“Good, thank goodness,” Murphy said, his face serious. “Every once in a while a kid gets scared straight. Kaitlin’s been the model daughter and student ever since she got back. I think it helped that instead of ranting at her and slapping her with some stringent punishment my sister and her husband listened to the kid and addressed the problems that had led to Kaitlin’s running away in the first place.”
Scott introduced Laurel then, telling Murphy that she was an investigative reporter helping him with this unofficial investigation.
The three of them sat down on hard plastic chairs at the small table in the center of the room, an open file in front of them. Murphy gave Laurel permission to tape their session.
“So far Arnett’s been a model parolee,” Murphy was saying. “He checks in like clockwork. Has a job. Really seems to be sincere in his attempts to take advantage of this second chance and make a new life for himself.”
“Where’s he working?” Scott asked, his notebook in one hand, a pen in the other.
“For a car dealership selling new trucks, which is perfect for him. He’s got the gift of gab, that man.”
“The type of salesman you want to watch out for?” Laurel asked.
“That’s putting it lightly.” Murphy sat back in his chair, his hands in the pockets of his workday blues. “Dennis Arnett could charm the meat off a cow.”
Looking at Scott, Laurel wondered if he was remembering, as she was, Katy Miller’s description of Leslie Renwick’s new boyfriend. Too charming. At first, it was a long-enough stretch to seem incredible, but considering the Renwicks had been one of Dennis’s sister’s largest clients, the idea didn’t seem quite so fantastic.
Of course, if she and Scott were correct in thinking that Cecilia was Leslie’s mother, that would mean Dennis Arnett was dating his own niece.
Not a pretty thought. Judging by the grim look on Scott’s face he was traveling in the same negative direction as well.
“In spite of some very prominent strikes against him, I have high hopes for Arnett,” Murphy was saying. “He settled right down as soon as he came to town. Even has a girlfriend. As far as I can tell, he’s been with the same woman for the entire time he’s been here.”
Scott pulled out a picture Katy Miller had given them. Laurel’s chest filled with dread.
“This isn’t her, is it?” he asked, his gaze intense as he watched for the other man’s reaction.
“That’s her, all right,” Murphy said, leaning forward with a frown. “What does she have to do with you?”
“We think she’s missing.”
As Scott filled Officer Murphy in on what they’d found out so far, starting from the call he’d received to investigate a possible missing person, Laurel wondered how much longer they were going to be able to keep kidding themselves that William was going to be fine.
Something was very, very wrong.
“You said earlier that Arnett had some prominent strikes against him,” Scott stated minutes later. “What did you mean by that?”
Murphy was still frowning. “He’s a repeat offender for one, though this last stint was the first time he’d ever spent any real length of time behind bars. First time to actually make it to prison.”
“Let me guess, his family was able to buy his way out of trouble before that.”
“From what I can ascertain.” Murphy nodded.
“So what else?” Scott persisted. “You said strikes as in plural.”
Sliding a sideways glance at Laurel, Murphy hesitated, but only for a moment. “There was some...uh...trouble when he first got to prison....”
“Trouble that he created? Or the ‘virgin blood meets hardened criminal’ variety?”
“The latter. Arnett was in a spot of trouble one night, but before anything happened, one of the other guys was there. Saved his ass, from what I understand.”
“No pun intended?”
Murphy shrugged.
“So why is this a bad thing?”
“Arnett and the guy were seen together a lot after that. And Carl Nevil is not a man anyone’s mama would pick to be her kid’s friend. Too much time spent with him would lead anyone astray. He’s one of New York’s more famous crime giants—been in and out of prison more times than I’ve changed shoes. I hear he was just sent up for murder last year. And this time it should be for good.”