“I’m not saying shit,” he muttered, swaying a little on the spot. He turned to go back inside.
“We just want to talk, Owen.” I held my hands out in front of me. We didn’t have any hard evidence on Owen besides his obvious connection with Tyler and the word of Ryan Redmond. What I really wanted was to get to Tyler. “We know you weren’t the mastermind behind the break-ins. You were just along for the ride, right? It was Tyler who planned them. We need to talk to him. Do you know where he is?”
“He isn’t staying here anymore. He’s at his uncle’s now.”
Monroe was sporting the same confused look as me. “What uncle?”
“The cop uncle.” He gestured with his hand at us like we were idiots. I felt like an idiot right now. If Tyler had family in town, I didn’t know about it. Not just in town but at the station. Someone on the inside who had a familial connection to him.
“Do you know this uncle’s name?” I asked.
“Fuck if I know,” he said. “Stevie, I think. Uncle Stevie.”
My stomach dropped, my fists clenching tightly at my sides. “Steve Langston?”
Owen couldn’t tell us any more, and we didn’t have any evidence to hold him with. We left him with a warning to stay out of trouble and headed back to the police station.
Captain Langston wasn’t there anymore. We hadn’t heard back from him on the arrest warrant, and I was pretty damn sure we weren’t going to. Monroe and I documented everything we’d learned today, crossing everytand dotting everyi.
I ran through Langston’s family history on the computer to find out if the connection was legitimate or just the ramblings of a stoned-out kid. It felt weird to be investigating my captain like this, but I couldn’t let the lead go without following it up.
“Monroe,” I called. “Did you know that Langston had a sister?”
“He’s never mentioned a sister to me.”
“Me either.” I read through the documents again.
“And does this sister have a kid? A son, by chance?”
I turned my monitor to face him where he stood by my desk. A picture of Tyler Cress from a few years ago filledthe screen. Arrested, along with his mother, on possession with intent to distribute charges. The date was just before he showed up in Calla Bay. “She does.”
“Holy shit,” Matt muttered. He pulled out his phone and set it on the desk. “I’m calling him. He doesn’t know that we have this information.”
I gave him a quick nod. The phone rang and rang until the voicemail picked up.
“I say we go by his house now.”
I shook my head. “We can, but we’ve already tipped our hand when I called about the arrest warrant. He’s not going to be waiting at home for us to show up.”
Matt huffed, frustration and aggravation lining his features. “Shit. We have to do something.”
“Call him again,” I said.
This time when Monroe placed the call, it didn’t go through. Instead, it was immediately sent to voicemail.
“He’s shut his phone off,” Matt said.
“Track down Chief Williams. He needs to know what’s happening. Keep a close eye on him. If anything seems shady, like he knows what’s been going on and is complicit, shut it down.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to keep looking for Cress. And I happen to know someone who’s damn good at finding people,” I told him.
Monroe and I agreed to divide and conquer. I jumped into my SUV and called Wes.
“What?” he answered gruffly.
“Tyler Cress is Captain Langston’s nephew,” I said with absolutely no preamble.
