Alex Barclay 4-Book Thriller Collection: Blood Runs Cold, Time of Death, Blood Loss, Harm’s Reach

‘That’s it?’ said Ren. ‘No trace of him?’

‘Nope,’ said Bob. ‘Last person he was seen hanging out with in the bar was a guy called Terrence Haggart. And when I say “hanging out with”, I mean “getting badly beaten by”. Next thing, Wilson’s reported missing. And never shows up again. So, there you have it.’

‘I see,’ said Ren. ‘Has the family given you guys a hard time?’

‘He was an alcoholic they had no time for,’ said Bob.

‘That’s very sad,’ said Ren. ‘An illness that seems too recreational for people to do anything about until it’s too late.’

‘Whatever,’ said Mike.

‘Has anyone seen Tiny Gressett?’ said Ren.

‘Last time I saw him,’ said Mike, ‘he was in the kitchen down the hall.’

‘Thanks, see you later.’

Gressett was on his way out of the kitchen with a coffee.

‘Tiny?’ said Ren.

He stopped, but didn’t turn around. ‘Yes?’

She walked around him to face him. ‘I know you probably didn’t have that kind of relationship with her, and that women can be tricky to read at the best of times, right? But can I ask you about Jean’s personal life?’

Gressett nodded. ‘For what it’s worth.’

‘Did she talk about boyfriends or dating? Did anyone ever come pick her up from work, or meet her for lunch?’

He frowned. ‘Not that I can think of.’

‘She never went to lunch with anyone else?’

‘She ate at the office a lot … or we went together.’

God help her.

‘I don’t know after that,’ said Gressett. ‘She could have. I’ve seen her in Sacred Grounds a couple times with a magazine. It’s a coffee shop in Glenwood.’

‘So, alone?’

He nodded. ‘Yes. Always.’

‘Did she seem interested in dating?’

‘In dating? Well, she kept to herself. Maybe she liked it that way.’

Ren nodded. ‘Did you ever get the feeling, maybe, that …’

‘That what? She didn’t like dating?’

‘Do you think there’s any possibility that Jean could have been gay?’

‘I would say absolutely not.’ He almost recoiled.

You asshole.

‘Nothing wrong with it, if she was,’ said Ren.

He looked at Ren sideways, then tried to recover. ‘I … I know that … It’s just … she wasn’t.’

‘Maybe it was something she kept hidden,’ said Ren. Because of your biased ass. ‘So, just as far as you know, she didn’t go on any dates, that you were aware of, while she worked with you.’

‘Our relationship was strictly professional, if that’s what you mean.’

No, that’s not what I meant, but knock yourself out.

‘So she wouldn’t have talked to you about her personal life?’ said Ren.

‘No. No, she would not.’

‘And to Todd?’

He snorted. ‘Does he look like someone you’d confide in?’

Tiny Gressett, your mask is slipping.

Chapter 19 (#ulink_114acd72-765c-5502-9cd1-7b417831e447)

Ren stood at the top of the conference room, waiting for everyone to make their way in. After ten minutes, her patience had taken a turn for the worse.

‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I don’t have time to wait for everyone, so I’m just going to start. Thank you, first of all, for the information that’s been coming through. We have Jean’s phone records from her home and office, so we’ll be working through them to see what we come up with. We have yet to locate the second cellphone.

‘From the detectives here at the Sheriff’s Office, we have a list of people in Breckenridge with priors, and we’re following those up.

‘We got a positive ID from several of the staff members at the Rifle Creek movie theater. And Jean was alone that night.

‘We also found out that she had been to Breckenridge, Wednesday, January third and had shopped at Wardwell’s, an outdoor clothing store on Main Street, owned by Malcolm Wardwell, run by him and his son, Jason. I looked into them both, and it appears Malcolm Wardwell was locked up briefly for child pornography in the seventies. Does anyone from the Sheriff’s Office here have any more details?’

Mike and Bob shook their heads.

‘Has there been any trouble since?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Bob. ‘Model citizen …’ He shrugged.

‘And do people know about him?’ said Ren.

‘It’s not like people are stoning the store,’ said Mike. ‘Some of the locals know, but obviously there’s always new people drifting in and out, people moving away. And I think he was living in Frisco at the time, so that bit of distance helped him out.’