Blackwater looked from Alvarez to Pescoli, who’d let her partner do all the talking. Pescoli’s mouth was stubbornly set as if she didn’t agree with what was going on.
He glanced back at the picture. “So, now we’ve got a love triangle, a robbed grandmother, two missing people from New Orleans, and our two dead victims with the severed fingers dumped here in Grizzly Falls.” He glanced around the table. “Am I missing anything else?”
“Just one more thing,” Alvarez said. “There was talk about her being involved at one time with Cade Grayson.”
“Another boyfriend?”
“Long before Ryder. Cade’s a person who could be her connection to Grizzly Falls, maybe why she ended up here.”
“That woman really gets around,” Gage observed.
“Two boyfriends, one husband,” Pescoli said. “Not so much getting around.”
“More like two husbands, one boyfriend,” Gage rejoined. “She seems to have a little trouble with her marriage vows.”
“Lot of that going around,” Pescoli said.
Blackwater interrupted. “Someone needs to talk to him. See if Grayson’s seen her.”
Alvarez said, “Already on it.”
“Good. Now, is there anything else?”
Gage shrugged and Alvarez shook her head. Zoller and Winger were both busily taking notes. He focused on Pescoli. “What do you think, Detective?”
“Fingerprint or no fingerprint, I have trouble believing our doer’s a woman.”
Blackwater felt impatient, but whether he liked the rogue detective or not, he grudgingly respected her gut instincts.
“I think it’s damn convenient that we have her prints, no, make that print, singular. One at each scene,” Pescoli went on. “Doesn’t anyone else find that convenient?”
Gage gave another shrug. “Maybe odd.”
Blackwater regarded Pescoli for a moment, then said, “Since we can’t find hide nor hair of Mr. or Mrs. Calderone, maybe we should be looking for Ryder. Unless he’s hiding, too, and they’re all involved in this thing together, which I don’t believe, there should be records of him. Credit card receipts and cell phone records?”
“Montoya’s already on it,” Alvarez said, reading from her device. “Looks like he was recently in Denver, but he did buy gas in Casper, Wyoming and Billings, Montana and finally, a few days ago, made a purchase right here in Grizzly Falls at Corky’s Gas and Go.”
Blackwater said, “And I assume we have a make and model of his vehicle?”
Alvarez glanced up from her computer while Winger broke down and poured herself a cup of coffee. “We do.”
“Then I suggest you start at the gas station with pictures of Ryder. Take the others as well, just in case he’s traveling with either of them, then check the local motels. He probably doesn’t think anyone’s looking for him, so he might be registered under his own name. Let’s bird-dog him.” Blackwater felt a warm spot deep in his gut. Maybe this case would break under his watch, the culprits of a scandalous crime spree that stretched from the deep South to Grizzly Falls brought to justice. “Don’t forget Cade Grayson. The two on the run might be in disguise, so let’s work with the computer guys, do some enhancements, Photoshop a little, play with the images.” He grinned at his team. That’s right, his team. “Who knows, the missing Calderones might be hiding in plain sight right under our noses.”
Chapter 25
Anne-Marie was through being bullied. She jabbed an angry finger straight at Ryder. “I’m never going back to Louisiana, but I was willing to turn myself in here.”
“Because of Cade Grayson?”
She’d picked up her jeans and was reaching for her sweater but stopped to look at him in surprise.
“I knew about him. And when your coworkers in Denver mentioned you were hooking up with an old boyfriend, he came to mind.”
“What happened between Cade and me was a long time ago.”
“But you came here.”
“I was going to meet with his brother. Dan was the sheriff. Cade had sworn he was fair and would look at all sides of an issue. I knew I had to turn myself in, that I couldn’t keep running, but I didn’t trust anyone in New Orleans. My father golfs with judges and lawyers and . . . and he thought I’d made a big mistake. That no matter what, I should stick with Bruce. He would rather believe I was lying.” She bristled at that thought, that her own parents had sided with the man who had beaten her.