Last Girls Alive (Detective Katie Scott #4) - Jennifer Chase Page 0,91
to head toward the door. “You have to find her. Please…”
“Take it easy. Sit down.” Katie took her arm and steered her to the couch. “First, we don’t know if something is wrong. Second, both the city and county police departments are searching for her. Okay?”
Shaking her head, Candace said, “It’s not good. The only real friend I ever had and now she’s gone. It can’t be true.”
“We don’t know that.”
“C’mon, Detective. What does your cop experience tell you?”
Katie didn’t answer. The truth was it didn’t look good but she wasn’t going to add to Candace’s already trauma-filled life.
Candace began to cry. “I’ve lost everyone.”
“We don’t know that yet.” Katie felt helpless to try to make the situation better—she knew, at least her cynicism chimed, it was most likely only a matter of time before they found the body of Tanis dumped somewhere with the eerie message in Italian—hunter-gatherer.
“Candace. I need to ask you a couple of questions. And I need for you to be honest. Okay?”
She nodded in agreement, wiping the tears from her face.
“Tell me about Ray Conner. What does he look like?”
“Um, he’s average, I guess. Brown hair, green eyes, and um…”
“Anything that stands out? Tattoos? Scars?”
“No. He had a couple of moles.” She laughed.
“Okay. Was he thin, muscular, pot belly…”
“He was thin, not fat, he was particular about his food. Everything had to be healthy. I got the feeling that he might have been heavy when he was a kid or he didn’t have a lot to eat. Something happened that he didn’t want to talk about.”
“What makes you say that?”
“I’m not sure, just some things he said to me. And some of the things he didn’t.”
“Is there anything else you’re not telling me about him?” Katie had the feeling that she was holding back about Ray. She was scared of him. Didn’t want to get him in trouble. Something made her hesitate.
“No, that’s all. It’s been five years. There’s not much to tell.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m telling you everything I know.”
“One more question.”
Candace waited.
“Were you in contact with your sister?”
“We were in contact about a week before she died, and before that it had been a year.”
“Were you in contact with Tanis?”
“No.”
“Then how did you know how to contact her?”
“I was following her on social media and I knew that there would be a safe time to reconnect.” She fought back the tears. “I guess I was wrong.”
“C’mon,” Katie said. She pulled out two towels and gave them to Candace. “You need to take a shower and I’ll get you some clothes, okay?”
She nodded and went into the bathroom, followed by Cisco. “Does he always do this?”
“Pretty much,” she said and laughed.
While Candace took a shower, Katie rummaged to find some clothes for her: a T-shirt, jeans, a hoodie, clean socks, and a pair of old running shoes. She also took the time to make a phone call to someone she had worked with in the past, Madeline Day, who worked to find housing for battered women—she would be over to pick up Candace within the half hour so that she would be safe for the time being, or until the Elm Hill killer was found.
Candace came out of the shower with her wet hair and scrubbed face.
“Here you go. I think they’ll fit,” Katie said.
“Thank you.” Candace went back inside the bathroom to change.
It wasn’t long before there was another knock at the front door. Cisco barked once and then made himself comfortable on the couch.
Katie opened the door, “Hi, Madeline.”
“Katie, it’s nice to see you,” said the striking dark-haired woman.
“Candace,” she called.
When the young woman came into the living room she was dressed in Katie’s clothes and they seemed to fit.
“Candace,” said Katie. “I want you to meet Madeline. She’s going to take you to a safe place to stay for a while, okay?”
She hesitated but then nodded. “Please, Detective, please find Tanis.”
“You have my card and my personal number. Call me if you need anything, okay?”
“Okay. Thank you, Detective.”
“Call me Katie.”
She nodded and then followed Madeline out to her car.
Katie watched them leave and wondered what was going to happen next for Candace. She would have a social worker stop by and talk to her to see if they could get her into a program where she could get a job and find her own place to live.
“Well, Cisco, it’s back to bed.”
She once again fell into bed and was asleep within minutes.