Page 136 of Trouble Comes in Threes

“The kid was belligerent at first, not that I was surprised. He was scared. He said the murderers saw him and tried to catch him, but he hid from them and walked back into town to find me.”

“How’d he know where to go?”

“He said a friend told him to go to Lady for help, and he knew Lady had a connection to the landscaping company. The kid looked us up on Facebook and saw that our client that day had tagged the business.”

Joe nodded but didn’t look pleased.

“I already told you that I tried multiple times to get him to talk to you, but he refused, threatening to leave because he was scared of the treatment he’d get from the sheriff’s department.”

Joe’s lips pursed. “Convenient story.”

“Is it?” I countered, but without any heat. “Detective Wiseman lied to you about interviewing Darlene.” I tilted my head. “Did Randy talk to her?”

“Yeah.” He ran a hand through his hair. “The information she gave us would have been helpful a couple of days ago.”

“See? He’s not the only one who feels that way. So it’s not so far-fetched that this boy was telling the truth.”

“Maybe,” Joe said, worry filling his eyes. “What happened to the kid?”

“Dermot took him to one of his safe houses. But we questioned him together at the jobsite, and with the information he gave us, Dermot confirmed that some kind of crime had taken place, even though there wasn’t a body.”

“Where’d this take place?”

“Adkins.”

Joe released my hand and sat up straighter. “You think it was Jeremiah, and they moved the body.”

“The kid said he saw them shoot the man in the head.”

“And Jeremiah had a gunshot to the head.”

I took a breath to settle my nerves. “The kid said they kept asking Jeremiah where the package was. He kept telling them he didn’t know. Neely Kate and I don’t think the paper Harvey left with his sister is what they were looking for. It’s hard to call a paper a package.”

“Maybe, maybe not,” Joe said, getting a faraway look in his eyes. “It could be one piece of a larger whole.”

“Do you think Jeremiah knew Harvey and Noah?” I asked.

Joe shook his head. “I have no idea. I had no idea there was a connection between Harvey and Noah until a few hours ago, after you steered me to Darlene. We just found out Jeremiah’s name. I don’t know anything about his personal life, and neither did Bruce Wayne.” He took a deep breath and turned to face me, picking up my hand again. “I’m worried you and the kids are in danger. What if the guys who are looking for the kid think you have what they are looking for? They searched the office and didn’t find it, so what if they come here next?’

I swallowed hard. I wanted to tell him he was wrong, but the break-in coming on the heels of Jeremiah’s murder was too big of a coincidence. Still…Austin had only come to me after the murder.

“Do you think there’s any chance this has something to do with the box Neely Kate and I found?”

He considered my question. “I don’t see how. Harvey was murdered before you found the box.” He made a face. “Maybe we should open it and see what’s inside.”

“We already did. There was a love letter from a guy to a girl, a goodbye letter, an empty locket, and about a quarter-carat solitaire engagement ring.”

“Anything incriminating in the love letters?”

“Only that they were star-crossed lovers. Her dad and his mom didn’t approve of their relationship, so he moved to Montana and told her to come find him.”

“Any names we can track down?”

“There are only initials in the notes, but a woman called me this afternoon and told me she was friends with two teenage girls who lived in the house next door. The woman thinks one of the girls might have buried the box. Her name was Sarah, and her boyfriend was named Jason. She said Jason’s dad was a sheriff’s deputy. Sarah’s father had several arrests. So it could fit.”

“No last names?”

“She struggled to remember Jason’s first name, let alone last ones.”

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