brain and fluid. They’ve even put him on a ventilator.” She shook her head. “They’re not sure if he’ll ever wake up. The principal of the school and Coach Dillard are letting the students organize a fund-raiser for medical expenses for Zachary. The deaf school offered its services, too. Apparently, Alan is well liked in the deaf community, thanks to his having deaf parents.”
Joseph nodded. “That’s a great thing to do and it’ll give the students something constructive to focus on. They’ve got to be traumatized by all that’s happened over the last few days.”
“To say the least. The school counselors are working overtime right now, talking in the classrooms, counseling friends of Tracy, Kelly and Zachary. They’re doing all they can do. They’ve even called in some outside help, so that’s good.”
“I’m glad to hear that. I just hope someone is helping the Merritt family. To have something so awful happen to two of your children…it’s beyond my imagination.”
Sympathy clouded her gaze for a brief moment. She nodded and said, “I want to know what it is those two kids knew that someone was willing to commit murder in order to keep it secret.”
“And I want to talk to Kelly Franklin’s brother today, too. His name is Billy. Let’s see if he can shed some light on his sister’s disappearance.”
“Sound like we’ve got our game plan.”
“Oh, and Alonso’s got a baseball game tonight. I’m planning on catching it if you want to join me.”
Speechless for a moment, Catelyn processed his statement. Gathering her wits, she shrugged. “We’ll see.”
He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on her evasiveness.
As they headed out, Catelyn ignored the excitement building within her at the thought of spending so much time in Joseph’s company. Excitement or no, she reminded herself that this was the man who’d broken her heart two years ago and there was no way she was trusting him with the pieces ever again.
Pulling into the parking lot of the building that housed the local crime lab, Joseph pondered the situation silently while Catelyn called Billy Franklin’s mother to ask for permission to visit him at the school, assuring the woman that Billy was in no way considered a suspect, but they just wanted to see if he had anything else to add that might help them find his sister. Sometimes people remembered things later. After the dust settled, and the adrenaline wore off.
Tracy had been killed, and Kelly had disappeared. Why?
What did Tracy know that was worth killing for? Had Kelly been at the scene? Had she witnessed the murder and fled? Was she hiding out? Or had she witnessed it and been taken against her will? And why hadn’t the killer just killed her, too? Or had he and they just hadn’t found her body yet?
Sighing, Joseph waited until Catelyn hung up from a second call before swinging his long frame from the car. “Who was that? It sounded official.”
“Victor.”
“What did he want?”
“An arrest.”
“Don’t we all? I vote for arresting the right person, though.”
“I know.” She pulled at her lower lip with her two top teeth as she thought. Joseph cut his eyes and swallowed hard. He clearly remembered kissing those lips and wanted to do it again. He blinked and focused back in on what she was saying. “I still think Dylan’s up to his eyeballs in this thing and knows a lot more than he’s telling.”
“Possibly. It’s just that when he protested his innocence so profusely, I believed him. I didn’t see anything that made me think he was covering up a murder.”
Catelyn rolled her eyes at him. “Trust me. Kids like that learn how to lie so convincingly they probably even believe what they’re saying. But they’re liars all the same.”
“Kids like that?” Joseph raised a brow. Why was she so cynical? He didn’t remember seeing this side of her before. Wary about a romantic relationship? Yes. A tough street cop? Yes. But where had her compassion gone? What had happened to change that part of her?
She must have read something in his face because she asked, “I sound harsh, don’t I?”
“Yeah, you do.”
She chewed her lip again. Then pulled her jacket off and rolled up her sleeve. He sucked in a deep breath. A thin five-inch jagged scar made its way from the inside of her elbow to the center of her arm just falling short of her wrist.
He reached out and pulled it toward him for a closer look. Angry, puckered and red, yet healing. “Compliments of one of those kids?”
“Yeah.”
“So, you learned your lesson, is that what you’re saying? And every kid is guilty until proven innocent?”
She flushed and yanked out of his light grasp. “Something like that.”
He let her go. “When did that happen?”
“About six months ago.”
He winced. “Ouch.”
Shutters came down over her eyes. “Yep.”
“You want to tell me about it?” She used to tell him everything. His heart hurt at the memories. He’d missed her. Her laugh, her beauty, her spunk, the way she made him feel when she let him see the pride she felt for him when he collared a criminal. The way she melted into his arms for a snuggle on the couch. Her kisses…
“Nothing much to tell. I had the kid cornered, he acted like he wasn’t going to give me any trouble, just blubbering about how he’d been set up. I believed him, let my guard down and he pulled a knife from somewhere. And before you ask, yes, I’d already patted him down. I made a stupid mistake and missed it. It was a little thing, but it hurt. So, no more trusting crying teens protesting their innocence.” Subject closed. “Let’s go see what we can find out about the DNA. I hope this isn’t a wasted trip.”
He smiled and let it drop even though he wanted to pursue the fact that just because she had one bad experience with one kid didn’t mean they were all the same. But he knew when she got that look on her face, attempting to push the subject more wouldn’t get him anywhere. So he said, “The personal touch is never wasted. A phone call might have sufficed, but when you’re face-to-face, it’s harder for them to put you off…or hang up on you.”
She gave a rare grin, one he remembered, but hadn’t seen since he’d been back. “Very true.”
Why had she bothered to explain about that scar? Catelyn decided having Joseph around could be addictive. Somehow, she was going to have to figure out how to keep her mouth shut around him. Spilling her guts about everything that bothered her was no longer an option. She’d moved on, and he’d just plain moved…
“Sandy, how are you?” Catelyn spotted the criminalist and waved her down. A pretty, petite woman in her late thirties, she was part of a team that did their job well. She’d also been one of the people covering Tracy’s murder.
