Submerged

“His wife says no.” He strode down the hallway. “But maybe he rented one. Let’s find out.”

Leo followed him back to his desk. “You know, if we’re right and the husband tried to kill her, he may not be done. We should probably tell someone our theory.”

“Not Titanic.” Marcus chewed on his lip, thinking. “I’ll call John Zur. He’s a detective friend and a good guy.”

“You know we’re breaking a hundred rules now.”

“Why stop now, Leo? Let’s go for a hundred and one.”

He dialed the number. When Zur answered, Marcus told him about Rebecca Kingston and the mysterious truck. “I’m wondering if the husband, who is conveniently away, had something to do with the hit and run.”

“I’m on the road,” Zur said. “I’ve been called out to that apartment fire in Hinton. Suspicious circumstances. But I’ll call in and let the captain know about the husband.”

“I was hoping you could check him out.”

“I’ll do what I can, but we’re spread thin right now. Must be a goddamn full moon. Too much going on tonight.”

“I understand.”

“Have they found the wife yet?”

“No.”

There was a pause. “I’m sure they’ll find her.”

“What if they can’t find her in time, John? We’ve got one police vehicle looking for her along a good stretch of highway. That’s it. And Rebecca and Colton are injured. Her daughter, Ella, is asthmatic.”

“Marcus.” Zur’s voice held a thread of warning. “Stay focused and objective.”

“I am focused. I want to find this woman and her kids. That’s my objective.”

“Do not get emotionally invested.”

“How the hell do I avoid that?”

Zur let out a light chuckle. “I hear you. Believe me, it’s not easy. I battle that every day. In the end, we have to remind ourselves these are cases. And we’re nothing more than a temporary fix to whatever the problem is. Eventually they go on with their lives and we go on with ours.”

“I think this Wesley Kingston may be a danger to his wife.”

“He’ll be investigated, Marcus. By me. I was assigned the case.” Zur sighed. “You know as well as I do that the spouse is usually our first suspect. Until we rule the husband out, we’ll be looking at him very closely.”

“You do that, John.”

“Listen, I’ll call you if I hear anything back on Kingston.”

“I’ll be waiting.” Marcus said good-bye and hung up the phone.

Minutes later Leo tapped his desk. “I’ve got nothing. No other vehicles are registered to Wesley Kingston except an SUV. A Buick Rendezvous. You sure she saw a truck? An SUV’s hefty enough to do some real damage.”

Marcus shook his head. “She saw a truck with hunting lights.”

“Maybe he rented it.”

“We’re still not a hundred percent sure it’s the husband.”

“You need to find out more about her. Where does she work?”

“I don’t know.” Marcus gave him a glum look. “I didn’t ask. Where are we on emergency vehicles?”

“Nothing’s changed.”

“Shit.”

Marcus jumped to his feet and began pacing around his cubicle. He glanced at his watch. Time trudged along, each second ticking by with relentless precision.

“I’ve gotta do something, Leo.”

“You are. You’re doing your job.”

“Screw the job.”

Over his shoulder he spotted Shipley leaning against the doorway to his office as if he had no cares in the world.

“Problem, Taylor?” Shipley called out.

Marcus ignored him and returned to his seat. Then he picked up the phone and dialed. “John, any word on Rebecca Kingston?”

“We’re still looking for her,” Zur said. “We may have some free vehicles in an hour or so.”

“An hour will be too late.” Marcus didn’t know how he knew this, but he did.

“If we had more manpower, we’d send someone out in another car,” Zur added. “Sorry, Marcus. This is a Code Red situation. No emergency services available. We’re doing our best.”

“What about the truck that ran her off the road? Anyone see it, report it?”

“We’ve got no eye-witness reports. Her husband never rented a truck. At least not in his name.”

“And you still haven’t been able to reach him?”

“No. Kingston’s not answering.”

“How convenient.”

“Look, as soon as I know anything, I’ll call you.”

Marcus checked his watch. “Call my cell phone.”

“Will do.”

As soon as Marcus hung up, Leo nudged him and passed him a sheet of paper.

“This is the time the rain hit the area?” Marcus asked.

“Yeah.”

“So if she was a half hour past Edson, that would put her about here.” Marcus pointed to a spot along Highway 47 on the map on his monitor. He consulted the sheet Leo had given him. “It started raining about here.”

“How long did she drive in the rain?”

“Maybe fifteen or twenty minutes. But she was forced off the highway, and we have no idea how long she was passed out before she called us.” He did a rough calculation. “That would put her somewhere in this area.” He drew a circle with his finger around an area of the map.

“The McLeod River runs near that stretch of the highway,” Leo said. “And it has a number of tributaries. That could be what she heard. The river.”

“At least now we know where to look.” Marcus pushed away from the desk, stood and grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair.

“What are you doing?”

“The one thing I can do. I’m going to look for them.”