something already?” she asked him.
“Yeah, listen to this.” He told her what he’d found. “There’s no warrant for his arrest yet. He’s just a person of interest, but his DNA was all over the crime scene.”
“So do you think he killed him?”
“Don’t know, but his sudden disappearance after the murder raised suspicion.”
“How do they know he isn’t dead too?”
“It says he called his family once after the murder, babbling something about how he was sorry he’d disappointed them. They were afraid of suicide, so they reported it to the police, but he’s used his credit card around town and made phone calls, so they believe he’s still alive and in the area. Looks like he’s in hiding.”
“So they think this was a drug deal gone bad?” Holly asked.
“Looks like it. Loco was well-known around here. Sold a lot of dope. If Kershaw wound up doing an execution, thatwould mean he works for someone higher up, the one who ordered the hit. You know how these things work.”
Holly’s silence told him she did. She’d done enough work on Miller’s drug ring that he didn’t have to explain things to her.
“Do I have good taste in men or what?”
He chuckled. “Hey, it’s not like the guy looks like a killer.” He pulled up Kershaw’s mug shot from his arrest. “He doesn’t look so bad. I can see how you’d be fooled. He came from a middle-class family in Southport. Has a high school diploma, couple years of college. He probably seemed like a decent guy.”
“That doesn’t help a lot, but thanks for trying. How stupid is it that women go home with strangers they’ve never even held hands with? It doesn’t make any logical sense if you think about it when you’re sober. As Juliet always says, everything has a consequence. I just wish this didn’t have to be Lily’s consequence too.”
“Frankly, I think he’s probably got too much on his mind to even be thinking about you.”
“But I can’t be sure, can I?”
“No, I guess not.”
“Guess I’ll have to find him and make sure.”
Max sat straighter. “Holly, that’s not a good idea. Don’t go looking for trouble.”
“If he’s worried about his own life or going to prison for the rest of it, how do I know he won’t try to see his child before he gets caught? I know the power these little lives have over parents. If he has any normal instincts, that feeling could be pretty intense. He could have been watching us already. I just want to stop worrying about it and make sure he doesn’t show up. Do you have a last-known address for him?”
Max frowned. “Yeah, but I don’t think I should give it to you. I don’t want you showing up at his house.”
“I have one already, Max. I just want to confirm it. Is it 366 Bay Drive?”
He sighed. “Yep, that’s what I have. Holly, I’m sure they’ll locate him soon and take him in. You don’t have to worry.”
“I wish I could be sure of that. But thanks for your help. I appreciate your looking him up.”
“You sure you don’t want to tell your sisters? I mean, they would have your back.”
“No. I know it wouldn’t surprise them—none of it. But I’ve been doing better for the last few months. That’s what I want them to think of when they think of me—the good things, and my being a good mom, instead of dredging up memories of all my old choices.”
Max smiled. “I get it. I won’t say anything.”
“Thank you, Max.”
“Well, I’ll see what else I can find out and let you know. Take care, okay? Don’t do anything stupid.”
When she hung up, he held the phone under his chin, thinking about this girl who had put herself in harm’s way for her family on several occasions in the last year. Yet she had so much fear over her family finding out the details of her past.
He typed a few things into his computer, pulled up more about Creed Kershaw. He would find out everything he could to help Holly so she wouldn’t feel the need to go after him
Learning to Kill: Stories