Page 29 of Deadly Past

Carter confirmed. “It’s kind of our tradition.”

Declan remembered Carter’s parents mentioning that the cabin they occupied belonged to Robert’s grandfather. It had been in the family for a long time.

“Well, I’d better take the wood back to the house. Mom said she was going to call you and invite you to Christmas Eve dinner. I’ll tell her you have company.”

Carter bent and gathered his logs before straightening. “See ya.” He waved and headed off down the trail.

Declan waited until Carter was out of earshot. “Poor kid. I scared him to death.” He grabbed the tree trunk once more. “I’ll call his mom and apologize somehow.” Becky knew that Declan was a private investigator, and she was a cop herself. He hoped he could give her enough information to ease her mind but not go into too many details.

Wynona lifted the top of the tree, and together they managed to transport it inside the cabin.

Once it was in position, Declan and Wynona brought down the boxes of decorations. He checked the time on his phone. “Almost time for the meeting.” A message had come in from JT. “He’s attached the files Eli received from the cold-case detective.” Declan brought up the files while Wynona made coffee and poured them cups.

“Anything stand out?” Wynona asked as she handed him a cup.

“Nothing yet. There is a theory one of the original detectives was investigating a couple whose daughter died. She was around Lacey’s age. The wife tried to take her daughter’s best friend, but the kidnapping was stopped. It looks like the couple was cleared.”

Wynona slipped into the chair next to him. “That’s odd. I don’t remember hearing anything about this.”

Before he could respond, his phone rang. Declan answered it and put the call on speaker.

“Hi, Declan, Wynona. How are things?” JT’s cheerful voice came through without a hitch.

“Everything is quiet here. The storm didn’t do any damage around my place. The Petersons apparently had some minor damage to their boat, but we spoke to Carter Peterson, and he said it was an easy fix.”

“That’s good to hear. There was minimal damage around Hope Island. Eli said your place was fine.”

“Thank you, Eli.”

“No problem, buddy.” Eli told him.

“I don’t know if you’ve had time to read through the files yet, but there were a few new things that came up in my read-through,” JT said.

“We saw the theory about the couple who lost their child. Can you tell us more about that?”

“Eli, I’ll turn this over to you.”

“Sure thing, JT. Well, the couple in question was interviewed, and the wife explained that she’d been overcome with grief. Their house was searched thoroughly, but there was no sign of Lacey. The detectives talked to their friends and family. All said that the wife was depressed after her daughter’s death. The current cold-case detective did reinterview the couple recently. They had another child a few years later.”

“So, we don’t think they were involved in what happened with Lacey?” Wynona asked.

“No, we don’t,” Eli confirmed. “There was a registered sex offender living near your family at the time. The police investigated him, but there was no sign of Lacey having been at his place.”

Wynona’s shoulders sank. “In other words, there are no new leads.”

Declan reached for her hand and entwined their fingers. Her eyes met his. He prayed for strength for her.

“Not exactly,” Eli asserted. “The detective said they’re investigating a similar case to Lacey’s that happened in New Hampshire close to the same time. Apparently, he’s been searching police databases and came across this information. He said there were a couple of others along the Eastern shore around the same timeframe. The detective is meeting with other police departments in a few days to discuss the cases.”

Wynona sat up straighter. “Has there been any contact with the families since?”

Eli sighed loudly. “Nothing reported, but many of the families have moved from their past locations.”

Like Wynona and her mom.

“I realize it’s a longshot, but it’s something,” Eli added to her silence.

“You’re right, it is,” Wynona agreed.

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