Jan Burke - Nine

“Maybe his old man took another swipe at him, like the one he gave him this morning. Ask the staff.”

There was a silence, then she said, “I was so sure he’d go to your place. If not to see you or John, at least to be with the dog.”

“Hang on.” He put a hand over the receiver and said to John, “You hear from Chase this afternoon?”

“No. What’s going on?”

He told him what Clarissa had said.

John motioned for the phone. Alex wasn’t sorry to hand it over.

“Clarissa?” John said. “Now, don’t worry. He probably just got mad and went off to pout somewhere. You know how those Brandon men are. Did you try his cell phone?”

Alex watched John’s eyes narrow. John covered the phone, swore fluently, then drew a deep breath. When he spoke again, his voice was remarkably calm. “Tell you what-get the cell phone from Miles and use the call-back feature to reach that kid who called Chase. Chase is probably just with his friends. Meanwhile, we’ll keep an eye out for him. What kind of bike was he riding?…If he doesn’t show up soon, we’ll go looking for him, okay? Let me know what you find out.”

He hung up.

“Chase decided to run away from home?”

“Hard to tell. Miles took his cell phone from him, but I don’t think that’s what made him take off. Miles gave him some bullshit about Rusty, saying he’d tell us to take the dog to the pound.”

They both looked down at the dog, happily panting up at them.

“No way,” Alex said. “And what the hell makes Miles think I’d let him tell me what to do with my-with Chase’s dog?”

“Damn straight,” John said, for a brief instant looking suspiciously as if he might be amused. “But Chase doesn’t know that, does he?”

“I guess not.” He shook his head. “You say Kit Logan went back home to Malibu?”

“He left the address for you. When you get to the gates, say ‘the frumious Bandersnatch!’”

“What?”

“Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten Jabberwocky…”

“You are a weird old son of a bitch, you know that? And I think this Logan kid is just about as weird as you are. Why couldn’t he wait here for me?”

“When that ninth fugitive got shot right through the eye in front of God, the FBI, and the L.A. Times-the last two believing they are the same as the first-Mr. Logan wisely considered the possibility that number ten on that list might be a little freaked out by events and might even need convincing that he could be safely delivered to the L.A. Sheriff’s Department. Alex Brandon or no Alex Brandon. Promise me you won’t make a liar out of me-I told him he could trust you to hear him out. That’s all he’s asking.”

“Fine, I promise to hear him out, but-”

The phone rang again. John answered this time. “Clarissa? Oh-sorry, Ciara. Yes, he’s here.”

Alex took the phone. “Hi, Ciara. I was just about to call you. Want to take a ride with me to Malibu?”

Malibu, California

Thursday, May 22, 7:20 P.M.

“I can’t believe this,” Ciara said.

“Sorry, miss,” the guard at the gate said.

“Tell Mr. Logan he either lets us both in, or he’ll have to meet me out here,” Alex said.

The guard relayed the information. After a few moments, he said, “When I open the gate, just follow the drive up to the house.”

As they entered the gates, Ciara said, “Was your family’s place like this one?”

“No, this one is higher up and has more acreage.”

“It’s pretty up here.”

He looked out. The sun was just above the horizon, about an hour away from setting. The view from the Logan property was spectacular.

“If you lived up here, would you run away from home?” Ciara asked.

He looked over at her. “Are you asking about Chase?”

“No-no, sorry. I meant Serenity Logan.”

“When I had her case, I wondered the same thing. From all I could learn, though, it was a mixture of rebellion and addiction. Elizabeth Logan was more patient than most parents would have been-maybe too patient. She felt a lot of guilt about not taking her grandson away from her daughter earlier on.”

“Guilt,” Ciara said, “is just one more useless luxury.”

He could see the tension on her face. “I had no business asking you to come with me,” he said. “You’ve had a worse day than I’ve had.”

“No-I’m glad you asked me. Especially after you told me Logan had been at the crime scene in Del Aire. And ‘helping’ with the investigation? This gives me the creeps.”

They were met by another guard near the house. He guided them to a study. Alex didn’t see Kit Logan right away-he wasn’t in the room but was standing at the railing of a large deck. A woman was with him. Both wore dark clothing. In other circumstances, they might have been a young couple about to enjoy a sunset. But Alex saw that they were tense, standing close but not touching. The woman’s voice was low, speaking in an anxious whisper.

As Alex and Ciara stepped onto the deck, Kit Logan turned toward them, and the woman’s whisper stopped. Kit briefly studied Alex, transferred a rabbit’s foot from his right hand to his left, then came forward and nervously shook Alex’s hand.

“You met me a long time ago,” he said.

“Yes, I remember that, Mr. Logan.”

“Please-call me Kit.”

“Not Christopher?”

Alex saw him flinch. “I prefer Kit,” he said.

Alex watched with interest as Kit seemed to quickly assess Ciara-she had hardly moved to fold her arms when he withdrew what might have been an offer to shake her hand as well. Alex thought he looked as relieved as Ciara.

Alex then turned to the woman who had been standing next to Kit and found himself speechless. Kit’s companion was gorgeous.

“Do you want me to get a bib for you,” Ciara said in low voice, “or are you going to stop drooling on your own?”

She hadn’t spoken quietly enough. Alex felt himself turn red with embarrassment and noticed that Kit and the woman seemed embarrassed, too.

“This is Gabe’s sister, Meghan Taggert,” Kit said, looking between Alex and the woman.

Meghan Taggert straightened her shoulders, then extended a hand to him. During the brief moment he had that hand in his own, Alex felt it tremble. Looking closer at her face, he thought she looked pale and as if she might have been crying earlier-her lips and eyelids were slightly swollen. She was upset now, he thought, but doing her best not to show it. She took a deep breath. “Thanks for meeting with us,” she said to him, completely ignoring Ciara. “I’m afraid we have bad news, though.”

“Oh?”

“Apparently Gabe saw the news and left here about two hours ago. I have no idea where he is now. We’re so worried about-”

“So, you’ve wasted our time,” Ciara interrupted.

Alex shot her a look, then said, “John told me that your ward is also missing, Mr. Logan. Do you have a photograph of her?”

“Yes,” he said. “If you’ll come with me into the study-”

“Alex,” Ciara said, “I left something in the car. Mind if I borrow your keys for a second?”

He looked at her suspiciously but gave them to her.

She walked out. He noticed that a guard followed her, but at a distance.

Kit handed him a photo.

“John led me to believe your ward was a girl.”

“She is. Spooky-that’s her nickname-Spooky prefers to wear her hair very short.”

“Is this recent?”

“Yes. That was taken about two months ago.”

“And John said you thought Everett Corey or Cameron Burgess might have taken her?”

“Yes.” Kit took the photo back. “I’m sorry to have wasted your time, Detective Brandon.”