“You’re only saying that because you’re mad at me for not coming to get you yesterday,” Drury said. “I’m sorry. If I could have come to get you, I would have. Now come on. Let’s go.” Her tone grew sterner with the last.
After a long silence, Drury appeared with Junior in tow. The boy’s angry eyes zeroed in on him.
“Hey, Junior.” Brycen tried for the light approach. “How about we swing by your Mom’s house and pick up your PlayStation? We can go up to my cabin and play a few.”
Drury gaped at him. He didn’t really know what he was doing. He just knew the child felt abandoned and lived in fear of being left by another parent. How terrible for him. He must never feel safe.
“Everything was okay until you showed up!” Junior yelled.
Everything had not been okay, not for the boy, but Junior didn’t see that.
“You’re not going to find whoever took my daddy.” With that, Junior stomped toward the door, one of his superheroes in his hand.
Drury stopped him as he wrestled the door handle.
She crouched. “I would never leave you anywhere. I swear.”
“Daddy didn’t want to go, either. Someone made him!”
“No, he didn’t, and someone did make him go, but Mommy isn’t Daddy and no one is going to take me away, not even Brycen.”
Junior looked up at him.
“That’s true,” he said. “Your mother won’t leave you. Even if she’s late or can’t call, she’ll come and get you. You have to trust me on that.”
Junior contemplated him and what he’d said awhile. “You promise?”
“I promise.” He stepped forward and ran his hand over the boy’s head. “Sorry for not bringing her home last night, kiddo. It won’t happen again.”
The boy’s anger eased. He stared up at him, some of the curiosity returning. Brycen felt a tug in his heart that reached all the way to his soul. He wanted to help Junior. He and Drury could tell him his mother wouldn’t leave the way his father did but the boy didn’t believe it. He had to start believing it.
Drury took his face with her fingers and moved his head to her. “Baby, nothing can ever take me away from you. I love you. I’ll make sure nothing happens to me, okay?”
After a bit, Junior nodded, although with uncertainty.
Brycen’s cell phone chimed and he saw it was the deputy director of the Alaska State Troopers he’d contacted about Carter.
“Cage.”
Drury said goodbye to her parents, giving them hugs. Brycen held up his hand in farewell.
Robert did the same and Madeline waved.
“Mr. Cage. Deputy Director Chandler,” the deputy said. “I received your report and found it very interesting, if not far-fetched. However, I did some digging and was able to corroborate some of your claims.”
Brycen left ahead of Drury. “Have you arrested Carter?”
Drury closed the door and followed him down the sidewalk.
“Well, now, there’s the rub. Carter’s gone missing.”
Brycen stopped walking. “Missing?”
Holding Junior’s hand, Drury stopped next to him, searching his face and listening to his side of the conversation. Junior stared up at Brycen, absorbing other details. Brycen winked at him as the deputy continued.
“We searched his home and bank accounts. He did have some suspicious deposits and we’ve confirmed the report on the Cummingses’ domestic violence call was forged. Additionally our IT records prove he worked on the report, even though he tried to delete any evidence of doing so.”
Carter had something significant to do with Noah’s murder. Brycen stopped walking down the driveway, seeing Drury put her son in his SUV.
“I need the original report,” Brycen said, walking toward the driver’s side of the SUV.
“So do I. And I’m counting on you to find it. When one of our own goes rogue, I don’t take it lightly. I’m not sure who I can trust around here anymore. I need you to expose what’s going on and make sure it stops with Carter.”
Brycen sat behind the wheel, feeling Drury watching him and now listening.
“Where was Carter last seen?” he asked.
“Here at the office. We think he left the building after you talked to him the last time. He knows you’ve got him. Good work, son.”
Brycen appreciated the vote of confidence, but he didn’t dwell on it. “You can say that when the case is closed.”
“I will. I’ve got a file here for you,” the deputy said. “It’s everything Carter recorded doing after Noah’s murder.”
“We’re on our way.”
“One more thing,” the deputy said. “Juanita Swanson came by asking for you. She said she won’t talk to anyone else.”
“I’ll give her a call. Thank you.”
He disconnected and started driving, his hands-free system switching to the speakers.
“Hello?” Juanita said.
“This is Detective Cage. I received a message you were trying to contact me. What can I help you with?” He looked in the rearview mirror and wondered if Junior should listen to this. Drury should, but her son?
“I have something for you. I can’t tell you how I got it. But it’s important.”
“What is it?” Why couldn’t she say how she obtained whatever she had in her possession?
“Not over the phone. Let’s meet somewhere safe.”
“Okay. The State Trooper Building in thirty minutes.”
“I’ll be there.”
*
The deputy took them into his office and handed Brycen the promised file. He opened it. Junior sat in one of the chairs before the deputy’s desk, arching his neck to look up at Brycen standing behind him and to his right. Drury leaned from where she stood on the other side of Junior’s back to see what was in there, and he angled the file to accommodate.
“There isn’t much,” the deputy said. “He responded to a few calls. Phone record is in there. I found it peculiar that he contacted that coffee shop several times. I’d expect him to do so right after the murder, but the calls are regular.”
Brycen looked up at the deputy and then searched for the phone records. He spotted the ones the deputy had highlighted. “Yes, that is peculiar.” Not wanting to share his thoughts on the coffee shop, he leaned over and shook the man’s hand. “Thank you for giving me a copy.”
“This isn’t a go-ahead to exclude this office from your investigation.”
“Of course not. I’ll brief you as we uncover things,” Brycen said.
“Weekly, if you can.”
“Weekly. I’ll call you. Do you have a card?”
The deputy handed him one. Junior took the card and gave it to Brycen so he didn’t have to lean farther.
“Thanks.”
Junior looked proud to be of help.
“If I’m not available here, call my mobile,” the deputy said. “I’ve got your contact information. I’ll know it’s you.”
Brycen nodded once. “All right, then.” Down to Junior, he said, “Time to go.”
Junior got up from the chair and walked behind his mother for the door. They were late meeting Juanita.
“Mr. Cage.”
He stopped and so did Drury and Junior, turning back to the deputy.
“I meant it when I said I don’t know who to trust here. Whatever Carter’s involved in, it’s got to be way over his head. Noah must have been onto something, and I suspect the coffee shop is somehow linked. Noah didn’t go there because he liked the ambience. He went there to investigate a lead. I’m sickened to think his partner may have been responsible for his death—or at least known something that could have spared it.” He glanced down at Junior as though regretting speaking so frankly.
Brycen put his hand on the boy’s shoulder as a show of support and nodded again. “My thinking exactly. This conversation stays among us.” To Junior, he said, “Agreed?”
Junior nodded as though his participation mattered greatly. If this made him
feel important, what harm could come to them? Even if Junior bragged with other kids at school, chances were nothing adverse would come of it.
Now the deputy nodded, once to Brycen and then to Drury. “I’m sorry, ma’am.” And then to Junior. “Son.”
“It’s not your fault,” Drury said.
“I consider myself partially to blame for not seeing Carter Nichols for what he was a whole lot sooner.”
She gave him an appreciative smile and then steered Junior through the door.
Down in the main lobby, Brycen didn’t see Juanita. It had been forty-five minutes since he’d spoken with her.
Drury went to the woman behind the counter. “Has a woman been here asking for Brycen Cage?”
The woman shook her head. “No one’s come in since you arrived.”
Drury looked at Brycen and he sensed the same alarm. He went through the doors to the parking lot, searching. Juanita wasn’t there. She hadn’t made it to the State Trooper Building.
“Something must have happened,” Drury said.
“I know where she lives.”
“Did that bad man hurt her?” Junior asked.
“We should take him back to my parents’ house.”
“No!” Junior wailed from the back.
She glanced back. “This is an—”
“It’s okay,” Brycen interrupted. “I won’t let anything happen to him. I don’t want to leave him anywhere. We’ll just go and make sure Juanita is all right. You can wait in the car with him. If anything happens, drive away to safety.”
*
Drury waited with Junior in Brycen’s SUV. In the backseat, Junior made rocket sounds, blowing air through softly closed lips to create what must be an awesome rumble, flying his superhero high up into the sky. She loved seeing him like that, lost in a magical world where no one died.
Looking toward the house again, she began to get concerned. Several minutes had passed and still no sign of Brycen or Juanita. Just as she put her hand on the door handle to go check on him, he appeared with his cell phone to his ear, talking. Juanita didn’t come out with him. She hadn’t answered the door, either.
Lowering his phone after finishing the call, he walked toward the driver’s side and got in. When he turned to her and shook his head, she understood. Juanita was dead. Someone had murdered her.
“Whatever she had for us is gone,” he said.
That was what had taken him so long. He’d searched the house.
His cell rang and he answered. “Deputy. Thanks for calling back so soon. I’ve just been in Juanita Swanson’s house.” He looked into the rearview mirror at Junior.
He watched Brycen with intent curiosity.
“You’ll need a crime scene team,” Brycen said into the phone. “Get a ballistics expert.” After a few seconds where the deputy must have questioned him he said, “Yes, I’m afraid so. I also found footprints in the snow in the back, so be careful when you arrive. Someone broke in through the bathroom window. The shape of the heel and curve at the toe look like what the troopers wear. Might want to get a mold of a clear print.” He fell silent as the deputy spoke. “Let me know when the print analysis comes back.”
He disconnected the call and put his phone down.
“You can tell that from looking at a shoeprint?” she asked.
“I made mental note of everything Carter wore the last time we saw him.”
“Down to his shoes.”
“Down to his shoes,” he confirmed.
“You liked his shoes?” Junior asked.
Brycen grinned into the rearview mirror and drove into the street. “Yeah, I sure did.”
*
Brycen wanted to stakeout the coffee shop but didn’t think Junior would react well to being left again so soon, so he took him and his mother back to his cabin. Junior sat on the floor playing a video game.
“Has he always played so many video games?” he asked Drury. He probably shouldn’t take too much of an interest in the boy. The raw memories meeting Junior exposed had somehow morphed into curiosity. Brycen realized he’d become fascinated by the mind of this young boy, and cared that he grow out of his difficult time.
Drury looked over at her son, her hands busy whipping together one of her kid dinners, early since they’d skipped lunch. “He played before, but...yeah, maybe he has spent more time doing that.”
“It might be a crutch. A way of withdrawing from the world.” A big, bad world a little boy might find too scary to cope with.
“Why don’t you go play with him?” Drury asked. “Do you like video games?”
“I’ve played a few. I’m no gamer, though.”
“Go play with him.” She stirred the hamburger and turned the heat down. “It might help him.”
Brycen helping Junior by spending time with him? Something tugged at his heart and soul, something that told him to do it.
“Okay.” He went over to Junior.
“Have you played in dual screens yet?” he asked.
Junior looked up. “What’s dual screens?”
“It’s when two players play at the same time. Want me to show you?”
“Yeah.”
Taking up a controller, Brycen sat on the ottoman in front of the couch. He navigated to show two screens and picked out a Disney Infinity character.
“Mr. Incredible?” Junior laughed a little.
Junior played Randy.
They flew and ran and crashed things until Mr. Incredible fell off the platform and Randy jumped off his.
“Good playing, kid,” Brycen said.
“Let’s play different characters.”
“Okay.”
Brycen went to the sofa. Seeing him do so, Junior got up and sat next to him. Junior leaned back against the sofa cushion, looking over at him. He probably missed times like this with his father. Brycen wasn’t altogether comfortable filling that role, and aside from an inexplicable curiosity, he needed Junior to be strong enough to be left with Drury’s parents when they needed to do potentially dangerous things. Staking out the coffee shop qualified as potentially dangerous enough.
He also didn’t want to lead Junior to believe he’d stay. Because when he left—and he’d have to leave when he solved the case—Junior would be heartbroken and his abandonment issues might get worse. Brycen did not need that on his conscience.
He caught Drury’s fond smile as she watched them play while she stirred the Sloppy Joe mixture. Ever since they’d arrived, there had been a real family kind of aura passing around. He let himself enjoy it, but too much might be hard on all of them.
“How come you don’t have any kids?” Junior asked.
“How do you know I don’t have any?”
“You didn’t bring any with you.”
Ah, the simplicity of a young mind. “I can’t bring kids with me while I work. It’s too dangerous.”
Junior mulled over that awhile. “So, how come you don’t have any?”
“I guess I haven’t had the chance to.”
Would he ever have kids? Or welcome a child not his own into his life? Try as he might not to, he couldn’t stop wondering what would happen if he and Drury ended up together.
“I think you’d make a good dad,” Junior said.
Stunned, Brycen could only search Junior’s face for verification. How did a boy so young know such a thing? Had just a man’s attention, doing father-son-related fun, given him that impression?
The innocence portrayed in his upturned face, smooth skin, slightly parted lips and healthy whites of his eyes surrounding blue, arrested Brycen. The sweetness.
Then those lips smiled big and his eyes rounded with happy excitement. “Do you wanna go play catch?”
Unexpectedness punched his chest. Junior both dredged up unpleasant memories and showed him what a wonder being a father could be. The latter held warm meaning for him. But concerned him for the boy’s welfare.
He turned away briefly, and landed on the sight of Drury wiping a tear from
her cheek.
Do something. He had to act. Despite the firestorm going on inside, he had to consider Junior’s development. While his defenses told him to back away, his heart ruled.
“Yeah,” he said, forcing a smile.
Chapter 11
Drury still couldn’t believe her son had asked Brycen to play catch. She stood at the front window watching them, Brycen talking, instructing, while Junior occasionally caught the ball and mostly dropped it or completely missed the mark. The sun had slipped low in the sky and a chill moved in. That wasn’t why Drury stayed inside. She didn’t want to ruin this pinnacle moment for Junior.
Brycen had made leaping headway with the boy in such a short period of time. As a detective, he must seem like somewhat of a superhero to Junior. That and Brycen’s sensitivity to the boy’s abandonment issue must be the missing ingredients. While she had to push off some tinges of hurt that she—his mother—hadn’t been able to provide this, the signs of improvement had to be celebrated.
Hearing the Sloppy Joe mixture in need of a stir, she returned to the stove. The french fries smelled done, too. She took the fries out and prepared plates for all of them. Then she went to the door and called out, “Dinner’s ready!”
“Aw!” Junior answered.
Brycen started toward the cabin. “Come on. We can play again tomorrow.”
Never mind winter had set in. But of course, Junior had not been raised to pay heed to the weather. As a family they’d had barbecues in February.
She brought the plates to the table.
“Hang on a second.” Brycen stopped Junior from sitting.
Her son faced him, all ears and eager to listen to anything his new idol would say.
“Can I talk to you about my investigation?”
“You mean my daddy?”
“Yes.”
Junior nodded, three jerky ones.
“A lot has to be done to catch bad guys. They have to be found first, and then we have to catch them.” He waited a beat. “That means I have to go places that aren’t good for kids.”
Now Junior lowered his head and Drury feared Brycen had lost him.
“Your mother, too, because it involves your dad.”
Cold Case Recruit Page 16
