Brian Freeman - Immoral

"Nothing at all," Emily said. "Frankly, I never believed it, like Dayton did. I never thought she was alive."

"Oh? Why?" Serena asked.

An ironic smile flitted across Emily's lips. "I was in prison. If she were alive, I was sure Rachel would have found a way to throw that in my face."

Stride nodded. "We've taken up enough of your time," he said. He stood up, and Serena followed his lead.

"How do we arrange to have Rachel's body sent back?" Dayton asked.

"I'll have someone call you," Serena said. "We'll release her just as soon as we can. It's a criminal investigation, you understand. But one word of advice, if you don't mind. You may not want to view the body when it's returned. She was found in the desert, and, well, the desert isn't very kind to human remains."

Emily swallowed hard. "I understand."

They shook hands, and Dayton escorted them to the door. Serena offered the minister a small smile.

"Once again, I'm very sorry. I hope at least the two of you had a nice vacation before this."

Dayton hesitated. "Oh. Yes, we did. Thank you."

"I love the River Walk in San Antonio," Serena continued. "Where did you stay?"

"The convention was at the Hyatt."

"Did you get a chance to get out of the city?"

"Not really. We visited the Alamo, that kind of thing."

"Of course," Serena said.

Dayton touched her shoulder as they turned to leave. "May I ask you something?"

Serena nodded.

"I was wondering if you knew what Rachel was doing. Where she worked. I was just thinking, if I had searched a little bit harder-"

"She was working in a strip club," Serena told him without sugarcoating.

Dayton wet his lips with his tongue. "Ah. Well. I didn't look there."

"Do you believe him?" Stride asked as they headed back to the city. He glanced out his window and saw charcoal clouds massing in the southwest corner of the sky. A summer storm was bearing down.

"If he's lying, he's good at it," Serena said. "But I'm a cynic when it comes to men and teenage girls."

"You think a preacher who sounds too good to be true probably is?" Stride asked.

"It's more than that, Jonny."

She didn't explain. He couldn't help but wonder about her secrets. The fact that she called him Jonny also rolled around in his head. It flowed from her casually, without thought-he wondered if she even knew she had done it-but there was a familiarity in how she said it that was intimate.

He didn't think Andrea's voice had ever carried such weight in calling his name, and he remembered that a similar intimacy had been there from the beginning with Cindy. Those were scary, unwelcome thoughts. He realized that he had avoided thinking about Andrea since Serena arrived. His attraction to her was so sudden and intriguing that it seemed to push aside his other emotions. He was not the kind of man to have an affair, but right now, he wanted one. Badly.

"Have you really been to the River Walk?" he asked.

"Never," Serena said with a sly smile.

Stride laughed. "You're beautiful."

He wanted her to feel the double meaning in his voice. He wasn't sure, but he thought she actually blushed.

"I'll have Maggie check it out," he continued. "We'll look into this church conference and make sure they were really there."

"Even if they checked in, they could have gone to and from Vegas in a day. In and out. No one would know."

"We'll check the airlines, too. And credit card records."

Before he could reply, Stride heard the chirping of his cell phone. He slid it out of his pocket and pressed it to his ear.

"We need to talk," a man's voice said. Stride recognized Dan Erickson.

"Yes, we do," Stride said. "You got my message?"

"You're goddamned right I did. Are you sure about this?"

"Yeah, we're sure."

"Shit," Dan hissed. There was a silence, and Stride could almost hear the calculations grinding in Dan's mind. "This is unbelievable. I don't want to do this over the phone."

"You want me to swing by your office?"

"Hell, no. I don't want you anywhere near my office. Meet me in the parking lot of the high school in an hour."

"Won't we need some kind of secret code to identify ourselves?" Stride asked.

"Funny. Real fucking funny. Just be there."

Stride clicked the phone off.

Serena raised her eyebrows. She could make out most Of the call.

"Dan Erickson prosecuted Graeme Stoner for Rachel's murder," Stride said. "He isn't too pleased with the news."

"Why the cloak-and-dagger?"

"Dan's the county attorney, but he's going after the Democratic nomination for state attorney general. I think trying someone for murdering a girl who wasn't dead is likely to be a 'negative spin event' for his campaign."

Serena frowned. "Watch your ass, Jonny. A politician like that would have you fired if it meant deflecting blame from himself."

"Yeah, that would be Dan's style," Stride said. He heard "Jonny" on her lips again.

"You don't care?"

Stride stared through the windshield as the first drops of rain began to fall. "It's funny. I'm not sure I do."

By the time Stride dropped Serena at the station and reached the hillside road that led to the school parking lot, his windshield wipers were screeching in protest as they pounded back and forth, sluicing aside gallons of water. Stride leaned over the steering wheel, squinting to catch a glimpse of the pavement through his headlights. Somewhere in the summer sky, the sun was high, but it might as well have been night, with the swath of black clouds overhead.

Stride drove to the far side of the lot before he spotted Dan Erickson's Lexus, parked off by itself. He pulled around and parked next to it. The Lexus was navy blue with smoked windows. Dan had left the lights on and the motor running.

The rain beat down on Stride's truck. When he pushed open the door, the rain flooded over him, stinging his skin like tiny pinpricks. He slammed the door and yanked on the passenger door of the Lexus. It was locked. Already soaked. Stride pounded on the window. He heard a low click, and he piled inside the car, bringing a smattering of rain with him.

"Good to see you, too, Dan," Stride muttered, flicking droplets of water around the car as he shook his sleeves.

"These are leather seats," Dan said, scowling.

The interior of the car smelled like Dan's wife, which meant it smelled like money. Stride knew the Lexus and everything else belonged to Lauren, not Dan, but Dan wore the trappings well. On his left hand, Stride saw a fat wedding ring with a ruby stone, and on his wrist, a gold Rolex. His navy suit looked custom-tailored, and it bent in easy folds without wrinkling.

The local public radio station was on in the background. Dan reached over and turned it off. They sat silently for a moment while the rain thumped on the roof.

"It's not on the news yet," Dan said. "Let's keep it that way."

Stride shook his head. "That's impossible. This will be big news, you know that. The most we can hope is to keep it bottled up for a couple more days, but even that's optimistic. It only takes one leak."

"Who knows about this?"

"The Vegas cops and several members of the force here in Duluth. Plus Emily and her husband, Dayton Tenby."

"You should have talked to me before informing them."

"Christ, Dan, she's the girl's mother," Stride protested.

Dan sighed. "Tell me exactly what happened."

Stride explained about the discovery of Rachel's body in the Las Vegas desert and the possible Duluth connection in the murder.

"But we don't know yet what happened in Vegas," Stride continued. "We also don't know what really happened when she disappeared the first time. Obviously, Stoner didn't kill her."

"Do you have any leads?"