Page 37 of Crossing Lines

Lucy nudged him again but got no response.

Sam had a momentary panic, but the monitors showed a strong heartbeat.

“He gets tired very easily.” The nurse had appeared in the doorway.

“So he’s not going backwards?” Jo’s eyes were glued to Kevin. “We didn’t hurt his progress, did we?”

“Not at all. It’s good for him to talk to people who care about him. His progress is encouraging, but I wouldn’t try to push.”

Sam took that as their cue to leave. They said good-bye, but there was no further communication from Kevin. At least he had talked and seemed to know who Lucy was. That was good progress. But did his attempt at communication have any meaning?

* * *

Back at the station, Jo and Sam filled Wyatt and Reese in on Kevin’s condition while Major watched them from atop the filing cabinet.

“So he’ll make a full recovery?” Reese’s expression brimmed with hopeful optimism.

“They aren’t saying yet. But I think he recognized Lucy, so that’s a good sign,” Jo said.

“And he might have been trying to communicate a message.”

“Really?” Reese asked.

“He said something about Thorne and a corner.”

“What does that mean?” Wyatt asked.

“I have no idea. I’ve been keeping him up to date on the Thorne case though. Maybe he’ll be able to communicate more to us later.”

“Let’s hope.” Reese handed Sam a folder. “Gary from the Black Cat dropped these off.”

Inside the folder were photocopies of the receipts from the afternoon the email was sent to Menda. Sam’s hopes dimmed when a cursory glance showed mostly cash transactions.

“I got some hits on Ricky Webster.” Wyatt turned the laptop around so they could see the screen as he briefed them on what he’d found. “Seems Mr. Webster was a suspect in a murder investigation of a young girl down in Pennsylvania several years ago.”

“The grandmother mentioned something about that,” Sam said. “And they both acted suspicious.”

“It gets better. That victim was also found in a shallow grave.”

“Just like Kirsten.” Jo said.

“Right. Except Mr. Webster had an air-tight alibi for the Pennsylvania girl. He couldn’t have killed her,” Wyatt said.

Sam looked skeptical. “Really? There were no holes in the alibi? A cover-up? Seems like a very disturbing coincidence.”

“I agree.” Wyatt handed Sam some papers. “It seems legit, but I’ve printed everything out for you. Maybe you can find some anomaly.”

“I don’t like it,” Jo said. “He was supposed to meet the victim. Claims she didn’t show. No one saw her or him. His grandmother is his only alibi, and she’s biased. Was she the alibi back then?”

Sam had been studying the papers and shook his head. “Nope. It was a church pastor. Ricky was a suspect because his mother’s car was seen there, but turns out he was working with the pastor on a youth church project.”

“His mother’s car?” Jo frowned. “Menda said something about the killer being a female. You don’t think Ricky and his mother…”

Wyatt shook his head. “Nope. His mother is dead.”

Sam didn’t look convinced. “I’m still suspicious, and with the email saying he might strike again, I think we need to keep a close eye on Mr. Webster.”

“We still have two of Kirsten’s friends to talk to as well. Maybe one of them will have seen Ricky with Kirsten.” Jo’s phone dinged, and she pulled it out to look at the screen. “That’s one of the friends now, Kaylee Summers. She wants to meet tonight.”

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