Shadow of Vengeance (29 page)

“The window of Bill’s truck was partially open when it went into the river. The entire cab ended up filled with water.” She took a sip from the mug, then masked her surprise. Joy had excellent taste in wine. “Inside, we found the keys, which were still in the ignition, a duffle bag filled with Bill’s clothes and a lunch pail.”

Joy stared at her, her red-rimmed eyes heartbreaking. “He always takes a change of clothes with him to work.” She cracked a smile. “My brother doesn’t know it, but Bill’s sweet on a graduate student at the university. She also works at the school library in the evenings.” Her smile grew. “I swear that boy has read—or pretended to read—more books in the last few months than he has his entire life. Anyway, he knows her schedule and if it works with his shift at the university, he likes to get himself all dolled up and pay her a visit.” She raised the mug to her lips again, her smile falling. “This isn’t good, Shorty. Hal’s wife died last year, cancer. Bill’s all he has left. If something happened…” She shook her head and drew in a shaky breath. “I love that little shit,” she said on a sob, then dropped her face into her hands.

An angry, bitchy, bullying Joy, she could handle. But a wounded, saddened, grieving Joy? She didn’t know what to do. Hug her? She glanced at Joy’s wide, trembling shoulders. Pat her on the back? She raised her hand, then curled her fingers. No. She didn’t know Joy, but from what she could tell, the woman wouldn’t want coddling from her. She’d want honesty.

“We plan on going out in the morning to search the river and woods again.”

Joy raised her head, then wiped her tears and nose with a napkin. “Even if you found him, he’s been exposed to the cold for twenty-four hours. Do you have any idea what happens to a wet body when it’s out in temperatures below freezing?” She shook her head. “I’m so frickin’ worried. And pissed. I’m fucking pissed.” She threw the napkin across the table.
 

Thank God the other Joy was back. She needed the woman angry rather than weepy. She needed her help, and didn’t think she’d have it if Joy went off the emotional deep end. “I’m pissed, too.” She took a long swallow of the wine, then slammed the half empty mug on the table. “I know you’re concerned and grieving over Bill and what your brother is going through, but here’s what you don’t know—and it
better
not leave this room—Bill was my link to whoever beat my brother and kidnapped Josh Conway.”

Joy leaned back in her chair, her face turning as red as her runny nose. “You think Bill is connected to Wexman Hell Week? My Bill? Why in the hell would he be a target? I mean this out of love, but that boy isn’t the brightest bulb in the chandelier, if you get my meaning. He does good as a security guard, but I can’t imagine why anyone would go after him. What could he have done to even—?”

“His truck.”

Rachel looked up to find Owen standing at the bottom of the steps. As he approached the dining room, wearing the same t-shirt and sweatpants he’d worn last night, there was the hint of excitement brewing in his eyes.
 

“What about his truck?” Joy asked.

And then Rachel remembered. Bill telling them he’d picked up the extra shift at the university to make the last payment on his truck. Bill coincidentally becoming ill when the boys had been kidnapped. The security camera in the residence hall’s foyer being moved. Now Bill was missing and his truck water logged and devoid of any possible evidence. “Oh my God,” she gasped. “He used Bill’s truck.”

Owen nodded and took a seat. “That’s exactly what I’m thinking.”

“Who used Bill’s truck?” Joy grabbed the magnum of wine. “And what in the hell are you two talking about?”

Rachel removed the laptop from the bag, then found an outlet. “Whoever took my brother and Josh,” she said and fired up the computer.
 

The front door closed and seconds later, Walter strolled into the room, clutching his earflap hat. He immediately looked to Joy, who visibly relaxed. Her face softening with what Rachel considered relief.
 

“Was wondering when you were going to be home,” Joy said, her tone quiet, tentative. “Were you with Hal?”

He pulled a flask from his black and red coat pocket. “Yeah. Just dropped him at home. After we left the garage, we went back to the river.”

Joy swore and shook her head. “Fools. It’s five degrees. I’m guessing you didn’t have the proper gear on or right equipment when you decided to roam around the frickin’ woods, right?”

Walter’s face remained impassive. “Hal’s grieving, Joy. He’s worried sick. If I didn’t go with him, he’d gone alone. And
that
would have been foolish.”

“Jake’s setting up a search party for the morning,” Rachel said and connected to the Internet. “He even said a couple of men volunteered to search the river.”

“He ain’t in the river.” Walter set the flask on the table, then shrugged out of his coat. “The driver’s side of his truck was catching the force of the current, which was quick today. Bill’s a big kid, but I can’t see him being able to push the door open.”

“The passenger side?” Joy asked, her tone hopeful. “Or, what about the rear window?”

Owen shook his head. “Both were locked.”

Joy smacked a hand on the table. “Then where the hell could he be?” she asked, her voice rising. “None of this makes sense. That boy wouldn’t purposefully dump his truck in the river and walk away. And even though Evan can’t track for shit, there should’ve been footprints by the shore and in the snow. Bill’s
or
this whoever you two are talking about.”

Rachel looked to Owen. “There wasn’t any evidence of a struggle inside the cab of Bill’s truck,” he said. “Which means he either was immediately incapacitated or he knew the killer.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Walter sat in a chair. “Killer? Are you talking about the Wexman Hell Week?”

When Owen nodded, Walter rubbed a hand along his scruffy jaw. “Why would the Hell Week killer go after Bill?”

Before she or Owen could answer, Joy snorted. “For his truck, if you can believe that one.”

Walter reached for the flask. “I’m not sure what to believe at this point.”

Rachel connected her cell phone to her laptop to pull up the pictures she’d taken at Bernie’s garage. “Let’s go back to what I started to tell Joy just before you got here. And again, this stays in this room.”
 

After Joy and Walter nodded, she checked her computer screen. The pictures were still loading, so she reached into her bag for notecards and a pencil. “Damn it,” she mumbled when she realized she didn’t pack any notecards. More than ever, she missed CORE’s evidence and evaluation room, all of her gadgets, extra computers, TV screens and her beloved dry erase board. Going old school, writing information, clues, leads on notecards wouldn’t have been ideal, but it would have worked for a mini brainstorming session.
 

“What’s wrong?” Owen asked.

“I didn’t pack any notecards.”

“So?” Joy took a drink from her mug.
 

“So, I’m used to displaying ideas and images when I’m helping with an investigation.”

“Rachel likes whiteboards and computer screens,” Owen said. “She’s a visual person and it helps when she can have all the details surrounding her.”

Stunned, Rachel stared at him. Damn, he knew her well. For a split second, she wondered what else he knew.
 

“I can’t help you with a whiteboard, but I’ve got some notecards.” Joy went to the kitchen, then returned with a stack of blank recipe cards. “Not exactly what you’re probably looking for, but it’ll work.”

After she thanked Joy, she took the pencil and wrote ‘Sean’ on the recipe card. “First my brother is found on the side of the road. The Hell Week note stuffed in his pocket. Jake and Dr. Gregory think some of his injuries were due to being thrown from an SUV or a
truck
.” She finished jotting the information, then place the card at the center of the table.

Joy grabbed the pencil and cards from her. “You talk, I’ll write.”
 

Rachel nodded her thanks. “Okay, new card. Now we have Josh Conway. He’s been missing since Saturday night. He’s also my brother’s roommate and the person we suspect the Hell Week note was intended for. His parents have been notified of his disappearance, but are overseas.”

“If my kid was missing, I’d do everything in my power to get back to the states,” Joy said as she wrote.

“The father is working in Afghanistan, and the mother is with him,” Owen explained. “They’re having some issues getting out of the country, but told the sheriff they’d be in Bola by the end of the week.”

“Let’s stay focused.” Rachel opened her small notepad and flipped to the beginning. “New card…Rohypnol,” she said and spelled the word.

After Joy jotted it down, she asked, “What’s that?”

“Date rape drug,” Owen answered. “Sean’s toxicology report showed traces of it in his system. We also think Bill was drugged with the same stuff.”

Joy paused the pencil over the recipe card, and looked up at him. “Are you suggesting that someone was planning on…?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense to me.”

Rachel understood her confusion. “Rohypnol
is
commonly known as the date rape drug, but in this case, we think the killer used it to incapacitate Sean and Josh in order to kidnap them.” She explained about the Mountain Dew and the missing trash in the boys’ dorm room, and Joy wrote down the information. “We think Bill was given the drug to knock him out.”

Walter screwed the cap back on the flask. “So the killer could use his truck.”

“Right.” Owen drummed his fingers on the table. “Whoever was behind this also moved the security camera in the foyer of the residence hall where Bill works.”

As Joy quickly wrote on a fresh card, Rachel added, “The last time anyone saw Bill was yesterday afternoon. After we interviewed him and checked out the boys’ dorm room, we asked him to go the lab for blood work. His symptoms were similar to someone drugged with Rohypnol and we wanted to be sure. Because if that were the case, Bill is linked to Sean and Josh’s initial kidnapping.”

Joy looked at her. “Hal said Bill came down with the flu over the weekend. Are you sure it just wasn’t—?”

Rachel shook her head. “We’re not sure of anything. But, everything we’ve seen so far is just too coincidental to ignore. And now Bill’s missing.”

Owen rubbed the back of his neck. “Because someone didn’t want him to have that tox screen.”

His biceps flexed, momentarily distracting her, but she refocused. “But why? If you think about it, what difference would it make if we found the drug in his system. That’s no reason to get rid of him.” Realizing she should have thought before she spoke, she touched Joy’s forearm. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply—”

“It’s okay, Shorty.” Joy gave her a wry, half-smile. “You’re just doing your job. Now keep going. Because if something did happen to my nephew, I want whoever did it to him. My daddy was a hunter and he taught me how to skin a deer. It’s been a while, but I plan on practicing those skills again, if you get my meaning.”
 

Oh, I got it, all right.
 

“What if the killer started to worry that he left behind some evidence of the kidnapping in Bill’s truck?” Owen asked. “He finds out Bill’s going to be tested, thinks that when they find the Rohypnol in his system, we might start nosing through Bill’s things, his truck included.”

Rachel took a sip of wine and realized they had a bigger issue than finding Bill. “Someone is watching us.”

Owen snapped his gaze to hers and caught the frustration and fear in her eyes. “It’s a small town,” he said to help alleviate her fear and maybe a bit of his own. If they had a leak, or the killer had strong ties with the community and this investigation, they could be in danger if they came too close to the truth. The killer had been at it for twenty years, he couldn’t see him stopping now.

Rachel picked up a pencil and tucked it behind her ear. “Small town or not, the only ones who knew Bill was going for the tox screen were me, you, Dr. Gregory and Jake.”

“Maybe someone overheard you talking,” Walter suggested.

Who?
Owen drummed his fingers again. They’d specifically asked Bill to not tell anyone, not even his boss with campus security.
 

“Joy,” Rachel began, “you said Bill was sweet on a girl. Do you know her name?”

“I wanna say it was Kaylie.” She frowned. “Or was it Kylie? Anyway, it was something like that. Like I said, she works at the university library, so someone there would probably know her.”

“If Bill told his girl and she blabbed about it…” Rachel shook her head and reached for the pencil behind her ear. Owen could practically feel the frustration radiating from her, and expected her to bite the pencil in half. “Okay.” She blew out a breath and set the pencil—unbitten—onto the table. “Let’s get back to our notecards. I still have some research to do and we’ve got a search in the morning. By the way, Joy, do you have a printer I could borrow?”

At this point, Owen would rather suffer the cold and search the woods by the river for Bill. He knew what Rachel wanted with that printer. And by midnight, he’d been right. The short stack of reports she’d printed off sat in front of him. After Joy and Walter went off to bed, he’d gone through them all and had grown tired of sitting hunched over, scanning names, dates and addresses. Hell, he’d grown tired of this no-win investigation, period.