Page 47 of Trial Run

Lennox handled the introductions at the front desk and the secretary motioned for them to have a seat. Reggie was too jacked up to sit and started pacing the room, acutely aware she was making the staff uncomfortable, but not caring enough to stop. She was on her third pass when she heard someone call her name and she looked up to see Ben walking toward her.

“Hi, Reggie!” His face broke out into a big smile. “Did you come to watch the mathlete practice?”

She returned his smile to cover the gut punch of guilt. Here he was thinking her visit was a fun surprise when it was anything but. “Hey, Ben, I wish.” She pointed at the chair next to Lennox and when he was seated, she took the one on the other side. “Court let out early today and I need to reach your mom, but her phone battery died while she was telling me where she was. Any chance you could give me a rundown of any places she might be?”

He put a finger on his chin while he pondered her question, and she resisted the urge to shake him to get a faster response.

“I guess she could be at the restaurant,” he said. “Or she could be at the library. She likes to go to the library at Richards to study. She says it’s because they don’t let you use phones inthere so she doesn’t get the urge to play Candy Crush instead of focusing on her homework.”

He grinned to punctuate the remark and Reggie wanted to scoop him up and tell him everything would be okay, but he wasn’t the one who needed the reassurance—she did. She shot a look at Lennox who nodded her support. “Thanks, Ben. Any place else you can think of?”

He shook his head. “I’ll let you know if I think of anything.” He pointed at her phone. She handed it over and watched while he entered his phone number. “And you can text me anytime you want. But not during class. Or mathlete practice. Or meets. Okay?”

She reached out and ruffled his hair. “Okay. You better get back to class.”

“Yep.” He stood and gave her a mock salute. “Thanks for coming to see me.”

She waited until he was halfway down the hall before turning to Lennox. “Sarah’s got someone here watching him, right?”

Lennox jerked her chin at a woman who was following Ben. “On it.”

Reggie had seen the woman when they’d walked in and figured she was a teacher or staff, but now she noticed the authoritative way she strode down the hall, her gaze sweeping back and forth. “Good.” She checked the time. “What are we going to do when school’s out and we still don’t know where Brooke is?”

“You’re forgetting mathlete practice. That’ll keep him busy for a bit. In the meantime…” A loud ringtone interrupted her words, drawing attention from the woman at the front desk who frowned and held a finger to her mouth. Lennox pointed at the door and Reggie followed her outside where she impatiently listened to one side of the conversation.

“Not there either?…Did you check the library?…What about—okay, fine. We’ll see what else we can find out.” Lennox disconnected the call and shook her head.

“They can’t find her,” Reggie said, hating the declaration but needing to hear Lennox confirm her worst fear.

“They can’t. She’s not at work, not at the library, not at home.”

“Has anyone questioned Benton?”

“Not a good idea. First, he’s in the middle of a trial, but even so, if he suspects we’re on to him, he might do something stupid.”

Reggie clenched her fists. “Put me in a room with him for five minutes and I’ll have an answer.”

“And a mistrial in his case too.” Lennox motioned for Reggie to get in the car. “Cool your jets and let’s think this through. If Mark didn’t leave her at his house, where could he have taken her?”

“Good question.” Reggie’s mind whirred with possibilities, but her thoughts kept coming back to one key fact. “Mark was late getting back from lunch, but only by a few minutes.”

“Your point?”

Reggie pulled out her phone and put in Mark’s address. She clicked on the map that appeared as the first entry and zoomed in on his house. “If he stopped on the way back, it was a quick in and out. They searched the entire house?”

“Yes. They didn’t find anything suspect.”

Reggie stared at the image on her phone for a moment and then pinched the corners and drew them back in to zoom out and then she zoomed back in again. She repeated the process a couple of times.

“Care to share?” Lennox asked.

Reggie pointed at the yellow bungalow and drew her finger across the map. “Look at this. Mark’s yard backs right up to thisbuilding.” She enlarged the map again. “I know this building. It used to be loft apartments and it was converted into an office building last year.” Her thoughts started to snowball and her fingers couldn’t keep up as she typed another search into her phone. A few more clicks and she found exactly what she was looking for. “There! That’s it.” She shoved the phone at Lennox. It took her a moment, but when she finally got it her eyes lit up.

“Holy shit.”

“I know, right?”

“We’ve got to get back to the courthouse. I’ll call Judge Hunt on the way.”

---