Free Unfinished Business by Jenna Bennett Page A

dilapidated than the cinderblock building
that houses the bar itself.
    “Truman decided to check inside, and found
your boyfriend’s bike in there.”
    “Inside the shed?”
    “Yes,” Grimaldi said.
    “Rafe’s bike?”
    “I ran the registration. It matched.”
    Then yes, it was Rafe’s bike. “What was it
doing there?”
    “As far as we could tell,” Grimaldi said,
“not a blessed thing. Track with me, Ms.... Savannah. Why would
your boyfriend leave his bike inside a shed at Gabe’s?”
    “He wouldn’t,” I said. “He loved...” Gah! “He loves that bike. If he was planning to run away,
he’d ride away on it. If he was running away with someone
else—”
    And wasn’t that a new and disturbing thought
I hadn’t had yet?
    “—I still don’t think he’d have left it
there. He would have taken it home, or somewhere else where it
would be safe, first. But he wouldn’t leave his bike in the parking
lot of a bar in a not-so-nice part of town.”
    I could feel Grimaldi nod, even if I
couldn’t see her. “That’s my thinking, too.”
    “Is it possible that one of the staff put
the bike in the shed? That it was left in the lot after closing, or
something?”
    “We’ll ask,” Grimaldi said, “but off-hand,
it doesn’t make sense. The staff wouldn’t have moved it during
business hours, since the owner might still be inside. And the
bar’s open until two. Mr. Craig said your boyfriend left at eleven,
to go home. That must mean Mr. Craig was still inside the bar at
that point. If he’d come out later and seen the bike in the lot,
but no sign of Mr. Collier, don’t you think he would have found
that strange?”
    Of course he would have. He was a trained
agent of the TBI. It wasn’t like he’d overlook or disregard
something like that.
    “Have you asked him?”
    “I will,” Grimaldi said. “I want to talk to
the rookies, too.”
    “Can I come?”
    She hesitated. “I suppose that might be OK.
Under the circumstances.”
    “We’re on our way back to town,” I told her.
“We drove out to Peaceful Pines to talk to David.”
    “Peaceful Pines?”
    “The church camp where David is staying. He
says he hasn’t heard from or seen Rafe since last week.” I bit my
lip. “I think I just rocked his world. And not in a good way.”
    “If you told him his biological father is
missing, I’m sure you did,” Grimaldi agreed, but without censure in
her voice. “He didn’t know anything?”
    “He said he didn’t. I believed him.”
    In the front seat, Dix nodded.
    “He promised he’d let us know if he sees or
hears from Rafe,” I added. “The camp counselor said the same thing.
Dix left them his card. And David has what looks like a bodyguard.
He’s almost as tall as Rafe and twice as broad.”
    “Good,” Grimaldi said. “I doubt the boy’s in
any danger, but why take chances?”
    Why, indeed?
    “When are you planning to talk to Wendell
and the rookies? Are you sure it’ll be OK if I’m there?”
    “If I say it’s OK,” Grimaldi said, “then
it’s OK. How about six-thirty? That’ll give them all time to get
there.”
    I glanced at the dashboard clock. “We can
make that. At the TBI?”
    “That seems easiest,” Grimaldi said.
    “Do you need me to come to Gabe’s for
anything?”
    “No,” Grimaldi said. “Spicer and Truman will
talk to the staff about the bike, just in case one of them did move
it inside the shed. And I’ve arranged for a flatbed truck. We need
to examine the bike for fingerprints. See if we can get some idea
who put it in the shed. If it wasn’t one of the staff.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Don’t thank me,” Grimaldi said. “I’m doing
my job.”
    “Thanks for doing your job well.”
    She didn’t respond to that. “I’ll see you at
six-thirty at the TBI. Call me if anything happens before
then.”
    I said I would. And added, before she could
hang up, “I don’t suppose you’ve checked whether anyone Rafe put
away has been released in the last