Busted by Karin Slaughter Read Free Book Online

head. “This is still a small town. Everybody’s up in everybody else’s business.”
    “Not that it’s been much help.” Will rubbed his face, trying to concentrate. “Maw-Maw said the son-in-law is Jewish.”
    Faith glanced his way. “They go to an Episcopal church. His name is Gilbert Caldwell. I just assumed he was Billie’s stepfather.” She wrinkled her forehead. “Why would Maw-Maw lie about him being Jewish?”
    Will shook his head, too. It seemed Maw-Maw lied just for the sake of lying. “What about friends? Billie had pictures in her wallet. She must’ve known people from church or school.”
    “We’re talking to people from both, but Billie’s a ghost. She’s nineteen years old. We don’t know what school she went to because Maw-Maw can’t remember. Billie doesn’t have a record. She doesn’t own a car. She’s never filed a tax return. We don’t know her social security number, so we can’t pull her bank accounts. I’m sure she has a cell phone but who the hell knows what the number is.” Faith slowed the Suburban, turning in to the hospital parking lot. “I tried to look her up on Twitter and Facebook, but the only Lam in the area is a sixty-year-old parole officer who lives in Atlanta. I sent her a message. She’s never heard of her.”
    Will racked his brain for other ways to find the girl. “The family doesn’t have other properties? She’s hiding out somewhere.”
    “No properties. We’re knocking on every door at every fleabag motel around.”
    “That’s a lot of motels,” Will said. Forest Park was near the airport. You couldn’t throw a rock without hitting a motel. “Billie got to work somehow. She has to have a car.”
    “Maw-Maw’s powder blue Honda was parked behind the store. We turned it inside out.” Faith bumped the gear into park. “Nothing. That’s the story of this case: nothing.”
    Will pushed open the car door. “Either she’s a criminal mastermind or she’s very lucky.”
    “Or both.”
    He followed Faith to the loading dock, asking, “Any reason Amanda wants me here?”
    “I don’t question orders.”
    She was a better liar than Maw-Maw. “I’m still maintaining my cover, right?”
    “I guess so. She told me to bring you through the back. McClendon’s out of surgery, but there are still cops all over the place.” She stepped on a chock and boosted herself onto the loading dock. “Pete McClendon, that’s the name of the cop who was shot.”
    “He clean?”
    “Who the hell knows? The doctors are keeping him in a coma because of the pain. We won’t get to talk to him for another day at least.”
    The large metal door was rolled only partway up. Faith walked underneath, but Will had to bend down to make the clearance. He pulled his phone out of his pocket to check the time. The glass was scratched. He felt lucky Amanda hadn’t logged it into evidence just to prove a point. It was only a few minutes after noon. Will guessed all the dockworkers were at lunch.
    Faith took a moment to get her bearings, consulting the emergency exit map to find the freight elevator. Will helped her lift the heavy door, which opened like a guillotine. Carts of soiled laundry lined the back wall of the car. They both stared ahead as the elevator creaked into action, taking them to the top floor.
    Will said, “All this because of the blinking light on an Icee machine.”
    Her jaw set. “Sure. That’s why.”
    “Five minutes later, I would’ve been out of there.”
    She wouldn’t look at him.
    He said, “There was a Triumph at the impound lot. I guess I can use that when I go down to Macon.”
    “Make sure it has a cup holder.”
    The elevator groaned to a stop. She finally looked at him.
    “Oh.” Will was slow on the uptake. He would’ve been trapped at the store even longer while he drank the Icee. “Have I ever told you that you’re a really good detective?”
    “Whatever.” Faith lifted the elevator door. She didn’t look back to make sure