Free Gone From Me: Hearts of the South, Book 10 by Linda Winfree

tolerated Madeline’s at-times high-handed nature. Being brusque and bitchy with her was one thing. With Rob? That was something else. She opened her mouth, but the quick snap of Rob’s notebook stalled her.
    “The daughter and her baby are nowhere to be found. Her cell phone is smashed to hell in the bathroom wastebasket. Her cosmetics are busted up too, and there’s blood on the bathroom floor. There’s a bat in the living room, looks like it might have blood on it. Nothing else is out of place.”
    “Good job.” Madeline gave a satisfied nod. She turned her attention to Troy Lee. “What did you do wrong this time?”
    Troy Lee glared. “Came out here on a noise complaint—”
    “There are neighbors close enough to complain?” Amy looked back down the driveway, then out at the fields. “Really?”
    “Older woman who lives across the road. Apparently, the music was too loud, and then Britt was screaming threats loud enough for her to hear.”
    “She takes after her mother,” Madeline muttered. She looked at the others and shrugged. “Hope always was a spitfire. Go on.”
    “You heard me tell Tick. I got their stories, sent the other kids home—”
    “Other kids?” Amy asked.
    “The husband’s best buddy and his girlfriend.” Troy Lee cleared his throat. “Calvert’s nephew and my sister.”
    “Playing favorites, there, weren’t you, Troy Lee?” Amusement gentled Madeline’s accusation. “Talk about being in a tough spot. Britt’s your niece by marriage, your supervisor’s family and yours are present… I might have done the same thing. Cheer up. It’s not the same as committing a warrant error that voids most of the direct evidence against a serial killer.”
    Troy Lee groaned, a rough, strangled sound low in his throat. Amy and Rob both stared at him, and Amy knew they were thinking the same thing. Every single new agent assigned to a GBI office south of Macon knew that story from having it drilled into them during initial orientation. Eyebrows lifted, Rob rested his hands at his hips. “You’re the one?”
    “I’m the one.” Disgust colored Troy Lee’s voice.
    One corner of Rob’s mouth lifted in a brief smile. “I don’t feel so bad about yesterday now.”
    “Thanks a lot, man.” Troy Lee glared at him until understanding flashed between the two men, and Troy Lee grinned, some of the tension falling away.
    Madeline crossed her arms over her chest. “If you two are finished bonding, we might want to start putting together an investigative strategy.”
    “Calvert’s the lead investigator.” Rob jerked his chin toward Tick and Cook, who were talking to the deputy who’d unloaded the department K9. Tick swept his hand in an arc indicating the distant fields and woods.
    “Who can’t head up this investigation because his nephew might be connected. Cook can’t because he has a connection to the Michaelses through his kid. Farr’s not an investigator, and he’s married to the missing girl’s aunt. You were the first investigator on scene. This one’s yours, Bennett, and that explains why I’m here. Experience trumps a college degree.” Madeline slanted a sardonic glance at Amy, then turned her attention back to Rob. “According to the GBI, you’re good, but when it comes to this kind of case, you’re green. So, what’s your take? The husband do it?”
    Rob’s brows dipped. “I can’t say yet. A dozen scenarios could work here. Yeah, one is the husband did it. Another is she got mad and took off. One of her friends could have picked her up. Maybe even someone came in off the road and snatched her and the kid, although that’s statistically unlikely. We won’t know much from the scene until the techs are done processing it. The first thing we do is get her info into NCIC. Then I say pull the cell records while they search the woods and see what those show us, plus we need actual statements from the husband and the kids who were here last night. Maybe talk to the