Escape To Sunset - Sharon Hamilton Page 0,52
Portland and, indirectly, on him.”
“So who told you the girls are disappearing?”
“Michael. He found Carmen’s phone, some of her notes she’d left behind. He’s been doing what he can, but honestly, Kiley, you need to be here to help direct him. You need to give us something as a cover. No one will talk to him. He got a tip from his friend at the police.”
“I told you that was going to happen. So does anyone know where Carmen is?”
“That would help a lot. But no. Nobody’s talking, if they know.”
Newman was calming down, and with that, Kiley could finally think. At least Carmen hadn’t turned up dead, although that was still a likely scenario. Kiley knew things would be unraveling quickly, and in the broad brush of sweeping everything into the trash, people’s lives were at stake and their livelihoods messed with. An old reporter she met at a press dinner told her that, when a scandal brewed, the guy or gal in the white hat who came in to save the day was usually the real guilty party.
“They’ll make sure everyone else pays. They’ll make deals and clean up the whole thing and walk out a hero. That’s the one you have to go after. Eventually, you’ll get him, but you have to be patient and persistent,” he had told her. She’d never forgotten those words, which now haunted her.
That was going to be her new focus.
As promised, and using her last burner, she called the chief. This time, he answered the call before the second ring.
“Well, well, well. Look who we got here? I’m guessing this is Kiley Worthington?”
“Yes, sir. I apologize for the change of plans. I was advised not to return to Portland, sir.”
“I see. Well, I hope you have a good lawyer. He could tell you I can demand your presence here. And if you don’t comply, I can have you arrested and escort you back. Whichever you prefer.”
“I plan to come willingly. I am making arrangements now.”
“I’m assuming you know that this is now a murder investigation?”
“My editor said two homeowners were—”
“I wouldn’t exactly call them homeowners. They were on title, along with a whole group of investors. What they have here is the equivalent of a modern-day covered hopper car scheme. They launder some of their losses, and get a tax break doing it. The big difference is, they didn’t lose money. They were making money. Lots of money.”
“Why are you telling me all this? I thought you said I was a suspect or something.”
“I know you aren’t. But that doesn’t mean you won’t get charged with something. I’m trying to press you into service. I need your notes, your audio recordings of all your research, which I understand from your editor you have on your person.”
Kiley admitted she did. There wasn’t any point in not doing so.
“Why don’t you go after the other owners? Maybe they were involved,” she suggested.
“I’m not as quick and smart as some, but I know a who’s who in the local crime scene, and these guys don’t play nice. I’m the last person in the world they’d voluntarily speak with. They have a whole building of lawyers shielding them. No. I need to get the little people. The people you talked to. I want the victims in their own words. And we’re in a race against time, because every one of those people you mentioned have a target on their backs, thanks to you.”
“But I didn’t give any names.”
“Oh, they got the names, Miss Worthington. I’m the one who doesn’t have the names. I need you back here ASAP before you wind up disappeared as well.”
“Then I should go to the local sheriff here.”
“I’ve already called them. You’ll be hearing from them very soon. And I wouldn’t try to run or hide.”
Her body was drenched with sweat. Her stomach yawned. She could feel the bile collecting there, could smell fear seeping through every pore in her body. She felt just like the first day she arrived in Sunset Beach, where everywhere, every shadow, was a hiding place for someone out to get her. Now the police were out to get her too. And the one person who could protect her, or had any possibility of protecting her, was clear across the globe. But he’d also told her he couldn’t get involved, or he’d lose his Trident. In a way, it was lucky he wasn’t here. She was going to have to figure it out on her