Page 15 of Bone Echo

“You okay?” he asked quietly.

Kurt glanced at him. Shook his head. He wouldn’t be okay again until he found his daughter alive and well. McKendrick understood but the question was about showing his concern. Kurt got it and appreciated it. Folks in small towns typically banded together when something like this happened and he was thankful for all who were working diligently to help.

Carlos had the scene cued up. He pressed play and Kurt’s attention zoomed in on the wall mounted monitor. There was no audio but sound wasn’t necessary. Ella was pumping gas when the passenger side door of her Mustang suddenly opened. Brian got out. He swayed…took a few steps away from the car and suddenly bent forward and vomited. Ella finished up with the gas and rushed to him.

Kurt’s heart squeezed as he watched her usher Brian back to the car. When he was settled in the passenger seat, she closed his door. For a moment she stood there seeming to stare at something on the street. Then, suddenly, she rushed around to her side of the car, got in and zoomed away. A moment later her blue Mustang was out of view.

Kurt pointed at the screen. “Can we back it up and try to get a closer look at what she was looking at on the street?”

Carlos backed up the video to the point when Ella first arrived. Kurt watched, then leaned closer, squinted in an attempt to make out the vehicle she had stared at before getting into the Mustang. Silver…or gray. Coup.

“That could be Lawler’s car,” McKendrick said, saying exactly what Kurt had just recognized.

“It’s difficult to be sure,” Kurt admitted but his heart was racing. If that bastard had harmed his daughter, he was a dead man.

McKendrick asked, “You think the judge would take this into consideration?”

Kurt shook his head. “Doubt it. We don’t get a look at the license plate and certainly not the passenger.” He turned to the shop owner. “Can I get a copy of this?”

“Sure thing, chief. I can email it to you.”

“You go home,” McKendrick said to Kurt. “I’ll take care of this. He can send it to my email and yours.”

Kurt started to argue but McKendrick seemed to sense as much. “Chief, we’ve got people out knocking on doors and riding the roads all over this end of the county. We’ve got every means of public transportation covered. Go home and get some rest. Ella needs you on your toes come morning.”

Kurt nodded and walked away. Not because McKendrick was right though he was, but because he wanted to search his daughter’s room. He wanted to somehow find what hadn’t been found…to find a single clue that would point him in the right direction before it was too late.

CHAPTER NINE

7:00 p.m.

Kurt sat in the dark outside his house for a long while. Long enough that the interior of the Jeep had gone cold. Not that he cared. All he could think about was the idea that Ella might be cold. That she could be out there somewhere injured and in need of help. And he couldn’t help her.

The urge to go to the barn and get that bottle of Jack was a pulsing urgency in his gut. His lips tightened against the urge. He would not let Ella down like that. He’d already screwed up way too much.

Exhaling a mighty breath he opened his door and climbed out. No sooner than his feet hit the ground headlights bobbed across the snow. A car made the turn into his driveway and came to a stop a few feet away from him.

Audra.

He closed the Jeep door and started around to the driver’s side of her car. By the time he reached her door it was already open and she was climbing out. She thrust a bag at him.

“I brought dinner.”

The warmth of the bag and the scent of stew suddenly pierced his senses. His gut reacted but his throat closed tight. “Thanks.” The word was mostly a croak.

He was fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to eat. Not knowing whether his child had eaten, how could he? But he appreciated the gesture.

“Come on. It’s freezing out here.” She wrapped her arm around his and ushered him forward.

Their boots crunched in the snow as they made their way through the dark to the back door—which was really at the side of the house. He hadn’t turned on any exterior lights before leaving this morning. There hadn’t been time or an opportunity today to clear the driveway of that fresh snow. Good thing he and Ella didn’t have any pets. Maybe they should have a dog. She had mentioned a couple of times wanting a dog but he’d always talked her out of it. Definitely they were getting a dog when she got home.

He unlocked the door and waited for Audra to go in before him. As soon as coats and boots were off the warmth inside quickly unthawed his muscles. He retrieved his cell phone from his coat, set the ringtone to loud and tucked it into his hip pocket. He hadn’t realized how long he’d sat out there in the cold. It was stupid really. He had things to do in here.

He turned to his guest who was taking items out of the bag from Cappy’s. “I need to go through Ella’s room. Check her social media.” Hopefully her passwords were stored in the laptop…which he really hoped didn’t require an access code or password.

“First,” Audra said sternly as if she were talking to a group of rowdy students, “you have to eat. Then I’ll help you.”

He started to argue but he suddenly felt too damned tired to fight. He sat down at the table and Audra placed the bowl of stew and a spoon in front of him. He stared at the steam rising from it for a long while before taking a bite. Audra sat a freshly brewedmug of black coffee next to his bowl then she joined him at the table. When had she made coffee? He really was lost in this place of grief and that wouldn’t help him find his daughter.

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