The door to the house swung open and Alonso’s father, Geovani Santino, stepped out.
“I heard a bunch of commotion out here.” Spying Dylan, he signed, “What happened to your eye?”
“My friend went nutso on me.” Dylan’s fingers flew, hands shaped the words and his glare notched up a bit in intensity. Chad Markham, a student at the deaf school and a member of the high school baseball team, fumed, fists clenched at his side.
Joseph raised a calming hand, then watched as a compact car pulled in behind Chad’s Jeep. Chad noticed it, too, and snapped his lips together in a mutinous expression of defiance.
Chad’s parents bolted from the car and raced up the porch. “Chad? What’s going on?” His mother stopped on the top step taking everything in.
Joseph intervened, introduced everyone and explained the situation. Catelyn let him take over. He looked at her face. Take over for now, anyway.
He made sure the parents knew that this wasn’t a formal interrogation. Rather just a “getting together” to see what they could come up with and see if any new information came to light.
Once everyone was settled, Catelyn asked, “Chad, tell us why you think Dylan had something to do with Tracy’s death and Kelly’s disappearance.”
“Because he was there. He said he left, but he didn’t, at least I don’t believe him. He and Kelly and Tracy all had a huge argument earlier that day. He was really mad at Tracy and told her she’d better watch her mouth, or else. I’m Kelly’s friend, her best friend. She was tired of Dylan always telling her who she could hang out with and who she couldn’t. She told me so.”
Catelyn cocked a brow Dylan. The boy leaned over and grasped his head with his hands. She tapped him on the shoulder and signed, “That true?”
A huge sigh rippled through him. “Yes.”
“Anything else you want to add? Because while you keep insisting on your innocence, you’re sure leaving out some chunks of need-to-know information.”
Dylan shook his head. “We argued. So what? We argued all the time. Tracy didn’t like me and didn’t try to hide it. I didn’t like her, either. She was bossy and pushy and…”
“And what?” Joseph practically growled.
“And Kelly’s best friend.” He shot a glance at Chad. “Not him. Tracy wanted Kelly to break up with me and date her brother, Zachary. I was afraid…” He trailed off again, rubbing his eyes as though trying to erase a headache. Everyone sat silent. “I was afraid she was going to convince Kelly I wasn’t good enough for her so I told her to mind her own business and keep her mouth shut.”
“Why didn’t you tell us this when we had you in for questioning?” Catelyn demanded.
Tears filled the boy’s eyes. “Because it makes it look like I had a reason to…do…something to Tracy.” He stood and paced from one end of the porch to the other. Then turned to say, “But I didn’t! I swear! I mean, I sure didn’t like her, but I would never hurt her.”
Joseph frowned at the constant protestations of innocence. He watched Catelyn’s expressions, her eyes. The more the boy talked, the more she became convinced he did do something. And Joseph had a moment of wondering himself. Could it be that Dylan had killed Tracy? Possibly in a fit of anger? An accident?
Blunt-force trauma was the cause of death. Had he picked up a rock and hit her? Pushed her down so she cracked her head against something? But there’d been no sign of that kind of thing at the crime scene. No, the murder weapon was portable.
And the killer either ditched it far enough from the crime scene that the crime-scene unit didn’t come across it—or he still had it.
More questioning led nowhere. Dylan said he wouldn’t press charges as long as Chad left him alone. The boys were told to stay away from each other, and Chad’s parents took him home. Alonso went to his room and shut the door. Dylan’s mother, who finally arrived, was filled in on the incident. She expressed her concern, asking to be kept in the loop if anything new happened in the investigation. His father never showed up.
After the mass departure, Catelyn studied the floor of the porch, thinking. She felt in her gut the kid knew way more than he was telling, she just couldn’t prove it.
But she would.
Alonso would be upset, and Joseph would hurt for his brother, but…
She stood, straightened her spine as she walked toward her car. He was a cop. A good one. He wouldn’t argue the arrest if she had enough evidence, knew he would be right there with her reading the kid his rights if it came down to it. Granted, Dylan’s jacket turning up at the scene didn’t look good, but his explanation was reasonable. Girls wore their boyfriends’ jackets all the time.
So far, nothing had come back from the lab, but she didn’t really expect anything this early even with the rush she knew would be on the evidence. With a missing teen, time was of the essence. She’d call Sandy Newman, a tech in the crime lab and a woman Catelyn called friend, to see if Sandy could rush it even faster.
“Hey.”
She stopped, turned to find Joseph leaning against a porch pillar, watching her. This time her shiver had nothing to do with anger. She remembered how it felt to slip into his arms and rest her head against his broad shoulder, remembered what it felt like to feel secure, safe. As if the rest of the world didn’t matter and everything would be all right.
His sudden change of expectations about certain things in their relationship had crushed her. She’d grown up promising herself she’d be different than her parents, have a different life, a solid marriage.
At first, she’d never thought about dating Joseph simply because he was already rising through the ranks of the local police department.
Then one night, they’d been sitting outside talking after a huge family meal and he’d asked her if she’d like to go on a date with him. She’d hesitated because of his profession, then assured herself that this was Joseph. He knew her dreams, her hopes—her career. During the time she’d been at the academy, all through school, he’d supported her, encouraged her. And so it had begun. She’d fallen head over heels in love with him and he with her.
Until he’d suddenly started talking about “after we’re married.” About how he was excited because he would make enough money to allow her to stay home. And how God had blessed him in allowing him to find a woman who held the same values as his mother.
And her world had come crashing down. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. He wanted her to shelve her career and become the kind of wife she’d vowed never to be.
At least it had seemed sudden, she thought. Had the signs been there the entire time and she’d just chosen to ignore them?
She’d been devastated that he would ask her to give up her career to make him happy. No way. She knew where that argument would lead.
And yet she couldn’t deny the attraction between them had sizzled, both physically and emotionally. She’d been drawn to his softer side, the one he refused to allow anyone to really see. That, and the fact that, deep down, he had a heart for comforting hurting people.
And it was definitely still there—the attraction, all of it. She held her tongue and just looked at him, hoping her face didn’t reveal her inner turmoil.
Finally, he started toward her, hands jammed into his pockets. “Can we talk?”
“About what?”
“Us.”
“That’s not even a topic, Joseph. There is no ‘us,’ hasn’t been for a while now.”
“There could be. What we had, Catie…”
She ignored the shortened