brother the first time was a real barracuda. Some hotshot out of Atlanta. The district attorney dropped the case after one meeting with the man and never charged Tyler with a crime. Then Carli left. Moved away from Zain for good. He couldn’t let his past feelings interfere with the job he had to do.
“I’m hoping she’ll be cooperative.”
“And if she isn’t?”
He straightened and glanced back toward the tomb of his sister. “We follow the letter of the law. No shortcuts or favors. Gather all the evidence. We’re not messing this up again.”
“Got it.”
Zain ended the call and approached Carli’s Jeep. She didn’t see him as she typed on her phone. Tyler’s name displayed at the top of her screen.
Already alerting her brother to their discovery.
Word around town was the man left for a while. Some said his departure was work related, others said he went to meet a girl, but who really knew. Gossip ran rampant in Small Town, USA.
Zain tapped her window. Her body startled at the noise and she flipped over her device, placing it on the console, then lowered the glass. “Are they on their way?”
“Medical examiner’s office is in Hendersonville. He should be here in about fifteen minutes. The dental records will provide a positive identification. We should know pretty soon if the body is Sadie’s.”
Her gaze shifted to the fields in front of her. “You and I both know it is.”
He wasn’t ready to agree until he had an official report. Other murders had happened in the area since his sister’s disappearance, and he would wait until evidence confirmed the finding.
“The rest of my team will be here in five to collect evidence.”
Her phone vibrated once, but she ignored the message and white-knuckled the steering wheel. “I can’t get the sight of her out of my mind. How do you think she got there? We searched the cave several times the weeks following her disappearance. No one ever found her body.”
“I think someone moved her, and if this is Sadie, there’s one thing I’m going to need from you.”
Her eyes flashed to his. “Sure. Anything.”
“I need you to tell me where Tyler is.”
Her body stiffened and she averted her gaze back to the field. “I can’t believe you have the nerve to ask me about my brother. His name shouldn’t even come out of your mouth after what you put him through. He didn’t do this. He didn’t kill Sadie.”
“The body is on his property. He’s the last one who saw her the night she went missing. How could you think I wouldn’t ask you that?”
“There’s no sense in blaming my brother again. Didn’t you and your little Crystal Creek branch of the sheriff’s department learn their lesson last time? Don’t start up this nightmare again.”
“Then help me. Do what’s right and tell me where he is.”
Carli shifted the gear into Drive. “When you need my statement, I’ll be at home.”
Her phone chimed again. She lifted the device and read the screen. Her face paled.
“What’s wrong?”
She flashed the screen in his direction. A text message with an unknown number displayed.
Sadie’s dead. Now I’m coming for you.
Copyright © 2020 by Shannon Moore Redmon
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ISBN-13: 9781488061431
Texas Holiday Hideout
Copyright © 2020 by Virginia Vaughan
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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Texas Holiday Hideout Page 19
