“Gabe, I just talked to my father, and I have to tell you what he said. George Green was at our house that afternoon just before I was taken.”

“I know, but he was questioned thoroughly. No go at that time. He had alibis from everybody on the road where he’d stopped to sell corn. Like with Dane, I can’t question the dead.”

“But there’s more about Reese Owens. Just listen to this.”

25

The Community Church bells rang out twelve times. Gabe spotted Mayor Owens shaking the hands of the congregation as they streamed out after the morning worship service. Reese seemed to be greeting as many people as the pastor he was upstaging. Always a politician, and, sadly, they weren’t to be trusted, Gabe thought. At least he didn’t see his wife with him as the mayor finally headed toward the parking lot. Lillian Montgomery Owens reeked wealth, social class and self-appointed power more than her husband.

Gabe cut through a line of cars and fell into step beside Reese, who spoke first. “So, you heard I wanted to see you. You’ll be doing security at the Kenton service and procession tonight?”

“I, and my deputy, and Agent Reingold, will be there. Are you expecting trouble?”

“Avoiding it. I called you yesterday to find out the details about Dane’s death. A shame. And more unwanted notoriety for Cold Creek.”

It annoyed Gabe that the mayor kept waving and calling out to others while they were talking. Did the man never stop campaigning? Gabe knew how to get his attention fast, but he didn’t want to spring everything on him in public.

“I need to talk to you too,” Gabe told him. “Let’s walk down to my office, where it’s private.”

“I’ll drive. Lily’s staying here to oversee the ladies planning dinner for the Kenton family before the service this evening. You want to ride with me?”

“Sure. Fine,” Gabe said, not wanting to let him get away.

“So, shoot,” Reese said once they were settled in the black Mercedes. Gabe saw Reese could hardly get the seat belt around his girth. “Oops, shouldn’t have used the word shoot when we’re talking about Dane’s death. I hear he left a note. Confessing, I hope, to the kidnappings. You’re pursuing Marva for information? I heard she lawyered up.”

“Word travels fast.”

“When did it not around here?” Reese said with a little laugh. “I’d hate to think they were both involved in these abductions, but it would be a relief to have everything solved. At least I hear we got Marian Bell off our backs with her good news. But tell me about the investigation of Dane.”

“He left a vague note, but there’s evidence he might have been shot, not shot himself.”

Reese pounded the steering wheel as he pulled into the police station. “What? You and those fancy BCI boys been sitting on that? You should have told me at once. It’s a miracle outside reporters aren’t swarming in here over that. That’s all I need! A high-profile man murdered in my town and still no definitive answer about who took those girls!”

“Let’s continue this in the conference room,” Gabe said. He got out fast enough to go around and open the mayor’s door for him. Why a man allowed himself to get so heavy he had trouble getting out of his car was beyond Gabe. He walked ahead and opened the police station door for the mayor. The office was deserted. Tess was going to help fill Ann’s daytime shift tomorrow until he could hire someone else, but that was the last thing on his list of things to do right now.

At least the fact that Jonas had fingered Hank McGuffey and his crew meant Tess didn’t have to spend her time going through mug shots, though she would eventually have to testify against McGuffey for trying to kill her and against the others as accessories. But that meant he’d see her then—if she really was moving back to Michigan when this was all over.

In the smaller conference room, which didn’t have all the kidnapping information on the walls, Gabe pulled out a chair for Reese.

“This is terrible, just terrible, about Dane,” the mayor said, wiping sweat off his brow. He’d gone red in the face. Surely not just from the effort of walking in here, Gabe thought. “It opens the door to the kidnapper being someone other than him, or at least someone he was working with, namely Marva. Poor dead George Green—at least for the first two kidnappings, he could be guilty too. Nothing’s been solved or going right around here, and I blame you.”

“Mr. Mayor, the blame game won’t help here. Jonas Simons has been arrested for working with a local meth drug ring, who were picked up this morning by the State Highway Patrol since they live over by Athens. But I provided them with all the information to make the arrests. Sorry to say that Ann Simons was also aiding and abetting the meth gang by passing on info she overheard from me. She’s written a statement, been released on her own recognizance and hired a lawyer for herself and Jonas. Oh, by the way, the so-called gas explosion at the old Green place was really a meth explosion. The gang I just mentioned tried to kill Tess Lockwood, who had stumbled on them. So, how about you do your job and I’ll do mine?”

“Tried to kill her? Then maybe they’re the ones you and your father failed to find.”

“You don’t let up, do you? They’re young. They’ve been cooking meth all over the county, not abducting little girls.”

“So that’s small potatoes compared to the kidnappings. You need to concentrate on that.”

“As a matter of fact, Agent Reingold and I have worked together to run down a very vocal, very involved local man who has a criminal record of child molestation. The man didn’t live here at the time he committed that crime, but there was a large, ongoing attempt to cover it up.”

The mayor’s eyes narrowed and his upper lip went slick with sweat. “Such as Jack Lockwood, Tess’s father?”

“He was thoroughly checked out years ago and was clean, although I understand you’ve been keeping him under your thumb. No, it’s a man with a past criminal record, Mr. Mayor, although most of the information on that was expunged. But we have one record of it left and at least one Chillicothe civilian who remembers the details and the ensuing cover-up, including bribes.”

Despite his satisfaction in seeing this man cornered and speechless, Gabe hoped Reese wasn’t going to have a heart attack right in front of him.

“You can’t be serious about that—that wrongful, old charge. A b-b-boyhood indiscretion. You—you’re b-blackmailing me?”

“Hardly. I’m keeping you informed, just the way you like. And don’t try to pull Jack Lockwood out of the hat again. Now,” he said, trying not to revel in the moment and wondering if this long shot would ever lead to something useful about the abductions, “although we have a court record, I’d appreciate it if you’d just write out your recollection of the incident between you and the minor named Ginger Pickett, so we can clear you of—”

“Damn you, boy!” he cried, banging his fist on the table between them. “I don’t have anything to do with this, and it’s a big mistake for you to be dragging up erroneous information from another place and time! These kidnappings are a whole different bag from that boyhood infraction. And Tess wasn’t sexually molested, was she? So I bet the others weren’t either, just taken for some other sick, warped reason. But since you’re grasping at straws and you and your daddy never managed to solve this terrible case, I’m going to get a lawyer, one from Columbus, not these parts! You want to read me my rights?”

“You’re not under arrest. You’ve merely been asked to help clear up a possibility, which an innocent man and the longtime leader of his constituency should want to do.”

“Nice try. I’m getting a lawyer. One who will help me have your head for this outrage.”

“Good idea to retain a well-known and well-connected Columbus lawyer,” Gabe said, trying to keep from losing his temper too. “Marva, Jonas and Ann have already retained Lake Azure attorneys. Besides, a lawyer from the state capital will be within better reach of the national media you’ll want to use for interviews. Nice working with you, sir,” Gabe said as Reese rolled out of his chair and, pulling himself up by the table edge, rose to his feet. “I’ll see you at the church service this evening.”