she held him back.
“Shannon Phelps.”
“What?”
Matt scrolled. “Cady actually called Shannon three times today. The first two calls were short. Maybe she hung up or left a brief message. The third call was a little before four o’clock and lasted nearly two minutes. She must have talked with Shannon. If she’d left a message, the call would have been shorter.” He paced a few feet away and back. “Cady saw Shannon’s name on a file I brought home the other night. Cady’s rescue placed that little dog with Shannon. Cady recognized her name.”
“And?”
“And she probably called her to ask how the dog was doing.” Matt’s brain whirled. “Cady is very empathetic. She felt awful about all the loss Shannon has suffered. Knowing Cady, she wanted to see if she could help.”
Bree stared back at him. “Shannon has an alibi for Paul’s death, but not for Holly’s.”
Matt’s gaze fell to the broken phone screen and dropped to the spots of blood. His heart contracted. “We have to find Cady.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Worried, Bree called for backup. The broken phone and blood made Cady’s house a likely crime scene. Bree looked at Matt. “Two things. One, Cady could have fallen and hurt herself. Maybe she called a friend to take her to the ER.”
“She would probably have called me or my brother, but my mom is calling her friends just in case.”
Bree continued. “Two, I know this link to our current murder case is disturbing as hell, but we shouldn’t make assumptions. Is there anyone else in your sister’s life who might cause her harm?”
Matt stopped pacing. “Maybe her ex. Cady ran into him this week. She said it was weird. I can’t think of anyone else. Cady spends ninety percent of her time with her rescues or working in my brother’s studio.”
Matt’s phone rang. “It’s my brother.” He answered the call. “Yes, Nolan? Damn. OK. Good idea. Keep me in the loop.” He ended the call and turned back to Bree. “None of Cady’s students have seen her. Nolan is going to drive around to her favorite spots.”
Brody sat at Bree’s feet, looking up at her with dark, soulful eyes. He gave her another thin, sad whine. She stroked his head. If she didn’t have a crisis in front of her, she would have been in awe at her lack of fear, and very impressed with herself for picking up the leash. While she’d been searching Cady’s bedrooms, Brody had made her feel more secure, not less.
The barking from Cady’s dogs, however, was making the hair on her arms stand straight up.
Brody pulled on the leash and looked back at Bree.
“Go ahead,” Bree said and dropped the leash.
Brody went to Matt and pawed at his leg. Matt patted his dog. “We’ll find her.”
A few minutes later, a patrol car pulled up to the curb. Bree put Deputy Collins in charge of using a field test to confirm the substance on the driveway was actually human blood. She also put out a BOLO on Cady.
She turned to Matt. “Do you want to go see Cady’s ex or Shannon Phelps first?”
Matt closed his eyes for a few seconds. When he opened them, his face was drawn and tight. “Greg’s place is the closest. We’ll stop there first. If she’s not there, we’ll go on to Shannon’s.”
Leaving Collins in charge of the scene, Bree, Matt, and Brody climbed into the SUV. Agitated, Brody paced the back seat.
“What can you tell me about Cady’s relationship with her ex?” Bree asked.
Matt drove away from his sister’s house. “I didn’t like Greg the first time Cady introduced him.” Barely slowing the vehicle, he steered around a bend in the road. “He seemed emotionally stunted to me, a boy in a man’s body. He did some modeling and followed a strict diet. If Cady ate anything that wasn’t grilled chicken breast or broccoli, he’d comment. Cady’s never been overweight, but she isn’t a waify-model type either.” He lifted a broad hand and frowned at it. “The Flynns are not small people.”
No kidding.
He continued. “I didn’t want to get between her and Greg, but more importantly, I didn’t want to put her in a position where she ever felt like she had to choose between a boyfriend and her family.” Regret tightened Matt’s face. “She’s a grown woman. It wasn’t my place to tell her who to date. And I knew she wouldn’t take his shit for long. They only dated for a couple of months when she found out she was