Stalked

The video went black and Quincy stared at Sophia. “That’s it?”

“Isn’t that enough?” Her lips curled upward with restrained fury. “Just what this case needs. The parents fighting on a public stage, distracting from the real problem.”

“Maybe it will help us,” Evelyn said. “Where was this posted? And what time did it go up?”

“On Bill’s social media. The video was posted pretty soon after we left his house today, but it’s already been shared a thousand times.” Sophia shoved her phone back into her pocket. “You’d think her parents don’t want Haley to come home, with all the shit they’ve started pulling. I don’t know where this is coming from. Maybe Bill wasn’t the easiest guy to deal with, and Linda was a bit hysterical, but none of them fucking impeded the investigation before now.”

“So, what?” Quincy broke in. “Bill made the video three hours ago, and we already have a note from Haley? That’s fast for coercion. It would mean—”

“If the note is really from her, then someone is holding her nearby, to be able to see the video, tell Haley what to write, then deliver it to the station this quickly,” Sophia finished.

“And if not, the person who sent this is still nearby, somewhere close, so hopefully it won’t take long to nail his ass,” Quincy said.

“It could be Bill himself,” Sophia said. “Whether he has her or not. I’m sure he has samples of her handwriting he could copy.”

“You have cameras, right?” Evelyn asked.

“We sure as hell do.” Sophia headed for the front desk, even as she barked at another officer who’d come over. “Bag the note. Get it logged into Evidence now.”

“Someone just got sloppy,” Quincy said, keeping pace with Sophia. “Maybe this will be the break we need.”

“Wait,” the officer who’d told them about the note called, running after them. She was young, probably not long out of high school herself, and bursting with newbie enthusiasm. “It came in with the mail. I took the stack of mail from the carrier myself.”

The young officer took a step back as both Quincy and Sophia stopped in their tracks, spinning toward her. Evelyn hurried to catch up, wishing she had a longer stride.

“The normal carrier?” Sophia demanded. “How did it come so fast, then, if it went through the postal system? Unless Bill’s video was a coincidence. Or he sent the letter himself, before he posted the video.”

“Why did you get the mail?” Quincy asked.

“I—” She glanced from one detective to the other. “Sergeant Jett stepped out, so no one was at the desk out front. I was there. I took the stack. Yes, the normal carrier brought it. I dumped the stack on the desk and was going to leave, but I noticed this letter had no postage. I was going to ask the carrier, but she’d left and—”

“You sure she gave it to you?” Sophia said. “No one dropped it in the pile?”

“I’m sure.”

“Shit,” Sophia said. “Okay, we’ll talk to the carrier. Let’s take a ride.”

Sophia was already racing for the door, but Evelyn snagged her elbow before she could get far. “Hang on. Let’s look at the cameras first.”

“But if—”

“How would a piece of mail with no postage get into a mail stack coming into a police station?”

Sophia frowned back at her, then nodded slowly. “It must have happened nearby. Otherwise, the person couldn’t be sure it would get delivered. It might end up being sent back, since there was no postage.”

“Except the envelope had the station as the return address, too,” Quincy called out. “It would have ended up here either way.”

“But not in the stack. They would have asked for the postage, right?” Evelyn asked.

“I guess so. All right, let’s pull the tapes.” Sophia turned, heading back toward the front desk, where the sergeant who usually sat there was returning. “We need the footage from around the station for the last few minutes, Amber,” Sophia told her.

Amber stood, frowning as she set down the sandwich she’d just started eating, and gave an exaggerated sigh. “All right. Come on.”

She moved to the side, letting Sophia behind the desk. As Sophia’s raised an eyebrow, Evelyn joined them in the tight space.

“Here we go,” Amber said, picking up a remote and rewinding on the tiny screen mounted beneath the desk.

Evelyn glanced at Sophia, who nodded.

“We have live picture surrounding the station. Amber can go back and look at anything that’s happened in the last twenty-four hours. After that, it automatically backs up. It’s a good system.” She leaned closer to the screen. “Stop!”

Evelyn leaned forward, too, as the mail carrier suddenly pitched forward at the edge of the camera, and a hand darted out and steadied her.

“There!” Sophia shouted, making other officers glance their way.

“What?” Evelyn asked as Sophia rewound once more, then hit Pause and pointed.

“He bumped her on purpose, then grabbed her arm to steady her while he slipped an envelope in the stack with his other hand. Sneaky bastard. Not quite pickpocket good, but that was pretty ingenious.”

“He?” Evelyn pressed. “All I see is an arm, in a dark sweatshirt. Do we have another angle on this?”

Sophia glanced back at Amber, who frowned and shook her head. “This is at the far side of the station. We have cameras mounted on all sides of the station, but not just out on the street. And the person who did this was standing in the alley. Probably waiting for the mail carrier to come by. There aren’t cameras there, not even from other businesses.”

“Are you sure?” Sophia pressed. “Maybe the bank has an angle that we can—”

“I’m positive,” Amber insisted. “We had a couple of muggings there a year ago. The station took a lot of heat because it was so close and it took us a long time to identify the person.”

“I remember,” Sophia said. “But I also remember you pushing to get cameras in there.”

“That’s a battle I lost,” Amber said. “We barely have the budget for this.” She gestured to the screen still on pause below the desk. “Sorry.”

Sophia handed over the remote and leaned against the wall. “We can’t catch a break. And this can’t be dumb luck, the guy being so perfectly positioned.”

“If whoever took Haley is from around here, he’d probably know about the muggings,” Evelyn said. “If the police took heat for not having cameras there, I’m guessing it was in the press?”

“You’d be guessing right,” Sophia said. “Amber, I want you to get a hold of our mail carrier. Get her in here and ask her to describe this person as soon as you can find her.” She looked at Evelyn. “And since we already think Haley’s abductor is someone she knows, let me introduce you to a guy who wears a lot of sweatshirts.”

Evelyn followed as she headed for the door, glancing back to see Quincy step behind the desk. “Who?”

“His name is Jordan Biltmore.”

“Haley’s boyfriend? The one everyone saw drive away after he dropped her off at school?”

“That’s the guy,” Sophia replied, not slowing down as she left the station and got into her car, parked in front. “Let’s go for a ride.”

* * *

“School is in session,” Sophia said unnecessarily as she drove onto the Neville University campus.

They’d driven across a ridiculously ornate bridge over a man-made pond to enter campus. Students’ tuition money at work apparently, because Sophia told her the university had put it in at a cost of several million. It made for a hell of an entryway, but the whole thing seemed a little ridiculous to Evelyn, who’d never before been on the relatively small Neville campus.

Now, they were moving at ten miles an hour as they wove down narrow cobblestone streets lined with hickory and maple trees. Students darted out in front of the car in laughing groups as they chatted and hurried to their next classes.

“Aren’t any of them worried about getting hit by a car?” Evelyn muttered.

“At Neville U? Probably not. On campus, pedestrians think they have the right of way no matter where they are. You’ve got to be careful driving through here, especially at night.”

“So, tell me more about Jordan Biltmore,” Evelyn said as they drove along at a maddeningly slow pace, deeper and deeper into the small college campus.

All Evelyn knew about Neville U was its reputation as being the go-to college for kids from wealthy Virginia families with decent-enough grades. To balance out the rich kids, there was a hefty scholarship fund that brought in out-of-state students with fantastic grades and not-so-fantastic funds. A degree from Neville wasn’t quite Ivy League level, but that didn’t matter for top-level job hunting if you had the right last name.

And Jordan Biltmore, a sophomore and Haley Cooke’s boyfriend, had the right last name. The son of billionaire CEO Franklin Biltmore, Jordan probably could have gotten into Neville with grades bordering on dismal. But according to the brief stats she’d seen on Jordan, he was actually close to a straight-A student.

“Jordan and Haley had been dating for about six months when she went missing. Apparently they met when Haley went to a party on the college campus,” Sophia said, making a slow turn into the parking lot of a building way nicer than any frat house Evelyn had ever seen.

“Haley’s friends seem to like him—or seem to be jealous that she’s dating a billionaire’s son who’s in college. Her mom seems lukewarm, but isn’t so crazy about the idea of her high school junior dating a college kid.”

“What about Bill? And Pete? What do they think of Jordan?” Evelyn asked as Sophia squeezed her sedan into a parking spot meant for a coupe.

“Pete grunts about the age difference and what college boys are really after when you ask him, but otherwise, he doesn’t seem to have anything bad to say about Jordan specifically. Bill—as far as I could tell—had never met Jordan. To be honest, I’m not sure he even knew Haley was dating this kid until she went missing and Jordan’s name was in the news.”

“Hmm,” Evelyn mused. “That says a lot about his relationship with Haley if she’d been dating Jordan for six months. And yet, he’s acting pretty damn certain that she wasn’t abducted. Kind of strange for someone who doesn’t seem to know as much as he should about her life in general.”

“Yep,” Sophia agreed, shutting off the engine. “I can’t be sure he didn’t know. Bill acts as though he was aware they were dating, but just hadn’t met Jordan. But the impression I got? He was lying. He wanted me to think he was a more involved father, especially with the news attention. But today, I’d love your take on Jordan. He’s been extremely cooperative, and honestly, since a squad full of cheerleaders saw him drop her off and then drive away that day, I’m not sure how he could have done it. But he’s just—” her lips pursed, and finally she settled on “—too smooth.”

Evelyn shifted to face her. “What do you mean?”

“Maybe it’s just the rich-kid, son-of-a-CEO thing, but the vibe I’m getting is someone who’s happy to help, because he’s sure we’ll never catch him.”

“Huh. All right.”

“I mean, his alibi is solid. But he just bothers me. Have you ever gotten that feeling about someone in a case?”

“Oh, yeah.” Plenty of times, with her job.

“What happened when you got the vibe?” Sophia asked.

“Sometimes you get that feeling for the obvious reason—because they did it. Other times there’s some other thing they’re guilty of, related to the case or not. And sometimes it’s just a person who’s using what happened to get in the limelight. The bad feeling we get is because they feel guilty they’re enjoying their fifteen minutes of fame—which they wouldn’t have gotten if a person they loved wasn’t missing or dead. Let’s go chat with Jordan and see why you’re getting that impression from him.”

She followed Sophia up a well-groomed pathway to the front door. When Sophia knocked on the door, it swung open by itself, revealing an interior as ornate as the outside. Except that there were brightly colored bras hanging off the enormous crystal chandelier in the entryway, empty pizza boxes piled on the antique table in the living room and a pair of frat boys curled up asleep, one on each end of the dirty but obviously expensive couch.

“Here we go,” Sophia said. “Neville’s most notorious frat house.”

“What are they notorious for?”

“Being awesome, mostly,” someone said from much closer behind her than anyone should have been able to get without Evelyn sensing a presence.

She spun around and craned her neck up at the college student giving her an “aren’t I charming” grin. His dark blond hair was perfectly groomed, his low-slung jeans and Neville U sweatshirt just a tiny bit rumpled and his dimples were on full display. He held a cup of coffee in one hand and tucked a pair of keys with an Audi key chain into his pocket with the other.

As Sophia spun around, the flirtatious grin dropped off his face, replaced by sudden worry. “Detective Lopez. Do you have news? Did you find Haley? Is she okay?”

“We don’t have anything new,” Sophia said.

“Jordan Biltmore?” Evelyn guessed.

Disappointment—or maybe relief—slumped his shoulders, then he studied her again, as if he was assessing her role or importance, and he stuck out a hand. He gave her the kind of handshake more appropriate for a business meeting than standing on the threshold of a frat house that stunk of old beer and dirty socks. “That’s right. And you are?”

“Special Agent Evelyn Baine, from the FBI.”

Her title should have made an impression on a kid his age, either concern about the FBI’s involvement if he was involved, hope for more resources on his girlfriend’s case if he wasn’t or just plain awe if nothing else. But he simply nodded at her, the strength of his handshake revealing power in his lanky frame.

“If there’s nothing new, what’s going on?” he asked Sophia.

“Let’s find a place to sit and chat.”

“Sure.” Jordan angled his head around them and yelled, “Brent! Jim! Get lost.”

The pair of students sleeping on the couch jolted awake. One looked ready to snap back at Jordan, but at the sight of Sophia—who held up her detective’s shield—they both shuffled off into the cavernous house.

Evelyn glanced around as they walked in, seeing a kitchen off to her right, fully stocked with gleaming stainless appliances she doubted the frat boys used. There was even a pair of vending machines neatly lined up next to the fridge. She assumed the bedrooms were off the hall to her left and up the giant staircase beside the entryway.

“Take a seat,” Jordan said, gesturing to the couch.

As soon as they were seated, instead of doing the same, he planted his free hand on his hip and stared down at them. “You must have news if you’re back here.” Before they could answer, he added, “If it’s about that crazy video her dad released, let me tell you, Haley didn’t run away.”

Evelyn looked up at him, wondering about his background besides the wealth and the important father. For a nineteen-year-old, he had a lot of confidence to usher two law enforcement officers into seats and then stand in a symbolic position of power himself. Was he doing it on purpose or subconsciously?

“Why do you say that?” Evelyn asked, staying comfortably seated. Let him believe he was in charge.

“About her dad? Because how would he know what happened to her? Believe me, unless he actually did it, he has no clue. He just wants the attention, because his family left him and he’s miserable.”

“Do you have reason to suspect Haley’s dad kidnapped her?” Sophia asked.

Jordan shrugged, setting his coffee on the table between them. He finally sprawled on one of the plush leather chairs across from the couch, his long legs stretched out in front of him. “No, but the guy is an asshole who used to smack her and her mom around.”

“Haley told you she was abused?” Sophia demanded, leaning forward as though this was news to her.

“Nah. Haley was too sweet to actually say it. She always gave everyone the benefit of the doubt, always had excuses when someone did bad shit or treated her wrong. But I can read between the lines.”

“Give me some examples,” Sophia insisted. “What did she say to make you think that?”

“She usually clammed up when anything to do with her dad came up. But she told me once that she was glad they’d divorced, him and her mom. That she couldn’t take living with him anymore.”

“Did she ever mention running away?” Evelyn asked.

Furrows lined his forehead and he sat forward, crossed his arms over his chest. “Well, look, yeah, she might have mentioned that a few times, but it was a while ago. And she never actually would have done it. Besides, her dad was out of the picture. I mean, sure, he had some sort of partial custody. She had to visit every once in a while, but it wasn’t like he was around all the time.” He stared hard at Sophia. “If there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s that if Haley had decided to run away, she wouldn’t do it this way. She’d never let her mom worry. Never.”

Sophia nodded, her expression telling Evelyn that everything she’d learned about Haley in her investigation meshed with what Jordan was telling them.

“What about her stepdad?” Evelyn asked.

“Pete?” Jordan rolled his eyes. “She thought he was kind of an ass-hat, that’s for sure. She definitely avoided him.”

“Did she ever talk about him being a threat?”

“No. She wasn’t his biggest fan, but he’s sort of a weirdo, so that’s no surprise. You’ve asked me all this before.”

Sophia glanced at Evelyn, giving a small shrug, and Evelyn jumped in.

“Jordan, I want to go over what happened when you dropped Haley off at school. Everything you can remember.”

“Sure.” He glanced between them. “But I haven’t thought of anything new.”

“That’s okay. I just want to hear it from you instead of a police report.” Sometimes, even with witnesses who were telling the truth, repeating the details raised inconsistencies, gaps in memory or brand-new information.

Jordan’s whole body tensed. “It was a pretty typical day. Haley’s school day was over, and I’d been to my morning classes. I picked her up after she finished for the day and we just drove around a bit. We got some ice cream because, for December, it was crazy warm. It’s probably why her team was practicing on the field instead of in the gym. The cheerleaders,” he clarified.

When Evelyn nodded, his focus went back to some spot on the wall, as though he was searching his memory for details that might matter. “She acted happy. Nothing seemed wrong, like I told Detective Lopez before.” He shook his head, but he still wasn’t looking at them. “I didn’t see anyone weird hanging around. I watched her walk toward the school when I dropped her off. She turned back and waved at me. It’s the last thing I remember before I drove away.”

He stared at Evelyn again, a sad, desperate look in his eyes. “I should have waited, seen her go inside. But I assumed she’d be safe there.”

“So you didn’t actually see her go inside?”

“No. But didn’t her friends? I thought the cheerleaders saw her go in. And besides, where else would she go? The whole reason I dropped her off was for her cheerleading practice.”

“And she didn’t tell you anything about meeting someone later?”

He shook his head. “No. She was going to grab a ride home from practice with Marissa.”

“Marissa Anderson,” Sophia interjected. “Haley’s best friend. They were on the cheerleading squad together.”

“And she never spoke of anyone she was afraid of? No one who was hassling her?”

“Other than her dad?” Jordan shook his head.

“How were things going in your relationship?” If they’d only been dating for six months, as Sophia had said, that meant they’d met while Jordan was at Neville U and Haley was still in high school. It wasn’t a huge age difference, but the experience difference between a high school junior still living at home with her mom and a college student, living in a frat house, could be huge.

“Fine.” Jordan shrugged. “Good.”

“No arguments? Neither of you were seeing anyone else?”

“We weren’t exclusive, I guess. I mean, we hadn’t really talked about it. But no, neither of us was seeing other people.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah.”

“No jealous exes, then?”

Jordan gave a short laugh. “Haley didn’t have any exes. And no, not on my end.”

“So no one you can think of who might want to hurt her?”

“No! Everyone loved Haley. She was sweet, innocent. No one would want to hurt her.” He sounded offended by the idea. “I heard about that note her mom talked about on the news—some kind of stalker—but I can’t believe she wouldn’t have told me.” He visibly puffed up. “I would have protected her.”

“She never mentioned thinking that someone might be following her around?”

“No.”

Evelyn nodded, not surprised. She stood, and Sophia slowly did the same.

Jordan stayed in his seat, staring up at them. “That’s it? Why haven’t you found her? It’s been a month, and you’re back here questioning me about the same old things?”

“Sometimes people remember new details if they go through it again,” Evelyn said calmly. Most of the time, she consulted from a case file and not directly on a scene, but when she did talk to families and friends, she was used to the frustration and anger and fear. And Jordan’s seemed genuine.

“We’ll be in touch,” Sophia said.

As they headed for the door, the high-pitched whine of a young woman reached them. “Seriously? You went out and got yourself a coffee and didn’t bother to get me one?”

Evelyn glanced back and saw a blond college student in tight yoga pants and a T-shirt that swallowed her, ultrared lips pursed in a pout as she stared down at Jordan. Her hair was a mess, and she’d clearly just climbed out of bed, thrown on some clothes, swiped on some lipstick and went looking for Jordan.

He darted a look over his shoulder and flushed when he caught Evelyn’s eye.

Instead of lingering, Evelyn walked out the door.

“So much for the worried boyfriend act,” Sophia muttered.

Evelyn frowned, pausing to glance backward. Jordan’s reaction when he’d first spotted Sophia hadn’t seemed faked. Sure, he might have had nothing to do with Haley’s disappearance, and still be sleeping with someone else, but he’d said he wasn’t seeing anyone besides Haley. Was he just too embarrassed to tell them he’d already moved on? Or was it all a lie?

As the girl stomped out of the frat house, looking annoyed, Sophia stopped her. “How long have you been dating Jordan Biltmore?”

“Dating?” the girl scoffed. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Met him at the frat party last night. I should have gone home with one of the other guys hitting on me. Asshole didn’t even share his coffee.” With that, she headed past them, toward the center of campus.

Sophia stared after her a minute, then stomped toward the car, looking pissed off on Haley’s behalf. “I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t care whether he’s found himself a new girlfriend, or he’s just sleeping around. It’s been a month since Haley disappeared. That’s pretty damn fast to move on in any way, if he really cared about her. Jordan Biltmore just hit the top of my suspect list.”

6

“I don’t know how he did it, but it’s got to be him, right?” Sophia demanded as they sat in her sedan in the parking lot of the frat house. The sun beat down on them, making the car feel like a sauna despite the mid-forty-degree temperatures.

Sophia made no move to turn on the car, just shifted to face Evelyn, her face wrinkled with distaste. “I mean, his girlfriend disappears off the face of the earth, and he’s out boinking sorority girls? Isn’t that classic behavior for someone who killed their partner? I’ve seen that in the news a ton. Shit, I can name a whole bunch off the top of my head. It’s practically a bad joke.”

“Maybe,” Evelyn said, unbuttoning her suit jacket, glad she’d left her winter coat in the stuffy police station. “But we usually see that with married couples, one spouse killing another to be with a mistress. This is a little different. Jordan could have just as easily broken up with her—it’s not as if they’ve got marital property or kids together. If he’s involved, I doubt it’s his way of breaking up with her. I’ve seen stranger things, but behaviorally, that’d be pretty odd. Still, we have to take into account that he’s nineteen and he could just be immature.”