The Last Goodnight by Kat Martin

Author:Kat Martin [Martin, Kat]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

POLICE CHIEF MATT MCBRIDE WAS A MAN IN HIS LATE FIFTIES, WITH a lean, wiry build and curly brown hair. He and the other man who got out of the helicopter were both dressed all in black: cold-weather jackets, uniforms, black-billed caps with emblems on the front.

Ellie stood next to Kade, who waited in the brisk, late-morning air to greet them.

“Sorry for the short notice,” McBride said to Kade, but his dark expression said he wasn’t sorry at all. “Kade Logan, this is Detective Clay Meadows, Denver PD.”

Kade made a cursory nod. “Detective.” He drew Ellie forward. “This is Eleanor Bowman. She’s a private investigator.”

“Nice to meet you.” Meadows was about five-ten, attractive, with his sandy hair and dark brown eyes.

“So you’re working for Logan?” the police chief asked Ellie.

Kade answered for her. “After my late wife’s car was found, I hired Ms. Bowman to take another look into Heather’s murder.”

“I see.” The chief looked at Ellie. “Come up with anything?”

“I’m still working the case,” she answered.

“Why don’t we go inside out of the cold?” Kade suggested.

“Good idea,” the chief agreed.

The men followed Kade into the house through the tall wooden front door. He led them through the entry beneath a huge elk antler chandelier into the living room, which was done with the same wildlife motif and Native American designs as the rest of the house.

“We’ve got coffee and sandwiches,” Kade said. “Soft drinks, if you’d prefer.”

The men exchanged glances. “It’s been a long morning,” said McBride. “I could use something to eat. But I’d prefer to take care of business first.”

“I’ll let Maria know.” Ellie headed for the kitchen, delivered the message, then returned. She sat down next to Kade on the burgundy leather sofa as the men sat down in matching wing-backed chairs around the thick slab of varnished pine that served as a coffee table.

“So what’s going on, Chief?” Kade asked.

“Two days ago, a female jogger out at Rainbow Lakes Campground veered a little off the path, following a squirrel. She walked past a mound of earth and noticed a couple of human fingers protruding through the dirt where the rain had washed the soil away. She immediately called 911. Officers arrived at the scene. The CSIs were called in, and they found the woman’s remains.”

Ellie felt a chill. Tension vibrated in the sinews in Kade’s neck and shoulders.

“Have they identified the body?” he asked.

McBride nodded. “A Denver woman named Barbara Meeks. Disappeared about three weeks ago. Name mean anything to you?”

“No.”

“You sure?” McBride pressed.

Kade shook his head. “I don’t know the woman.”

McBride studied him a moment more, then leaned back in his chair. “Barbara and her husband were Denver residents, so Denver PD is working jointly with us on the case.”

“I was leading the missing person’s investigation,” Detective Meadows said. “But there wasn’t much to go on. She was just home one day and gone the next. Now I’m heading up a murder case.”

“Husband a suspect?” Kade asked.

McBride cast him a glance. “The husband is always a suspect.

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