Callahan And McLane: Targeted Part 22

Micah looked at the wall.

"I do believe you were there," added Euzent.

The boy was silent.

"Who are you protecting?" asked Nora. "It must be someone very special to you. I know I wouldn't confess to murder for anyone. Not even to cover for my mother."

Micah glanced at her and looked away.

"His mother?" whispered Ava. "No way. Regina's not the type."

"Never say never," said Mason.

"Did you know your mother had been involved with one of the men who was killed?" Nora asked.

Micah's gaze flew to the detective's and his body stiffened.

"Surprise," said Mason. Satisfaction rolled through him that they'd finally gotten a reaction out of the kid.

"You're lying," said Micah in an adamant tone.

"No, we're not," Nora a.s.sured him. "Your mother is downstairs. I already talked to her. She's very upset about Vance Weldon's death."

Confusion crossed his face.

Euzent watched Micah like a hawk, hanging on every word, tone, and facial expression. Mason wondered what was going on in his brain. "Did you know the victims, Micah?" he asked in a casual voice.

"No."

"We still don't understand why you killed them."

"You don't need to know. I did it. That's what's important." He leaned back and crossed his arms. "I'm hungry."

Ava shook her head. "No way. He's eaten more than I eat in an entire day."

"It's the age," said Mason.

"I see you've caused problems at school," said Euzent. "You tried to scare everyone with an obviously fake bomb. You brought an unloaded gun to school. I'd say you aren't very good at being threatening."

"That'll poke at his pride," muttered Mason.

Micah was silent, but anger flushed his face.

Euzent continued, "I bet you've had to sit through a lot of sessions with psychiatrists and doctors. Anyone else try to help you?" The agent made air quotes as he said the word "help."

"All the f.u.c.king time," snapped Micah. "Stupid people telling me how wrong I am."

"Who else?" asked Euzent.

"Everyone."

"Is there a possibility they're honestly trying to help?"

"No. They're only doing it to make themselves look good. They think if they can act like they're helping me, they'll earn points from other people."

"Earn points from what people?"

Micah shrugged. "My mom. Their boss."

"Men try to look good to your mom by being nice to you?" Nora asked.

"All the time. Especially when I was younger. They were so f.u.c.king obvious. They'd come over under the pretense of being my buddy . . . trying to provide me with a positive male role model, but they only wanted to get close to my mom." Disdain dripped from his words.

Mason stared. A positive male role model?

"Holy s.h.i.t," Mason said. "Can you text Nora?"

"Yes." Ava pulled out her phone.

"Tell her to ask if Micah was in the Cops 4 Kidz program."

Mason watched as Nora checked her phone. She showed her screen to Euzent, who nodded.

"Were some of those men who befriended you from the Cops 4 Kidz program?" Euzent asked.

Micah didn't answer and shuffled his feet under the table.

"Who'd you meet through that program?" Euzent leaned forward, his gaze locked on Micah's face. "You said you didn't know any of the victims. Do you want to change your answer on that?"

"I didn't know those guys," he said firmly.

"None of them?"

"Never heard of them before I killed them."

"Did they mentor him?" Ava said excitedly. "And he thinks we can't verify that?"

"Check with Henry. He's babysitting Regina downstairs, right? Have him ask her if Micah was in the program."

"She told us she met Vance Weldon at a fund-raiser. We never asked who was hosting the fund-raiser," muttered Ava as she tapped out another text.

Mason thought back to the dozens of Cops 4 Kidz events he'd attended. Basketball games, auctions, formal parties. He'd been proud to volunteer for the organization; it did good work in the community and produced results. He still kept in touch with some of the boys-now men-he'd mentored when there'd been no father figure in their lives.

The young men weren't on the streets, and they weren't in prison. Some of the kids he'd seen go through the program had had an amazing number of strikes against them and no amount of mentoring could help, but Mason still strove to give what he could. Being on the board of the organization wasn't quite as rewarding, but he felt as if he helped.

"Henry says Micah was in the mentoring program. But Regina says he wasn't mentored by the cops who were killed," said Ava. "Dammit. Why isn't this adding up?"

Her phone buzzed again. "He says Regina can't remember the names of the men who did mentor Micah. I'll call the director and find out who worked with him," said Ava.

We're onto something here.

But Mason couldn't connect the dots.

A half hour later Ava still hadn't heard back from the director of Cops 4 Kidz. Mason paced the task force room as Ava took a turn questioning Micah Zuch. Mason wondered if he should go knock on Scott Heuser's front door.

His phone rang. "Callahan," he snapped.

"Detective Callahan, this is Jolene Kersey."

Mason abruptly refocused at the voice of Jayne's doctor and all thoughts of Micah Zuch shot out of his head. "What happened? What'd she do?"

"Is Ava with you?" the doctor asked hesitantly.

"Not at the minute. Do I need to get her?"

"No, not yet." She paused, and Mason's heart rate tripled.

"What happened to Jayne?" he asked, holding his breath. His knuckles blanched as he clenched his phone, and he was glad he was the only person in the room.

"We don't know," said Dr. Kersey. "She's missing."

"What?" Relief and concern simultaneously swamped him. Every day he expected a phone call stating that Ava's twin had committed suicide. Or burned down the rehab center. He knew Ava waited for the same call and had been waiting for most of her life.

A call that stated Jayne was simply missing was a relief.

"We just did the evening check. The residents are to be in their rooms by now. Jayne is nowhere to be found. We've searched all the buildings."

"Did you check the other residents' rooms to see if she was hiding?" Suspicion grew in his stomach.

"Yes." Dr. Kersey's tone sounded slightly guilty.

"Is there another resident missing?"

Dr. Kersey sighed. "Yes, we have a male resident missing, too. I just got off the phone with his family."

I knew it. His brain spun. Should he tell Ava now? Or wait for the rehab center to look some more?

"I'm sorry, Detective Callahan. I don't know how this happened."

Mason knew.

"Is the other missing resident the one Jayne referred to in her last letter to Ava? The one I talked to you about?" he asked.

"Yes," the doctor said reluctantly. "We've been watching them. Some of the other employees had voiced your same concerns about Jayne and Brady."

"Brady?"

"His name is Brady Shurr. We've notified the police that they're missing."

"They're both adults. I doubt the police were very interested."

"That's true. But we have a policy to follow and notifying the police after a thorough search is the first step. Calling family is second."

Mason wanted to tell her to pull the stick out of her a.s.s. If Dr. Kersey had listened when he and the other therapist had warned her about Jayne and her new obsession, she wouldn't be filing reports due to their policy.

"Shurr," he repeated. "As in Shurr car dealerships?"

"Yes, that's his family."

He remembered that Heidi Lain had told him the man came from a family with money. She hadn't been exaggerating. The Shurr dealerships had dominated the Portland metropolitan area for decades.

Jayne knew how to sniff out money.

"Brady Shurr is married, right?"

"Yes," the doctor said in a disappointed tone.

Mason wondered how much of the man would be left once Jayne had used him up and tossed him aside. If Brady's wife had half a brain, she was already filing for divorce.

Will Jayne contact Ava?

Mason blew out a breath as he remembered he'd activated his home's security system before he'd left that morning. If Jayne and her new boyfriend decided to break in, they were in for a deafening alarm. a.s.suming Jayne knew where they lived. As far as he knew, Ava had never told her twin that they'd moved. For good reason.

"I hope this doesn't influence how you feel about the work we do here, Detective. We work very-"

"Are you kidding me?" Mason bit back harsh words. "You let a patient out! Two patients. Two people who have no business wandering around in public right now. I don't know Brady Shurr's situation, but if Jayne managed to manipulate him, he's emotionally unstable, and the worst part is I warned you! Your staff warned you!"

"Brady Shurr's family would appreciate-"

He laughed. Dr. Kersey had just lost the last shred of respect he'd had for her. Her priority was her rich patient. He wondered if the Shurr family paid more for Brady's treatment than Ava paid for Jayne's. Wasn't Ava's money just as green?

"Feeling a little heat from the Shurrs?" Mason prodded, his anger growing. "I imagine staying in their good graces is rather important. I've heard they produce quite the line of drug addicts. They've probably helped keep you in business for years. What are their thoughts on this mishap?"

"They know it was no fault of ours that Jayne-"

"Why am I not surprised that you placed all the blame on Jayne?"

Isn't it all Jayne's fault?

He pushed on. "Jayne has no financial resources at the moment. They'll need somewhere to go. Who out of that couple do you think has access to money? Because I know it's not Jayne." Guilt poked at him. He knew Jayne had orchestrated at least 90 percent of the escape; it was exactly the type of move she'd pull. But Dr. Kersey was p.i.s.sing him off with her att.i.tude. "I have a good buddy who's an investigative reporter at the Oregonian. You can bet you'll be getting some phone calls from him regarding your record at the treatment center. Has anyone else escaped over the years? Do some clients pay more than others?"

Did I just call Michael Brody a good buddy? He caught his breath and tried to shake the red aura that'd clouded his vision. Jayne's affecting me and she's not even here.

He counted to ten. "What are you doing to find them?" he asked in a calmer voice.

"Our policy is to contact family and police," snapped Dr. Kersey. "We aren't required to do anything beyond that. Yes, we are very concerned for their safety, but we can't afford to hire a private security force to hunt for people who don't want to be found."

"So you sit and wait."