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Joel just grinned. “You’re welcome. Oops, there you go.”
Sam’s new phone was ringing. McKittrick. He answered, putting it on speaker.
“Detective,” he said, drawing on his therapist voice.
“What did you do?” she demanded.
He sat down heavily on Joel’s sofa. Joel’s expression was now one of grim encouragement. “I had some time today, so I decided to do a little investigating of my own.”
A beat of silence. “What did you do?” she repeated, more ominously.
“Look, I know you’re going to do your best to solve this thing, but if you don’t, it’s just a disappointment to you. It’s my life on the line here, Detective.”
She huffed out an impatient breath. “What. Did. You. Do?”
“I googled missing teenagers and Avondale. Naomi Beckham’s name came up.”
“Okay,” she said warily. “And?”
“I went to her house. Talked to her family.”
Another moment of silence, much longer than before. “You did what?” she hissed.
“I spoke to Naomi Beckham’s mother and brother. I arrived shortly after you left.”
“There was no brother there.” Her voice was cold, but he thought he heard a minute thread of curiosity.
“He got home from school after you left. His mother was on her way to getting drunk.”
“I don’t think she ever stops being drunk,” McKittrick said, her tone grim. “The house was littered with empty bottles. So... tell me about these important details you learned.”
“Mrs.Beckham said that Naomi and her friends had shared open auditions in the past, but the rumor was that she’d kept one secret. That was where her classmates thought she’d gone.”
“Huh. That is useful.”
“That wasn’t the bombshell, though. When I asked if she was seeing anyone, the mom said no. But the brother—Nathan—looked panicked and guilty.”
“The missing-person report said he saw a car, but the investigation determined that he was either lying or mistaken.”
“He was lying, but only about where he was when he saw the car. He was coming home from a friend’s house. It was late, about two thirty. He’d been drinking and smoking weed, so he was afraid to admit to where he’d been. He saw Naomi getting into a black Mercedes with tinted windows. She got in voluntarily. He got a glimpse of the driver, Detective.”
She sucked in a breath. “And?”
“He said the man was older than his parents. He had graying hair and wore glasses. He didn’t see his face. Just those details.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “That wasn’t Colton Driscoll.”
“No,” Sam said simply. “Nathan figured his sister would come home eventually and his parents were constantly fighting, so he didn’t say anything except that he’d seen the car. He’s a sensitive kid. He was afraid to come forward with the whole truth because he’d been breaking house rules. But Naomi didn’t come home and his parents’ fighting got even worse. Dad eventually left. It looks like poor Nathan has been taking care of his mom ever since.”
“I see,” she said quietly. “Will he tell me this himself?”
“I think he might tell you more easily if you get him away from his mother. He’s fragile and I think he feels like his mother is the only parent he has left. He’s torn up by guilt, but he’s really afraid.”
She blew out a breath. “Wow. Okay. Well, first of all, you could have really messed everything up, Dr.Reeves. You might be thinking that it turned out okay, but you could have ruined a witness’s testimony simply by being there. You’re a suspect.”
Sam bristled. “You don’t believe that, though.”
“No, I don’t. But my job is not to make you feel better by believing you. Nor is it my job to make your life easier. I get that you’re worried about your job—”
