Cut and Run (Lucy Kincaid #16) - Allison Brennan Page 0,120
To make sure that he or Carl hadn’t missed anything. Double-check.
Because there was one thing that he was pretty sure about. The fed was right, and the Albrights had never left the country. They’d been murdered that Friday. All but the boy.
Carl had said they must have left without him or the timeline was off and the Young family didn’t remember exactly when the kid left. Which was possible. But still, it would have been really close. Based on the timeline and the facts that they knew about when the girls left school, the family had about an hour from when they would have been home after school to when they’d have to leave to reach the border. And to leave a kid behind?
He didn’t see it. Garrett’s daughter was the world to him. She was the bright spot when everything else was shit. If he was in trouble, he would do everything to protect her—and maybe that’s what the mother was doing. Protecting the kid because she knew that she was in danger.
But what about the girls? Why had they come home? Why had the older girl called the younger girl out of volleyball practice? Did the parents ask her to … or did they have another reason?
And then what about the boy? His body hadn’t been found with the others, or anywhere else. Garrett got a copy of the search and rescue report and the cadaver dogs hadn’t found anything near the burial site or the house or between the Albright house and the Young house. They searched the open fields where the kids were known to play, and nothing.
But what was really bugging Garrett was Frank Pollero. Garrett hadn’t interviewed him that day. He’d been dealing with his bitch of an ex-wife and Carl had gone there and reviewed the security footage. And Carl had come back and said that Denise Albright had changed the accounts, then embezzled the money electronically the same day.
“Frank said she was fine, acting normal, came in and flirted, and he didn’t even think to call Kiefer because Albright is a regular customer.”
Garrett stared at the still shot. He recognized Kitty Fitzpatrick. Hell, he’d known Kitty most of his life. Why hadn’t he seen this before?
The thing was, Carl knew Kitty as well. He should be able to look at the picture and tell that it was Kitty. It was a crappy picture and all, and yeah, her general appearance matched Denise Albright’s, so it was no surprise the feds thought it was Denise, but anyone who knew Kitty would know this was Kitty. Including Carl and Frank.
Garrett called the sheriff. “Hank, we need to meet. Not tomorrow, now. Can I come over?”
He was piling everything into his car when lights shined down his driveway. They went off, and Carl got out of his personal truck.
“Hey, thought you might be up for a drink.”
“Sorry, can’t.”
“Where are you going?”
“Food. I have nothing here.”
“At ten at night?”
“What’s with the third degree?”
“You took all the files from the station.”
“So?”
He didn’t see Carl’s gun until it was too late.
Chapter Thirty-one
FRIDAY MORNING
Because Rachel was working in the field on a complicated case with half the Violent Crimes Squad, Lucy cleared her SAPD meeting with ASAC Abigail Durant. Fortunately, she didn’t have to explain in detail, because Rachel had already filled Abigail in.
She got up to leave, but Abigail said, “Please sit, Lucy. There’s two other issues we need to discuss.”
She sat back down, dreading what was coming.
“First, I spoke with the sheriff in Kerr County. Detective Douglas is in the hospital in critical condition. He was shot outside his house last night. But he gave a statement to first responders that his partner, Detective Chavez, shot him. Right now he’s in a medical coma after surgery, so we can’t question him. He thinks he winged Chavez in the gunfight, and evidence at the scene supports that. Chavez is missing. The sheriff himself took charge of the crime scene and found all the Albright files there. Immediately prior to the shooting, Detective Douglas asked to meet with the sheriff.”
“He must have seen something or remembered something that had him suspicious of his partner,” Lucy said. She felt marginally guilty for icing him out of the investigation, but she honestly didn’t know which of the cops was involved.
“Rachel told me—verbally, she didn’t put it in her report—that Nate was able to interview Ricky Albright and he identified Detective Chavez.”