Justen Road
McHenry, Illinois, 7:00 p.m.
This had beenJane and Thomas Madison’s home at the time of their son’s death. Mrs. Talbert, Jane’s mother, had explained as much. This was the place where they entertained their friends and probably business associates as well. It was the place where their son died.Thiswas the place where Jane had grown her roses.
The backyard was shrouded in shadows now. They had very little daylight left, but they had to try.
Steve had brought the shovel from her house. He had started to dig amid the overgrown rose bushes. Allie held a flashlight to aid their ability to see between the overrun shrubs. When he’d loosened most of the ground around the fountain and the rose bushes were out of the way, she got down on her knees and picked through the loosened clumps. They didn’t have any gloves—they’d forgotten them—but she didn’t care. She needed to find an urn or box. Something!
Steve knelt beside her and dug in as well. The more she plowed her fingers through the dirt and found nothing, the tighter desperation banded around her chest. There had to be something here. There just had to be. Tears burned in her eyes. This could not be another dead end.
But there was nothing. Not unless they had buried the child’s remains far deeper.
“We can try again tomorrow,” Steve promised as he dusted off his hands.
Allie dusted off her hands as best she could. “You’re right. It’s too dark…we’re not prepared. Tomorrow will be better.”
She was exhausted, and she was certain he was as well. It had been a very long day, and it wasn’t as if they hadn’t made some new discoveries.
Baby steps.
Like those of a little boy who was buried around here somewhere. Maybe with evidence that would prove Ledwell had reason to want her parents, a janitor and God knows who else dead.
On the way back to the SUV, she called Rivero and gave him the bad news. He didn’t take it well. The man was such a jerk.
Back at his SUV, Steve loaded the shovel, and Allie watched the last of the light sink into the treetops. She wished she could remember the times she had been here…the things that happened… Had she played with that little boy more than once? Had she overheard hushed conversations that might help her now?
“Hey.” Steve came to her at the passenger-side door and gave her a hug. “We’ll get there.” He drew back and smiled down at her. “Don’t worry.”
“Thanks.” She dredged up a smile. “I needed a hug.”
“I thought you might. What do you say we go home and crack open a bottle from your stash?”
“I say that sounds amazing.”
As did a long hot bath and maybe a nice salad.
And some time just to be.
Thankfully, Steve had a package of wet wipes in his SUV, and they were able to reasonably clean their hands. Her whole body pulsated with something…an urgency she couldn’t label. Maybe what she needed was to feel something more…a connection to another human—like this man.
Don’t get ahead of yourself, Al. This is work for him.
Besides, now wasn’t the time. She needed to focus.
The drive back to her house felt as if it were taking forever. “We should just grab something at a drive-through,” she suggested. There was nothing at home. She really did have to doa better job of keeping her pantry and fridge stocked. She was kind of pathetic at the job.
She thought of the baby bracelet. Why the hell had Rivero kept it all this time? And why didn’t he talk to her the first time they went to his house? The whole idea infuriated her now that she thought about it. Particularly after he’d basically hung up on her when she told him they hadn’t found anything beneath the roses at the former Madison home yet. He’d been furious they had dared to leave rather than continue to dig.Jerk.
Like Griggs said, Rivero was mostly a sleazeball.
“We can do that. Just name your preference.”
“I’m easy,” she assured him. “Just pull in at the next place we pass.”
Blue lights suddenly throbbed in the side mirror. Allie twisted around in her seat. A police cruiser, lights blaring, nosed up behind them and sounded off a quick burst of its siren.
“What the hell?” Allie turned to Steve. “Were you speeding?”
