Page 45 of The Overnight Guest

Agent Santos continued. “From what Josie Doyle could tell us, she lost sight of Becky. We’re acting on two possibilities right now. One, Becky ran away and is hiding somewhere, and two, the perpetrator took Becky with him.”

Behind Margo, Kevin continued to pace. She wanted to scream at him to hold still, for once in his life to stop moving. Instead, Margo bit the insides of her cheeks until she tasted blood.

“We have an Amber Alert out for a truck that is missing from the scene, and the picture you provided of Becky has gone out to all media outlets. Officers will continue to search the surrounding area and tomorrow, we will bring in search dogs.”

“Search dogs?” Kevin stopped in place. “Search dogs are used to find bodies, right? Do you think Becky’s dead?” he asked, his voice breaking.

“Shut up, Kevin,” Margo said softly.

He started pacing again, walking the length of the narrow galley kitchen, back and forth, back and forth. “That’s what dogs are used for. Finding bodies. Is there something you’re not telling us? Do you think she’s dead?”

“Shut up, Kevin,” Margo said again, slapping her hands on the table. The sharp crack filled the room. The sting radiated through her palms and into her wrists. It was a relief to feel the pain in Margo’s chest shift to her hands. She slammed them down again and again and again.Thwack, thwack, thwack.

She wanted the cheap plywood table to splinter into a million bits but still it held.Thwack, thwack, thwack.She curled her hands into fists and tried again. She felt a bone give in her left pinky, but still she pounded on the table. Kevin finally stopped moving and stood, frozen in place, staring at his wife as if she was a stranger. Addie ran into the room to see what was happening, her eyes wide with fear.

Agent Santos, laid her hands atop Margo’s so they were pinned to the table. Her skin felt cool against the heat of Margo’s. “I know,” Agent Santos said in a low voice. “I know.”

Margo looked into Agent Santos’s dark eyes and Margo knew that this woman had seen things. Terrible things. But there was something else—a tiny glint of hope. Margo latched on to that glimmer and held the agent’s gaze. It was going to be okay. It had to be okay.

Back at the sheriff’s office, Deputy Levi Robbins entered the shotgun into evidence and put out abe on the lookoutor BOLO for Ethan Doyle’s Datsun truck, but something else was gnawing at his brain.

Brock Cutter and Ethan Doyle were friends. Josie said they had seen Brock earlier that evening. It was after 1:00 a.m. when he pulled Cutter over for speeding, and he was coming from the direction of the Doyle farm. Levi knew he should have spoken up about pulling Brock over but decided to wait until he heard what the kid had to say. Levi hoped he hadn’t missed something important.

He headed toward the Cutter farm but lucked out and saw what looked to be Brock’s truck parked at the gas station. Levi swung into the lot and pulled into a spot at the far corner. The heat rose from the concrete in waves and had putrefied whatever was in the garbage can so that it emitted a foul smell. Levi leaned against Brock’s truck and waited.

Brock exited the gas station with a Gatorade under one arm, sauntered toward his vehicle, and did a double take when he saw Levi. From the way his eyes darted from left to right, Levi thought he might bolt. “Why you so nervous?” Levi asked. “I just want to ask you a few questions.”

“About what?” Cutter said suspiciously. He didn’t look well. Unkempt and tired. Pretty much how Levi felt himself.

“About the murders at the Doyle farm,” Levi said, watching Cutter carefully.

His shoulders sagged. “Yeah, I heard. It’s really sad,” Cutter said. “Did they find Ethan and that girl yet?”

“So, you know Ethan Doyle?” Levi asked.

“Well, yeah,” Cutter said, taking a swig from his bottle of Gatorade. “We go to school together.”

“When’s the last time you saw him?” Levi asked, rubbing his neck, his hand coming back slick with sweat.

Cutter looked skyward. “Umm, it’s been a while. We got in trouble at the beginning of summer for fighting...”

“Against each other?” Levi interrupted.

“No, together. We ran into some jerks, got in a fight. It was nothing.” Cutter shook his head regretfully. “Our parents said we couldn’t hang out anymore.” The kid was lying or Josie Doyle was. Levi couldn’t think of a reason why the girl would lie about seeing Brock Cutter on the day her parents were murdered.

Levi wanted to see how far Brock would take the lie.

“But I stopped you not far from his house last night. What were you up to?” Levi asked. “You sure were going fast.”

“I told you, I was late coming home. My dad was going to be pissed,” Cutter said defensively.

“You were at a movie, right? What movie?” Levi probed.

“Scary Movie,”Cutter said. “I went with my cousin, Rick. You can call him.”

Levi nodded. “Yeah, I’ll do that. So, any ideas where Ethan might be?”

Cutter shook his head. “Nah, man. Like I said, we hadn’t seen each other in a long time. Last I heard, he was grounded.”

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