Just One Kiss (Whisper Lake #4) - Barbara Freethy Page 0,34
do you know?"
"Kelly got married five years ago to Travis Hill, an army lieutenant who was killed in action three months after the birth of their son, Brett."
"Oh, no," she whispered, putting a hand to her mouth. Brett's father was dead. That was terribly sad.
At her emotional reaction, Jake couldn't help himself. He moved closer, taking her free hand into his, and she let him.
"Kelly and Brett were living in South Carolina at Fort Jackson when Travis died," Adam continued. "After that, they moved to Florida for a while and then to Colorado Springs eighteen months ago."
"I can't believe Kelly came back to Colorado," Hannah said. "She always wanted to live by the ocean. I figured she'd ended up at a beach somewhere."
"She did for a while. When she got to Colorado Springs, she got a job as a checker at a grocery store. I spoke to her boss, Tracy Vaughn. Ms. Vaughn said Kelly was a good worker, and she had no problems with her until about two months ago when she abruptly quit, saying the hours weren't good for her because she was a single mother. She had gotten some work she could do from home and no one at the market saw her again after that. She gave me Kelly's last known address, and I had an officer from the Colorado Springs Police Department check it out. Her landlord said she saw Kelly three weeks ago putting suitcases into her car. She said she was taking a vacation and was headed to New Mexico. The landlord did not see her after that and Kelly missed her rent payment, which was five days later. She has not shown up or returned the landlord's texts, emails or calls. The police officer went into Kelly's apartment with the landlord, and it looked like she'd left in a hurry. There were clothes and toys and food that was rotting in the refrigerator and the cabinets."
Hannah's fingers tightened around his. Like him, she didn't care for where this story was going.
"What else?" she asked tightly.
"The landlord said Kelly had a boyfriend—Russ Miller. He worked as the night manager at the Bentley Hotel. I called the hotel to speak to him, but he disappeared three weeks ago, and no one has seen or heard from him since."
"The same time as Kelly," he muttered, as Adam's gaze swung to his.
"Yes," Adam confirmed. "Kelly withdrew $300 from an ATM two days after she was last seen at her apartment. Russ Miller did the same one day later. Neither one has used a credit card since then or accessed their bank accounts. Mr. Miller has not been in contact with his employer."
"What about the credit card in the name of Kim Slater?" Hannah asked. "The one she used to book our cabin."
"I contacted Kim Slater. She is one of Kelly's friends from her time in Florida," Adam replied. "She hasn't seen Kelly in over a year. She said Kelly might have been able to access her credit card number from the computer she gave her, but she has the actual card in her purse, and she hasn't paid much attention to it because she just had a baby a few months ago. She did say that Kelly had called a few months ago and mentioned that she was having trouble with a guy."
"What kind of trouble?" Hannah asked.
"She said there was a man who was harassing her, but she was handling it. When Kim tried to press her, she just told her to forget she'd said anything."
"If the boyfriend was harassing Kelly, maybe he's the reason she's on the run," Jake interjected.
"And why she left Brett with me," Hannah said, turning her head to meet his gaze. "She wanted to put her son somewhere safe. But I still don't know why she didn't go to the police or warned me against doing so." She looked back at Adam. "This Russ Miller doesn't have any ties to the police department, does he?"
"No. It's still early in the investigation, but from the surface read I did on Mr. Miller, I don't see any link between him and the police. He also has no history of domestic violence or legal problems. I haven't been able to talk to his coworkers yet, but I will be following up with them as well as his neighbors."
"Maybe Kelly's boyfriend has a relative or a friend that's a cop, someone that he's using to hold over Kelly's head," Hannah suggested.