Where the Blame Lies

“One of the missing persons I pulled when we were looking t

o ID Aria Glazer was that UC student who was reported missing six weeks ago.”

“The one all over the news last month. Harley and Aymes are on that investigation, right?” Zach nodded and Jimmy ran a hand over his jaw, pulling out his phone. He stepped off the path that led from the house to the curb, turning so no one coming or going from the house could see what he was doing. Zach followed. After typing something into what looked like a browser, Jimmy stared at the screen, his lips thinning as he turned it toward Zach. The body in the basement was in the beginning stages of decomposition, but damn if the girl he was looking at didn’t appear to be the same as the one they’d just left with criminalists. “Yeah, this could very well be her. Fuck me. Isn’t her father some city council member or something?”

“Yeah. We need to let Sergeant Woods know about the possibility.” Zach thought back to Aria’s roommate Tessa telling him about Aria taking classes at UC. Fuck, if this was in fact the UC student, it’d be the second one found in the same manner in less than a week that had ties to the university. Aria Glazer hadn’t been a full-time student. She’d been taking night classes. But she’d still been at the campus regularly.

Plus, Josie had been a UC student when she’d been abducted. Did that tie in too?

Shit. People were going to freak. This would have to be managed very carefully.

Jimmy and Zach got in their vehicles just as a news van rounded the corner.

**********

Sergeant Woods sat back in his chair, digesting the news that Zach had just delivered. The daughter of the city council member, twenty-year-old Miriam Bellanger, could very well be the girl that had just been found in the basement of an abandoned house in Clifton, shackled, sexually assaulted, tortured, and starved.

“Cathlyn’s at the lab now, waiting for the body. Miriam’s parents have been notified of the possibility that this is their daughter. They’re having dental records forwarded in the morning.” Jimmy blew out a breath. “Can’t imagine anyone in that house will sleep tonight. We wanted to spare them the purgatory, but the news arrived as we were leaving, and we didn’t want them to hear about this on TV either.”

“It was the right call. Holy shit.” He shook his head. “If it does turn out to be her, and along with the news that the other victim found in the same manner took classes at UC too, the whole campus is going to go berserk. We need to tell the chief so he can prepare a statement, because the news will be all over this department like white on rice as soon as the story breaks.” He paused. “What’s the update on the burglary at Josie Stratton’s house?”

Zach updated him on his meeting with the cousin. “I heard from the lab on my way to tonight’s crime scene. No fingerprints on that knife. The lab hasn’t found anything that would tie him or anyone else to the break in.”

“The cousin called to complain about you earlier today,” Sergeant Woods said, eyeing Zach. “Said you threatened him. I squashed it but sounds like he’s hired a lawyer. Threw some woman’s name around. He won’t talk anymore unless we have something concrete.” Well, that’s that, Zach thought. And again, what a prick.

“Someone printed up an old article about Josie’s escape and hung it up around town,” Jimmy said quietly.

Zach’s spine stiffened. “What?”

“Yeah, I was going to mention it when you got to Josie’s. She was in the other room when I talked to you earlier. Then the crime scene and—”

“What happened?” Zach interrupted.

Jimmy told them about the garage sale flyers Josie had hung up, about going into town and finding that someone had tacked an article about Josie’s escape, including a picture, next to every flyer she’d posted.

“Someone’s messing with her,” Zach said, his jaw tight. “My bet’s on the cousin, but he also struck me as a guy who would get others to do any dirty work. How much do you want to bet that we get the tapes from the places the ad was hung, and it’s some little kid or homeless guy tacking it up?”

Jimmy nodded and Sergeant Woods laced his hands behind his head, jaw set as he stared off behind them for a moment. “Get those tapes and we’ll see what’s what. It could be the copycat toying with her. That’s still a possibility.”

Zach’s muscles tensed. “Correct.” But why? What would be the motive?

“A shitstorm could be coming our way. We can’t afford to bungle this. Make sure you keep Josie Stratton safe.”

Zach looked at Jimmy. “Get outta here,” Jimmy said. “I’m going to keep Cathlyn company at the lab. The grocery store where one of the articles was hung is open twenty-four hours. I’ll call and ask the manager to pull the tapes from the last week or so. The library may or may not have cameras, and the other one we saw was hung on a street corner. Whatever I hear, I’ll keep you updated.”

Zach appreciated his partner, who’d woken at the crack of dawn and would now be burning the midnight oil. He knew Jimmy wouldn’t have it any other way, despite the loss of sleep, but damn if Zach wasn’t grateful for Jimmy right then, because he had this urgent need to get back to Josie. He wanted to do what he could for the girl headed to the coroner’s office, but he also wanted to be the one making sure Josie was safe, unharmed. It was probably the crime scene he’d been at, the sick, cold feeling that had settled in his bones since he’d walked down the stairs of that abandoned house and had seen the shackled body. It obviously brought to mind what Josie Stratton had endured—suffered. The more he saw, the angrier he became at what she went through. The damp and cold of the basement. The chafing of the chains. The fear . . . God. What that monster did to her. He was antsy to get to her house. See her with his own eyes, know she was okay.

He didn’t let himself analyze it more than that.

Keep Josie Stratton safe.

It was exactly what he intended to do.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Josie peeked out her window, watching as Officers Horton and Vogel talked in low tones to Detective Copeland, who was holding what looked like a large pizza box in one hand. Her heart gave a small leap at the sight of the tall, handsome detective, while her stomach growled hungrily. She chose to ignore the former and acknowledge the latter. She hadn’t eaten anything for dinner yet. She’d felt awkward in the presence of Horton and Vogel, despite that they seemed to be nice men, so she’d gone upstairs to get some privacy. She’d tried to work a little bit, but her mind had insisted on wandering, and she kept yawning. She’d finally lain down for a little while. She was exhausted after not sleeping well the night before, waking up early, and then dealing with the unsettling and chaotic emotions that had clobbered her after discovering the posted articles and experiencing the dismal garage sale. That people had come to gawk at me, she thought with an internal grimace. Now . . .

Josie watched as Detective Copeland said some parting words to Horton and Vogel and then they got in their police cruiser and backed out of her driveway as he stood in front of her porch watching them leave. Balancing the pizza in one hand, he disappeared up her front steps and she heard her front door open and then close softly below her.