C. J. Box by Blue Heaven

Author:Blue Heaven
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Police Procedural, Mystery & Detective, Ex-Police Officers, General, Child Witnesses, Suspense, Thrillers, Suspense Fiction, Fiction, Idaho
ISBN: 9780312365707
Publisher: Windsor
Published: 2008-12-01T06:00:00+00:00

“What can I get you?” the hunter asked Jess after wiping beer foam from his mustache.

“Coffee’s fine,” Jess said.

“Nothing stronger? I got a bear out there.”

“I saw it,” Jess said. “Congratulations, but coffee’s fine.” Not saying: I already cooked and ate breakfast a while ago with a couple of missing kids.

VILLATORO WATCHED the exchange from a booth while he waited for his coffee. There was something about Rawlins he admired. There was a quiet dignity about him, something solid and old-fashioned. He wished he had introduced himself, but the dead bear had shaken him to his bones.

He would do so after breakfast.

The former detective ordered and spread the newspaper open in front of him. The issue was dominated with stories about the disappearance of the Taylor children. Their photos, the same ones he had seen in the bank and on flyers in the sheriff’s office, were reproduced on the front page. A photo of the woman he’d seen clutching at Rawlins—she was identified as Rural Postal Contractor Fiona Pritzle—was featured under the headline THE LAST TO SEE THE CHILDREN. He read a little of the interview. Pritzle said that she’d “had a feeling that something wasn’t right” when she’d dropped off the siblings to go fishing. “I should have gone with my best instincts and just taken those kids home to their mother,” she said. She blamed herself but was quoted in such a way that she deflected it: “…But I just figured that there was no way those kids would have just taken off like that without their mother’s permission and approval.”

That poor mother, Vil atoro thought, shaking his head. That’s all she needs. He searched through the paper for a photo of Monica Taylor and found one on the next page. Monica Taylor was an attractive woman, but she’d refused to be interviewed by the Chronicle. Instead, a volunteer named Oscar Swann, who identified himself as her spokesman, said she was under medication and was too distraught to make a statement.

The name Swann was familiar to Vil atoro. He felt himself take several quick, shal ow breaths. Could it be that two of them were up here? Would that be coincidence? He didn’t buy it.

Vil atoro underlined the name in the newspaper before reading further. Sheriff Ed Carey was quoted extensively. It was the same interview Vil atoro had seen the night before on the Spokane news. Carey made several references to his investigative team.

He read:

When asked for more detail on what has been referred to as a “Dream Team” rumored to be made up of retired police officers from the LAPD, Carey said the volunteers had selflessly given their time and expertise to the case, and that he, and the residents of the county, would be forever in their debt. When pressed, Carey refused to reveal the names of the volunteer investigators but said they were being led by a former senior officer who had been involved in dozens of high-profile investigations.

JESS WAS reading the same article after deliberately covering up Fiona Pritzle’s face with his coffee cup.

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