by Kate Gable
"It was an accident," Dr. Reynard says.
He's grabbing onto his wife, pulling her into his arms, and has his head buried in her shoulder. This was how I remember seeing them the first time at the precinct. Heads pointed toward each other, grasping onto one another.
"I wanted her to admit the truth. I needed to hear it from her own mouth."
"What? That she was lying?" Mrs. Reynard whimpers.
"Yes! I mean, she would just go and meet up with all of those guys and tell them the truth, admit all of her lies to them. Why couldn't she do that with me?"
"What did you do?" Mrs. Reynard says, wiping her eyes.
Her skin looks sallow, and her eyes have big black rings at the bottom from smeared mascara.
"We had an argument. I yelled at her. I begged her to tell me the truth. I even cried, broke down, but she wouldn't do it. Why not? Why wouldn't she do it?”
“She’s Courtney and she’s as stubborn as her father,” Mrs. Reynard says quietly.
"I just lost control, Maureen. I just grabbed her, wrapped my hands around her neck, and held her for too long. I thought that I would just make her feel the anger that I felt. I just wanted to hurt her, but not hurt her. Do you know what I mean? Then she just passed out and it was too late."
"Too late for what?" Mrs. Reynard whispers.
"She was dead."
"She was dead?” Mrs. Reynard shakes her head, tears gathering in her eyes.
"It's supposed to take a long time, but it didn’t. I freaked out. I panicked. I ran downstairs. I got the truck. I wrapped her up in a sheet and I drove for a while on the 101 all the way to downtown. I had no idea where I was going. So, I started driving back. There was an accident and I saw a bunch of cops and I got scared. So, I pulled off the freeway. I drove into LA and to Runyon Canyon, somewhere where she has never been. I dropped her off there.”
“You didn’t just drop her off,” Mrs. Reynard whispers.
“I had to make it look like something else happened,” he says quietly almost under his breath.
"You hung her on that tree?" Mrs. Reynard moans. “Our daughter?"
It hasn't occurred to her, the extent of what Dr. Reynard did yet, but it does to me.
"I had some rope from that shed project you've been on my case about for months. I just wanted to make it look like it wasn't me. I couldn't deal with it anymore. I had to make it look like it was a stranger. I thought that maybe it would be one of those guys that she was talking to. I don't know."
"You staged the crime scene?" Mrs. Reynard asks. "You just hung our daughter out there on that tree and you left her there all night long?"
"I had to protect myself, Maureen. It was an accident. She was already dead."
"No, she wasn't," I interject.
His eyes narrow.
He swallows hard.
"Why don't you tell your wife the truth?"
Dr. Reynard turns his face toward his wife’s.
"I thought she was dead at the house, but she must have just passed out. I took her pulse, but I couldn't feel anything. When I hung her there, she started flailing around."
"Why didn't you let her go?"
"It was too late, Maureen. She knew what I’d done. Don't you get that?” His voice cracks and he buries his head in his hands.
"You killed her. You killed our daughter!" Maureen yells at the top of her lungs.
A shot goes off. Then another.
They're muffled, but still thunderous. I jump back and hide. I pull out my gun, point it, and extend my hand.
"Put your gun down!" I yell.
She moves away from him and I see him, his body crumbled to the floor. Mrs. Reynard is covered in blood.
She had grabbed the gun from her husband and shot him in the chest twice. I walk over to check for his pulse but he's dead.
She melts down onto the floor close to him, but not touching. Her son runs over and grabs onto her. She begins to cry big loud sobs, the kind that leave her gasping for air.
25
As it turned out, Jesse had an alibi for that night, and he wasn’t lying. He was also stupid enough to tell Courtney the login information for his account before they ever met. Computer analysis confirmed that she had logged into his account that night from her computer and Dr. Reynard must have seen her do it, which caused them to get into a fight.
Pellegrino went to talk to a girl he’d met at the same Starbucks and they found both of them on camera.
Both times.
First talking to Courtney, the night of her disappearance and then the night of her disappearance to the new girl, who wasn't underage.
We also tracked his phone GPS and confirmed his location.
Dr. Reynard’s GPS however, told a completely different story. He hadn’t turned it off when he went to drop his daughter's body off in Runyon Canyon Park. He was there.
As far as the cameras around the Reynards’ house are concerned, Dr. Reynard must have erased all the info and recorded himself coming back in without her.
I arrested Mrs. Reynard and she's currently being held in jail, awaiting her bail hearing. The prosecutor is keen to take this case to trial but I suspect that she’ll plead guilty in exchange for some leniency.
Dennis, their little boy who saw a lot, and heard even more, was taken into child protective services, temporarily, until his grandmother could pick him up and take him home.
As I finish filling out the last of the report, Captain Medvil stops by my desk to congratulate me and to check on how I'm doing.
“That could have ended very badly, Kaitlyn,” Captain Medvil says. “You should not have gone there by yourself.”
I shrug, trying not to make light of my mistake.
“I just wanted to talk to her and get a little bit more information, maybe another lead to go on,” I say, downplaying the whole thing.
“Of course, you had your weapon on you?” he asks rhetorically, even though he already knows the answer.
“I couldn't kill him, not with his son watching,” I say, flashing back to the gun pressing against my temple and its unforgettable scent of aluminum.
“I know that it was against procedure. I should have called it in, but I had to take a chance and try to get him to admit it on the recording,” I add, shaking my head.
“An easy death is too good for that scum,” the captain mutters. “But you could’ve been killed. You can’t take risks like that… What about the wife?”
“I don’t think Mrs. Reynard knew anything. She looked shocked.”
“You sure?”
I nod confidently. “She had no idea what her husband was capable of.”
“But why? Why would he do this?” Captain Medvil asks, thinking out loud.
“He’s a controlling piece of work who doesn’t like his authority questioned. His daughter did that over and over again. She was defiant. You should have seen how angry he got when he was telling me about her impersonating a doctor at his hospital. Livid.”
“Yeah, I heard the recording,” the Captain adds. “She certainly didn't deserve this."
I keep thinking of how Courtney must have felt when she realized that her father was strangling her.
Then by some miracle waking up only to see him putting a noose around her neck and strangling her again. This time for good.
“Of course not,” I agree.
“You should get some rest now,” Captain Medvil says. “You did a good job.”
He reaches over to a stack of folders on his desk, a sign that it’s time for me to go.
“I may have to take a few days off but I can't exactly get any rest.”
“That's right, your sister. What’s going on with that?” He raises an eyebrow.
“There's a press conference scheduled for tomorrow morning at nine, KTLA and the local NBC and ABC affiliates are going to be there. My mom is doing the talking but I’ll be there for support.”
“Keep me updated,” Captain Medvil says.
I nod and wal
k out of his office.
“One more thing,” he says right before I disappear down the hallway.
I turn to face him.
“Good luck.”
When I grab a cup of coffee, my phone rings. It's Mom. I take a deep breath and decide to let it go to voice mail. I just need a minute; a moment to gather my thoughts, to relax, to enjoy some semblance of peace.
As soon as I refuse to take the call, a text message arrives.
Natalie is gone. She didn't come home last night. Same thing that happened to Violet. Call me.
I read the words over and over again.
I got the sense that Natalie was lying when we talked, but that was it.
When I call Captain Talarico, he confirms the news.
Natalie D’Achille disappeared last night, around the same time as Violet. The last thing anyone knows is that she was out with Neil Goss and got dropped off at her home around nine.
She supposedly has her phone with her, but it's off, so no one knows where she is.
“We're getting the FBI involved. Come up here as soon as you can.”
Thank you for reading! I hope you loved Detective Kaitlyn Carr’s investigation. The next book in the Kaitlyn Carr series is GIRL LOST.
A newlywed with a secret pregnancy goes missing after a business trip. Her husband doesn’t seem very concerned.
Why didn’t he want to report her missing? Where is she? Why was she keeping her pregnancy a secret? Detective Kaitlyn Carr has to get to the truth.
But her sister Violet is still missing, and now her friend has disappeared as well…
One-click GIRL LOST now!
Can’t get enough of Kaitlyn Carr? Make sure to grab GIRL HIDDEN (a novella) for FREE!
A family is found dead in their home. The only survivor is the teenage daughter who managed to escape the burning house.
Who killed them? And why? Detective Kaitlyn Carr has to bring their killer to justice.
A year before her disappearance, Violet, Kaitlyn’s sister, comes to stay with her after a bad fight with their mom. She can’t stand living at home as much as Kaitlyn once did and wants to move in with her.
What happens when the dysfunction of her own family threatens to blow up her face and let the killer off for good?
GRAB GIRL HIDDEN for FREE now!
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About Kate Gable
Kate Gable loves a good mystery that is full of suspense. She grew up devouring psychological thrillers and crime novels as well as movies, tv shows and true crime.
Her favorite stories are the ones that are centered on families with lots of secrets and lies as well as many twists and turns. Her novels have elements of psychological suspense, thriller, mystery and romance.
Kate Gable lives in Southern California with her husband, son, a dog and a cat. She has spent more than twenty years in this area and finds inspiration from its cities, canyons, deserts, and small mountain towns.
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Also by Kate Gable
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Girl Missing (Book 1)
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Girl Lost (Book 2)
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Girl Found (Book 3)
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Girl Hidden (FREE Novella)
