“Was she certain it was Murphy?” Kane snapped. “How well did she know him?”
“Yes. She knew him, and she didn’t think anything was wrong. Arbuckle told her…” She trailed off at Hellhound’s snicker and added, “Yes, his name is Arbuckle. Arbuckle Faulkner Murphy. His parents had great aspirations for their children. His brother’s name is Penobscot Salinger Murphy. No wonder they go by Buck and Scot.”
Hellhound stifled himself, scrubbing a hand over his beard as Alicia went on, “Anyway, Buck told her I’d asked him to pick Daniel up from the birthday party so they could go camping. Marta was pleased that he was making the effort because Buck was often critical of Daniel. He called him a girly-boy.” She glanced at Kane’s thundercloud scowl and hastened to explain, “That’s why we split up.”
“Don’t see what’s girly about playin’ with toy soldiers,” Hellhound observed.
“No, Buck approved of that because it was manly. But Daniel liked…” Her voice caught on a sob, but she stiffened her spine and went on firmly, “…he likes to draw and paint. And he likes to help me bake cookies.” She shot a defensive look at Kane. “I encourage him in whatever he enjoys. He’s not…” She made angry air quotes. “…‘girly’ or ‘manly’. He’s just a happy child who loves soldiers and art and bugs and mud and puppies and kittens and baking and books… and… h-hockey…” Her words trailed off into a quaver.
“You’re a good mother,” Kane said gently. “I always knew you would be.”
Tears welled up in her eyes. “And now he’s gone…”
“We’ll find him. Just focus,” Kane encouraged, his cop voice strong and calm despite the tension vibrating in his shoulders. “So Murphy abducted Daniel as… what? Leverage? Revenge? What did you do when you discovered he’d taken Daniel?”
“I don’t know why he’d take Daniel, he just wasn’t that interested in children…” Alicia gulped. “Maybe… maybe this is all a big mistake and everything’s fine and they’re on their way home…” She threw an imploring look toward Mayweather, but I could tell she didn’t believe her own words any more than he did. “Anyway,” she went on shakily, “I… I wasn’t too worried… at first. Angry, but not worried. Buck had asked earlier to take Daniel camping this weekend, and although Daniel was excited about the idea, I had said no.”
Kane’s voice came out bleak as bone. “Why? Did you have reason to believe Murphy couldn’t be trusted alone with Daniel?”
“No!” Alicia straightened, meeting Kane’s eyes directly for the first time. “No, he would never molest a child. I…” She dropped her gaze again. “I actually hired a private investigator to check on him when we first started going out. He wasn’t a pedophile.”
She swallowed. “It was just that… I wasn’t sure it was good for Daniel to continue seeing Buck when there was no chance we’d reconcile…” Alicia gulped back tears. “I c-called Buck’s cell phone but it went to voicemail. I thought he was probably just ignoring me until they’d set up camp so I wouldn’t have the heart to make him bring Daniel back. And…” She wiped her eyes with the crumpled tissue. “If… If he had called… I’m not sure I w-would have. Daniel was so… thrilled at the thought of camping, and he needs male influences…”
As if realizing she was twisting the knife, she gave Kane a guilty glance before continuing hurriedly, “But when he hadn’t called by six, I started to worry in earnest. I called the police…” She threw an imploring look at Mayweather. “I’d been calling and calling Buck’s cell phone b-but… I should have called the police right away, I should have…” She trailed off helplessly.
“If Murphy was contemptuous of Daniel and didn’t like children, why the sudden interest in camping?” Kane asked. “Had Murphy been acting unusual lately? Any changes in routine? Changes in the way he interacted with Daniel? Did Daniel say anything about him or act differently around him? Had anything changed recently in your relationship with him?” He broke off with an apologetic look at Mayweather. “Sorry, I’m sure you’ve already gone over this.”
Mayweather nodded. “It’s okay. It’s worth going over again. We never know when we might uncover some new detail.”
“Thank you,” Kane said. “Alicia? Anything?”
She let her hand fall open limply in her lap. “No. Nothing had changed. I wasn’t surprised by the camping trip because after we broke up it wasn’t unusual for Buck to drop by on a whim and take Daniel out for a few hours.” She wrinkled her nose. “He criticized the way I’m bringing Daniel up, and said he had to teach Daniel to be a man. But I think he just took Daniel to the park and tried to attract women by playing the doting dad. Poor Daniel lapped up the attention; he wanted a father so much…”
Kane made a small sound as if in pain, but if I hadn’t known him so well I would have thought he was only clearing his throat. His impassive expression never wavered.
“Fuckin’ sick!” Hellhound burst out. “What kinda sick fuckin’ asshole uses a kid like that?”
Alicia hunched her shoulders, still staring at the floor. “Anyway, he ‘borrowed’ Daniel last weekend, so that’s likely how he knew about the party at Sammy’s house. But…” She jerked forward, reddened eyes burning in her white face. “Don’t you see, it doesn’t matter how he knew! It’s too late for that! What if… oh, God, what if I was wrong about Buck? What if he sold Daniel to some horrible child prostitution ring?”
Hellhound shot a worried glance at Kane before returning his attention to Alicia. “Hush, now, darlin’,” he murmured. “Stop imaginin’ the worst. It’s gonna be okay. We’ll find him, an’ he’ll be fine.”
“I’m not your darling!” Alicia snapped. “And what do you know anyway? You don’t have children; you’re nothing more than a big child yourself!”
Arnie’s expression never changed, but I could see the hurt in his eyes.
“Take it easy,” I said, my voice coming out with a bit more of an edge than I’d intended. “He’s only trying to help.”
Hellhound reached over to squeeze my hand. “It’s okay, darlin’, she’s just gotta blow off some steam. I got broad shoulders, I can take it.” He turned back to Alicia. “Go ahead. Get it outta your system. It’ll do ya good.”
Her face crumpled. “I h-hate you,” she choked. “You always meant more to John than I did. Like… Like after that last appointment with the fertility specialist.” She shot a bitter look at Kane. “You went to the bar with him instead of staying with me.”
Kane jerked upright. “You said you wanted to be alone. You practically pushed me out the door. I was hurting, too-”
“Then why didn’t you show it?” she shouted. “Why didn’t you-”
“Hey, now,” Hellhound intervened gently. “Ya were talkin’ about how much ya hate me, remember?”
Alicia turned brimming eyes back to him, glaring through her tears. “You! You were always his excuse to withdraw whenever things got tough. You always came first. And look at you, you’re ugly and vulgar and… and…”
“An’ I called ya Lish for years,” Hellhound finished comfortably. “I’m a real fuckin’ asshole.”
“Oh…” Tears streamed down her face. “I hate you!” She lurched to her feet and flung herself at him.
Hellhound met her halfway, folding her into his arms and rocking her while she bunched her fists in his T-shirt and wept great wrenching sobs.
“It’s okay, darlin’, it’s okay,” he soothed. “Just let it out.”
At last her weeping subsided into broken whimpers, then quieted. She relinquished her grip on Hellhound’s T-shirt and hid her face in her hands.
Mayweather proffered the tissue box, and she mopped her face and blew her nose without looking at us. “I need to lie down for a while,” she whispered and turned away, arms wrapped around her body as if to hold herself together through sheer physical effort.
“Want me to sit with ya for a bit?” Arnie asked softly.
She stopped. “No. My parents are flying in. They should be here in an h
our or so.” She turned and gave him a brief watery smile. “Remember, I still hate you.”
His answering smile was full of compassion. “Yeah, I know.”
She turned again to totter off down the hallway, leaning against the wall as if her legs could barely carry her weight.
Chapter 5
“What’s been done so far?” Kane asked, and Mayweather leaned back in his chair, clearly relieved to be free of the conflict between Kane and Alicia.
“We put out an Amber Alert as soon as Alicia called us,” he said. “So police, border guards, and the public are watching for Daniel and they have a description of Murphy and his vehicle. We’ve pulled all Murphy’s credit, debit, and phone records. We know he bought gas with his debit card right before he picked Daniel up, and the gas station CCTV records show he was alone then. He was driving a black 2007 Chevy Silverado, registered in his name.”
“What about-” Kane began, but Mayweather wasn’t finished.
“We’ve also questioned all his friends, family, and work associates,” he went on. “None of them noticed any change in his behaviour recently. We asked if they knew of any favourite camping spots Murphy might have had and they gave us a few suggestions, but we’ve searched those and found nothing. Murphy’s phone records show that he talked to his brother this morning, but the brother says it was just a social call and Daniel wasn’t mentioned. We searched Murphy’s apartment and canvassed the neighbours. His cell phone was found in the apartment, and his neighbours said they hadn’t seen him since early this morning and they’d never seen him with a child.”
“So he’s vanished,” Kane said tightly. “With this much of a head start, they could be anywhere in several thousand square miles. Or if Daniel was delivered immediately to a contact in a human trafficking ring, he could even be out of the country by now.”
I read the truth of Kane’s statement in the thinning of Mayweather’s lips, but he replied reassuringly, “We don’t have any evidence of human trafficking. Try to put that out of your mind. This could still be perfectly innocent. Murphy may have dropped Daniel off at a friend’s house and they don’t even realize anything is wrong…”
Kane began to speak, but Mayweather held up a restraining hand and met Kane’s gaze steadily. “John, you know as well as I do that torturing yourself over this won’t help anybody. I promise, we’re doing the best we can. It’s getting late. Why don’t you try to get some rest? Leave me your number and I’ll call you if there are any developments.”
Kane opened his mouth as if to argue, then closed it and nodded. Scribbling his number on a torn-out page from the small notebook he always carried, he handed the paper to Mayweather.
“May I call you if I have more questions?” Kane asked.
“Of course. Any time of the day or night.” Mayweather tore the paper in half and wrote his own number on it before offering it to Kane.
“Thank you.” Kane shook Mayweather’s hand and we did the same before filing for the door.
When we reconvened under the streetlight next to Kane’s Expedition, Hellhound said, “Come on back to my place. I got beer an’ that bottle a’ scotch ya left last time ya were there.” I edged closer, shivering in the chilly evening air, and Hellhound wrapped his arm around me. “Come on, Cap,” he urged. “Ya need to wind down a bit.”
Kane shook his head. “I don’t want to drink. I need to keep my head clear. I have to figure this out…”
He was about to speak again when Mayweather called his name from the doorway. When Mayweather beckoned, we all hurried back to the house.
“News?” Kane demanded.
“Yes.” Mayweather didn’t look happy, and my guts clenched. “Please sit down while I go and get Alicia,” he added.
We all perched tensely in our original positions, and a moment later Mayweather emerged from the hallway with Alicia clinging to his arm, chalk-white.
“What is it?” Kane demanded, his face almost as pale as Alicia’s.
Mayweather guided Alicia to the sofa and seated her before saying, “Arbuckle Murphy was killed in a single-vehicle rollover accident southwest of Rocky Mountain House, probably a couple of hours ago. He wasn’t wearing his seatbelt. He was ejected and the truck rolled over him. The wreck wasn’t discovered right away because his truck went over an embankment that made it invisible from the road. Fortunately some off-roaders saw headlights shining through the trees, or who knows when we might have found him.”
“Daniel…?” Alicia’s voice was a bare whisper.
“No sign of him,” Mayweather said.
Kane’s mouth flattened into a grim line. “You said it was a rollover. Any chance Daniel might… might have been ejected, too?”
“No.” Mayweather gave him a sympathetic look. “Responders searched all the way down the embankment as a matter of course, and once the truck was identified, the RCMP searched the entire area again just to be sure. They found a child’s hat and a toy soldier in the truck so they brought in tracking dogs, but they found no scent anywhere around the scene.” Mayweather let out a breath. “Daniel was never there.”
“Show me exactly where it happened.” Kane extracted his smartphone and rose. Mayweather stood, too, waiting while Kane brought up a map.
“Expand this area,” Mayweather prompted, pointing at the screen. Kane did, and Mayweather leaned in to hover a fingertip over it. “About there. He was southbound on the forestry trunk road.”
Kane turned the phone toward Hellhound and me, and I extracted my reading glasses for a better look.
“Do either of you know this area?” Kane asked.
I sighed. “Sorry, no.”
Hellhound shook his head, too. “Nah. Took a bike trip through there once, but I was headin’ up to Drayton Valley an’ I stayed on pavement. Never went west a’ Rocky Mountain House.”
Kane returned his attention to Mayweather. “What else can you tell me?”
“The RCMP said it looked as though Murphy really was planning to go camping…” He frowned. “Or poaching. He was wearing camouflage clothing and he had a compound hunting bow and broadhead arrows, but the bowhunting season doesn’t open for another couple of weeks.”
Kane frowned, too. “Aydan, do you know of any archery ranges up in that area?” When Mayweather gave him a quizzical look, he elaborated, “Aydan is an archer. She has medals from tournaments all over North America.”
“Maybe…” I said slowly. “There are no big public ranges out there, and only a couple of small private ones. But the ranges don’t usually allow broadheads. They slice up the butts too badly.”
Hellhound snickered, and I prodded his ribs with an affectionate knuckle. “Wiseass. ‘Butts’ are the backboards where we pin our targets.” I turned back to Kane and Mayweather. “You can buy special targets for broadhead practice so he might have been planning to set one up in the woods somewhere. Did he have anything that looked like a big foam cube in the vehicle? About eighteen inches square?”
Mayweather shook his head. “He had the bow, a hunting knife, and a cooler full of food and beer. There was an extra jacket in the truck, so he might have been planning to stay a while. The weather forecast is hot and dry for the next week so he wouldn’t have needed that heavy jacket for the short term. The only odd thing was that he wasn’t wearing any shoes, but…” Mayweather shrugged. “I’ve seen footwear end up long distances away in that kind of an accident.”
Kane folded his arms over his massive chest and regarded the smaller man without expression. “You didn’t mention a tent. Was there one in the vehicle?”
“No.”
“So Murphy had already set up camp, and left Daniel there. Are they searching the campgrounds?” Kane demanded.
“Yes. But it’s crown land out there, so lots of people pull off the road and camp anywhere they please. And we don’t know whether Murphy was leaving his campsite or returning to it, so we have to search in both directions. We’ll get a helicopter up at first light to try to spot any t
ents set up on the crown land, but in that kind of wooded terrain there’s no guarantee they’d be able to see a tent from the air.”
“So Daniel may be alone in a tent in the middle of the woods somewhere,” Kane said grimly. “Or maybe the camping was just a ruse and Murphy already delivered Daniel to a buyer.”
Mayweather sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Officers are canvassing the restaurants and gas stations between here and Rocky Mountain House, but so far nobody remembers seeing Murphy or Daniel.”
“So…” Alicia spoke for the first time, her voice a thin quaver. “Buck’s d…dead… and… and Daniel could be anywhere…”
“If he’s in that area, we’ll find him,” Mayweather said firmly. “We have the dogs, and we have a lot of volunteer searchers. At first light tomorrow we’ll get even more personnel on it.”
“And… if he’s not there…?” Her voice broke.
I could tell Mayweather wanted to say something reassuring, but instead he tucked a hand under Alicia’s elbow and raised her gently to her feet. “Lie down again,” he said. “As soon as I know more, I’ll let you know.”
When Mayweather returned from guiding Alicia back to bed, Kane was already standing at the door, vibrating with the need for action. “I’m going to drive up to Rocky Mountain House tonight,” he said.
Mayweather shook his head. “Stay here. We have our best people-”
“I have military Search and Rescue training,” Kane interrupted. “I’ll pick up my gear and leave within the hour. Notify your team that I’ll be joining them.”
Mayweather opened his mouth as if to argue, then closed it again and nodded as if realizing it was futile. “They’ll be starting at first light tomorrow,” he said instead. “I’ll call you with the information in the morning.”
“Thank you,” Kane said, and strode out.
Hellhound and I muttered awkward goodbyes and followed him.
Kane was waiting impatiently for us beside his Expedition, and as soon as we were within earshot he said, “Hellhound, can you take Aydan back to Silverside? I’m leaving as soon as I get my gear from the condo.”
The Spies That Bind Page 4
