Page 4 of Knight

Reaching forward, I grab each of them with one of my hands. “One thing I know about my husband is that he won’t stop until he has the answers. He may not have them for you tomorrow, but you’ll get them. As for what we need to do right now? I think we all need to shoot up a prayer. Taylor and her family could use them.”

“Yes ma’am,” Susan whispers as she wipes at her tears. “C’mon, Lottie, let’s go get the rest of the Fellowship of Athletes and see if they wanna either pray or observe a moment of silence for Taylor and her parents.”

Together, the two of them walk quickly into the entrance and turn left, to where their group of friends hangs out.

Trinity and I glance at one another. This is going to hit us all hard, and it’s up to us to hold it all together.

Chapter Two

Menace

My alarm goes off after what feels like only minutes of sleep. It’s not nearly enough for me to feel rested, but it’s enough for me not to be a zombie on my feet. Grabbing my phone, I see I have a few notifications and a text from Crime Scene. They’re finished, and we’re invited to go back and continue with our investigation.

I get up and take the fastest and coldest shower I’ve ever taken, hoping like fuck it’ll wake me up.

Before heading out the front door, I grab two energy drinks – one for now, and one for the road.

I fight the urge to flip my lights on and race to the scene, but I know I need to get my head on straight before I go roaring in there and make things worse. Putting the radio on, I focus on listening to the lyrics of the song playing and let my mind go blank.

It’s a beautiful day. Instead of having been loaded into the back of the coroner’s van, this family should be heading out for a normal day at work. Taylor should be going to school, and enjoying a sunshine-soaked lunch with her friends.

But here we are, scrambling, not even sure of where to start.

By the time I get to the turn off for Tremmel Creek Road and turn toward the Kingston’s residence, the energy drink has sharpened my senses and given me an enthusiasm I’d lost this morning around six a.m. When I realized we had nothing, I’d told everyone to leave. We needed to regroup and process what we’d seen. No one would be any good in this situation if we’re all run down and going on nothing but energy drinks. My head is back in the game now, and I’m approaching with a clear mind.

I have it now, and God help whoever did this because I’m coming after them with everything I have. When I park, I’m approached by our new deputy, Madden. He holds the leash of his K-9 partner, Donut. The name leaves a lot to be desired, but the public got to choose, and that’s what we’re stuck with.

I get out, planting my feet on the gravel driveway and meet him in the middle. No pleasantries now, there are things I need to know. “Did you find anything?”

He shakes his head, popping a piece of gum into his mouth. “Not a damn thing. Whoever did this was prepared.”

Raising an eyebrow, I question him, interested to know if he brings another thought process to our department. “In what way?”

Putting his hand on his hips, he rocks back on his heels and blows out a breath. “Fuck if I know. We can’t even find a piece of hair.”

“Do you think he cleaned up?”

He shrugs. “No. I have nothing that pops as a cleaning agent, so there must not have been anything.”

Rubbing my hand over my beard, I play this all over in my head. There’s something we’re missing, and we have to figure out what. Right now we’re two steps behind, and we’ve got to quickly catch up. “How do you get out without leaving a fucking hair?”

“First instinct?” he throws out as Archer comes over to stand next to us.

“Of course. I always want to encourage my deputies to be able to be honest with me. We talk it out, and if it makes sense, we’ll let the evidence lead us. What do you think?”

He glances back and forth between Archer and I, appearing not to be used to voicing his opinion. “What if it’s premeditated?”

“Meaning?” I’m trying to get caught up to what he’s thinking.

“At my old department, we had a case where a guy shaved his entire body so as not to leave forensic evidence.”

“What? That’s something I’ve never heard of, but it’s a viable option. What we need to do is to try and work backwards. There’s no one who had it out for them, we’ve never been called out here for anything, the parents never even had so much as a damn traffic ticket.”

“But there’s no CCTV out here,” Archer reminds me.

“There isn’t any out here, but that doesn’t mean there’s none in town, none on the buses, and along whatever route they may have taken. That’s where we need to go.” I’m already making a mental list of places we need to check out.

Putting my fingers in my mouth I let out a whistle, one loud enough to make everyone stop what they’re doing and look over at me. They come to stand around me, listening intently. “Stop what you’re doing. We need to pivot. There’s no evidence here, and I think we all know that. The way we’re going to find Taylor and figure out who did this is to retrace their steps, find out their day-to-day. At some point, whoever this is had to follow them, had to learn their routine, and they were seen. We have to do some real police work here. It’s going to take time. We’re going to be away from our families, and our wives and kids are gonna ask where the fuck we are. They’re gonna be pissed at us, but we have to remember the end game. Fifteen-year-old Taylor Kingston, what she witnessed, and the fact her parents died trying to protect her.”

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