and I have just been given an opportunity to work together on a case. We have before, of course, but ever since we got married, the bureau has been a little weird about pairing us up. But this time, it was requested.”
“Well, that’s wonderful,” Frances said.
“It is. Only, the case is in Utah. And we need to be on a plane around five o’clock in the morning.”
Patricia looked up at them for the first time since they had come in; her attention had been on Kevin the entire time. “Anything dangerous?” she asked.
“No more than usual,” Mackenzie said. “But we’re mentioning this to both of you because we understand just how unlikely it is that you’re both here. So, Mom…you had planned on staying in town for two days, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“And you,” Ellington said, pointing to his mother, “showed up unannounced, which makes me think you have no plans anytime soon. Is that a safe assumption?”
“I had planned to go home tomorrow, but I have no concrete plans, no.”
“Any chance you can cancel your hotel room and get a refund, Mom?” Mackenzie asked.
Patricia seemed to understand where this was going. She looked to Kevin, smiled brightly, and then back to her daughter with a bit of apprehension. “Mackenzie…I don’t know. I want to, sure. Of course I do. But are you sure?”
“It would be both of you,” Mackenzie said. “If Frances is up for it. Two or three days at most, I would think. Are you both okay with that?”
The tears that leaked from her mother’s eyes was all the answer Mackenzie needed. Still, Patricia nodded and got to her feet. When she came over and hugged her daughter, Mackenzie barely knew what to do. She hugged her mother back, unsure what it meant that it felt a little forced and awkward. Had it really been that long since they had embraced out of emotion rather than social necessity?
“Count me in, too,” Frances said. “I only have enough clothes for a day or two, but I can do the wash.”
“Mackenzie, I don’t even know where to start,” Patricia said. “It’s been so long since I cared for a baby and…”
“It’s like riding a bike,” Frances assured her. “And little Kevin there is an angel. Not a problem at all.”
“And we’ll leave a schedule for you,” Mackenzie said.
“As well as the numbers for the doctor, fire department, and poison control,” Ellington quipped.
When no one laughed, he grimaced and slowly stepped out of the room. Kevin, sitting on the floor, provided the only response as he craned his neck to see where his daddy was going.
“Think you can handle it, kiddo?” Mackenzie asked, getting down on the floor with him.
His only response was his usual smile and his big bright eyes as he looked up at his mother and the two older women behind her.
CHAPTER FIVE
About halfway through their flight to Utah, Mackenzie was on her second cup of bitter airline coffee as her first signs of worry took root. She glanced out the window, the early morning light blooming over the horizon, and then to Ellington.
“Still feel good about it?” she asked him.
“I do. Why? You changing your mind?”
“No. I just know my mother. I mean, it’s obvious she’s changing her life for the better and I hope spending some time with Kevin only helps to super-charge those changes. But I know my mother. I know how stubborn she can be. I know how defensive she can be. I can’t help but wonder if our mothers together might turn into a WWE cage match.”
“As long as they keep Kevin alive, I’m fine with that. I’d put my money on your mom, by the way.”
She could tell that he was slightly worried, but was trying to be the strong husband that she could depend on. Throughout their marriage and the years of partnering together beforehand, he had learned when to take on that role and when to step back and let her be strong. He was getting very good at doing both and knowing which role to fill at the appropriate time. She sighed, looked back out the window, and held his hand.
“Hey, Mac? It really is okay. It’s going to be great. This is part of being a family, you know? In-laws, relatives, all of it.”
“I know. But today it’s my mom. Tomorrow, what if my sister wants to step up and be an aunt all of a sudden?”
“Then you have to let her. Or, at the very least, let her try.”
“Oh, but you haven’t met Stephanie…”
“And I hadn’t met your mother until yesterday. Yet here we are, in the sky while she and my mother are down below, taking care of our son. And if I can be honest…?”
“Please do.”
“I think you’re worried about it because you aren’t worried about it. You and I were both rocked by how natural it felt. Maybe we just need to go with it and focus on this case. Our mothers raised us and we turned out fine, after all.”
“Did we, though?” she asked with a smirk.
“Eh, good enough.”
Mackenzie continued to sip from her coffee and did exactly what Ellington had suggested, turning her thoughts away from the surprising result back home and toward the case.
They drove their rental car sixteen miles outside of Salt Lake City, on task to beat McGrath’s projection of a noon arrival by nearly an hour. The town where the woman without an identity had been murdered was a cute little place called Fellsburg. It was a slightly upscale town, likely the sort of town that thrived only because it was so close to Salt Lake City. Mackenzie imagined most of the population made that commute daily, working in the city and then coming back to their homes in one of the numerous neighborhoods in Fellsburg.
Following the file notes and instructions in the information McGrath had emailed to them, Ellington drove them to a subdivision called Plainsview. It looked like the two other subdivisions they had to pass to get there—two-story houses, cookie-cutouts of one another. Nice trimmed yards, security streetlights every one hundred feet or so.
But they didn’t have to venture far into Plainsview. Four houses after the entrance, there was a cop car parked on the side of the street. This was the officer who had arranged to meet with them when Mackenzie had called from the airport to announce their arrival. He was already getting out of his patrol car when Ellington pulled in behind him.
The three of them met between the cars, going through a round of introductions. The badge and pin he wore on his chest indicated he was Sheriff Burke.
“Agents,” Burke said. “Thanks for coming out. I’m Sheriff Declan Burke.”
Mackenzie and Ellington gave their names, shaking hands with him. Mackenzie guessed Burke to be about fifty or so. He had a thick beard that could use a trim and a hardened face. His eyes were hidden behind a pair of aviator sunglasses even though the morning was not bright at all.
“This
