Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [72]
“Not a clue.” She shook her head, not comprehending what she’d heard. “I don’t have a clue, unless it was stolen. But he almost never took it off, and when he did, he would put it in his pocket, or in his backpack.”
“Kendra, we need to talk about what you remember about your brother’s disappearance.” Adam took both of her hands in his own. “We need to walk through the whole thing, start to finish, whatever your personal recollections are.”
“Of course.” She nodded, her head pounding unmercifully. She’d heard every word that had been spoken since coming into the conference room that evening, but somehow she felt as if she couldn’t connect the dots.
“Lieutenant Barker,” Adam turned to the trooper, “if you wouldn’t mind, I think we’ll take Kendra back to the hotel so she can get something to eat before we start this process.”
“Sure,” Barker replied. As if he’d expected anything more from the FBI. After all, since when had they been willing to share?
Adam and a still-dazed Kendra met Miranda in the lobby of the hotel where she’d been staying for the past several days. Anticipating that they’d be needing a place to meet and discuss their strategy in private, Miranda had reserved a suite for Adam that had a well-appointed sitting room. She handed him the key as the three got into the elevator.
“I’ll give you a few minutes to get settled,” Miranda told Kendra. “Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get you a room to yourself. There’s a quilters’ convention in Lancaster this weekend, so I was lucky to get anything for Adam, and the only reason why he merited a suite was because it was a last-minute cancellation. I hope you don’t mind bunking in with me tonight, Kendra.”
“No, no, of course not. It’s generous of you to offer to share your room.”
“We’ll be joining you in a minute,” Miranda told Adam when the elevator stopped at the sixth floor. “I just want to give Kendra a minute or two to get settled. Your room is one floor up. Why not order dinner from room service for all of us, and give the kitchen a head start. It’s almost eleven o’clock. I can’t speak for either of you, but I’m famished.”
“Will do. What do you want me to order for you?” Adam put his hand out to stop the door from closing.
“Anything is fine,” Kendra said absently.
“Chicken-something for me.” Miranda stepped off the elevator.
The two women walked the short distance to the room, and Miranda swiped the key in the lock to open the door. She held it open to allow Kendra to pass, then let the door close behind her. The room was spacious, with two double beds separated by a small table upon which sat a lamp, a telephone, a menu from the hotel restaurant, and a copy of the current issue of Lancaster County Today magazine.
Kendra paused and turned to Miranda.
“Which bed?”
“I’ve been sleeping in this one.” Miranda pointed to the one closest to the door.
Kendra swung her bag onto the bottom of the other bed and unzipped it.
“I think I need to freshen up,” she said as she took a small plastic case out of the travel bag.
“Go ahead,” Miranda smiled gently, “take all the time you need. You must be tired after all the driving you two did today.”
Kendra went into the bathroom and turned on the light and the fan, then sat on the edge of the tub and covered her face with her hands, which had begun to shake the moment she had closed the bathroom door behind her, and tried to make sense of what was happening.
How could Ian’s watch, lost with him almost ten years ago, have turned up here, in Pennsylvania, beneath the body of a dead woman?
The only plausible explanation was that the person who dropped the watch had somehow been in contact with Ian—before or after his death. He would have had it with him when he left the ranch the morning they left for their camping trip, wouldn’t he? He’d taken everything else in his backpack, surely he would have taken the watch he treasured, wouldn’t he?
Which meant that maybe someone knew where the remains of Ian and Zach lay hidden. But how, unless they stumbled across the bodies? Search teams had