Cut and Run (Lucy Kincaid #16) - Allison Brennan Page 0,18
He was a tall, muscular man in his early forties with a military-style haircut and an elaborate tattoo on his right arm, partly visible under his short sleeve.
He stepped outside and closed the door behind him. “Jill called me and I came home early. Said you wanted to talk to our kids. Before I let you, I’m laying down some ground rules.”
“Of course,” Lucy said, then introduced herself and Nate.
“Sir,” Nate said as they shook hands.
JJ said, “Jill told me what you said. I need to know if Ricky is dead. He and the twins have been friends since the day we moved here, and if he’s dead, I need to tell them first.”
“We don’t know,” Lucy said. “That’s why it’s so important that we retrace his steps the day his family disappeared.”
“Are you sure those bones that were dug up are the Albrights?”
“Yes,” Lucy said. “FBI confirmed through DNA evidence. Denise, Glen, Tori, and Becky.”
“Not Ricky.”
“No. We brought in cadaver dogs to search the area near both the gravesite and the Albright house, but he hasn’t been found, and now we’re concerned about where he might be. Your family is the last to have seen Ricky before he went missing. Ricky might have said something to them. Reached out to them in some way—a text message maybe, or a note.”
“They didn’t have phones three years ago. They were only nine.” He ran his hand over his head and glanced toward the house. “You don’t talk to my kids without either me or my wife present, understand? Not now, not ever.”
Lucy nodded. “Of course we’ll respect your wishes.”
“And I’m telling them about the Albrights. They don’t need to hear it from strangers. So no questions until I say, understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Nate said.
JJ continued, but his voice quivered with restrained emotion. “My kids are smart and I don’t sugarcoat the truth around them, but they don’t need to know details, okay?”
Lucy and Nate concurred. Then Lucy said, “Before we go in, your wife said that a detective came to talk to you the week after the Albrights disappeared.”
“Yes. Actually, twice. The first was that Monday—Glen hadn’t shown up at work, and Ricky wasn’t at school and Ricky’s teacher said he went home with Joe and Ginny. The kids and Jill weren’t home, but I confirmed that Ricky left at six—that’s what Jill had told me. The detectives returned later in the week—I believe Thursday, maybe Friday—with more questions and a hostile attitude. It was right after dinner. They wanted to know the last time we’d seen the family, if they said anything about a vacation, if we’d heard from Ricky.”
“Did they tell you that they believed the Albrights had left the country?”
“I pushed because I don’t particularly like anyone who comes in and demands anything from me, especially at the dinner hour. I missed too many dinners with my family when I served, I don’t miss many now. I didn’t like their attitude, and the way they talked to my son Joe was uncalled for.”
“How so?”
“They accused him of lying, said that he had to tell the truth or he’d be committing a crime.”
“Truth about what?”
“If he’d seen Ricky over the weekend. He said no, and he had no reason to lie, but the cop treated Joe as if he was. He was nine, dammit. My kids don’t lie, I don’t condone it, and they know better. I didn’t like the cop accusing him. They said there was evidence the family had gone to Mexico and that Denise was under suspicion of embezzling from her employer. I didn’t believe it, but they showed me a photo of their car crossing the border, and said if we heard from any of them—parents or kids—to call them. Then there was an article in the paper a week or so later about how Kiefer Brothers lost millions to embezzlement, lost a major government contract, and were on the verge of bankruptcy. Think they did go under, if I recall.”
“Did you ever hear from anyone in the family?”
“No.”
Nate said, “We promise to treat your kids with respect, sir.”
JJ looked at them both, then nodded. “If I say stop, you stop, agreed?”
“Yes, sir.”
He let them into the house. Jill offered them something to drink, but they declined. “Sit, please, ma’am,” Nate said.
“I’m fine, really,” she said, but sank into a chair at the dining table.
JJ left out the back door and called for the kids. Jill said, “JJ built a tree house back when they were