Page 16 of Glimmer in the Darkness

“You get any closer,” James said, “people are going to talk. Wouldn’t want Lorelei getting jealous.”

Vince backed away, faced forward. “I know what you’re thinking.” Vince’s tone was as relaxed as James’s demeanor. Neither of them was fooled. “Should I trust him? I mean, yeah, we’re friends. But I’m also a cop, a cop who thinks your ex-girlfriend is a killer. You have information, but you’re afraid to tell me because telling me means you’ll have to reveal where the information came from. Maybe it’s nothing to worry about. Maybe it is. Maybe you don’t even know. I can tell you this, James. You don’t tell me, and your friend’s kid dies…” He lifted his bottle, sipped, and set it down gently. “Trust me. That’s the kind of pain you never get over.”

James didn’t want to consider that.

This was a dangerous game.

The only way forward was to be honest. Or at least, nearly honest. “I talked to Cassidy.”

Vince’s expression didn’t shift, didn’t register surprise or any of the thoughts James guessed were going through his head. Maybe that was another thing that made him such a good detective.

James should’ve kept his mouth shut.

“Talk to her, did you?”

“She said she told the police years ago what happened. Said she and Hallie were taken higher up.” He faced Vince again. “On Mt. Ayasha.”

Vince cast his glance around the bar.

People were talking, laughing. Nobody was paying them any attention.

“What else?” Vince asked.

“She wanted to know if you were searching the mountain, and I told her I didn’t think so. She seemed convinced Ella was on Ayasha.”

“She tell you about a cave?”

“She said she and Hallie were kept there for days.”

“She tell you how Hallie died?”

“Conversation didn’t go that direction.”

“Interesting.”

Vince ate another potato skin, taking his time with it.

“What?” James asked.

“I’ve lived on Ayasha all my life. So have you. You ever seen any caves up there?”

“No, but—”

“There are no caves. There’s no place like what she described.”

“You’re sure? So sure, so… arrogant… that you know every nook and cranny of that mountain that you won’t even look?”

Vince’s glare had James leaning back. “I have looked.” His voice was low, almost menacing. He turned forward again, but not before James caught the shift in his expression, from anger to… something else. “I never wanted to get your hopes up. And I never wanted you up there looking. If there was a murderer on that mountain… The last thing your family needed was to bury another kid.” Vince ate the last potato skin, then pushed the plate away. “So, after the chief called off the search, I kept at it. I bought rock climbing gear. Bought a satellite phone so I’d be able to go for long stretches and not be out of touch. I’ve been looking ever since that first call. Ten years, I’ve searched that mountain. There. Are. No. Caves.”

“Why would she say that then?”

“Maybe she was on a different mountain. Maybe she was confused. Maybe she made the whole thing up.”

“Why would she do that?”

“There’s only one way to get the answers you want. You gotta tell her to come in. Tell her to come in, and we’ll listen to everything she says. Maybe, if we could question her, get more information, maybe we could figure out where she really went that night. Maybe we could find Ella.”

“Is that what you think will happen? She’ll lead you to the kidnapper?”