Page 24 of The Missing Half

Although it was Jenna who asked the question, Wyler looks at me. “In most cases we can’t share every lead with the families. We have to protect the integrity of the investigation. But in this case, we didn’t hold anything back. Because there was nothing to hold back.”

“But you never told us anything,” I say. “All you ever said was that you were looking for a guy.”

“A man on the periphery of Kasey’s life, yes. That was our theory.”

“That’s not a theory. That’s a fucking line.”

“Nic—”

“No, really. I can count all the words of your entiretheoryon two hands. A-man-on-the-periphery,” I say, punctuating each word with a finger, “of-Kasey’s-life. That’s eight words.”

Wyler stares passively at me. I think back to the day I smashed that mug on the driveway as he pulled out, one of many times I’d snapped that year. Perhaps, by now, he’s used to me. My gaze flicks to a glass bowl on his desk. It’s filled with those hard candies wrapped to look like strawberries. I grab one, unwrap it, and pop it into my mouth.

“Help yourself,” he says. I glower at him.

“Can you tell us,” Jenna says to Wyler, “when you were looking for this man, what avenues did you go down?”

“We spoke with people in Kasey’s life. Her family, for instance. Her friends. We asked them if they knew where she was going that night, why she was on the road. We asked if they’d seen any shift in her behavior and you, Nic, told us before she disappeared, she’d been stressed with school. We asked if they could think of anyone in Kasey’s life who would’ve been motivated to take her. We asked if they knew of any man who showed a little too much interest, anyone who kept coming around the house or the store where she worked. That kind of thing.”

“And? Did that get you any names to look into?”

“Unfortunately, it didn’t produce any viable suspects.”

“But were there names?” Jenna says, and I hear the smallest crack in her calm exterior. Wyler’s diplomacy is edging into caginess. “You did look into people. Right?”

“We looked into many people. We just didn’t find any viable suspects.”

“You keep sayingviablesuspects,” I say. “But what about unviable ones?”

“Well, in that case, Nic, we would consider them unviable.”

Jenna and I exchange a look. My question was dumb, for sure, but it feels like he’s dancing around something.

“During your investigation,” Jenna says, “did you ever talk to Lauren Perkins?”

Wyler shakes his head. “You’re gonna have to refresh my memory.”

“Lauren was Kasey’s friend from high school. They worked at the record store together that summer. Or at least most of that summer, before Lauren got a job at the restaurant next door.”

“Of course,” Wyler says. “We spoke with Lauren, yes.”

“So did we.” Jenna lets the words hang in the air.

“If you have a specific question, I’d be happy to answer it.”

“Lauren gave us a name. Of a man who worked at the barbecue place right by the record store where Kasey worked that summer. He had a reputation for harassing women. Steve McLean. She told us she gave you his name too.”

Wyler leans back in his chair. Again, even though it was Jenna who said it, he looks at me. “Nic, I’m sorry Ms. Perkins got your hopes up, but we looked into McLean. He wasn’t our guy.”

“Why?” I say.

“For starters, take a look at the crime scene—Kasey’s car abandoned on the side of the road. When we got there, it was immaculate. No sign of a struggle, no blood, no fingerprints aside from your family’s, which we’d expect to be there, not a dollar bill taken from her wallet. It was clean, self-contained. Steve McLean is not that kind of guy. He’s the type who gets heated and slaps a woman when he thinks she’s out of line, or grabs someone’s backside when no one’s looking. He doesn’t premeditate his crimes, he improvises them. Plus, he’s not a rich guy and he’s greedy. If McLean had abducted your sister, at the very least, her wallet would’ve been taken too.”

“So, wait,” I say. “You’re ruling out McLean because the crime wasn’t hisstyle?”

“Profiling goes a long way in these cases, Nic.”

“That’s such bullshit. You can’t rule somebody out because you don’t think that’s the way he would’ve done it. Maybe you didn’t understand Lauren when she told you, but this guy is a predator. We looked him up online. He has protection orders against him. Charges of domestic violence. Of rape.”

---