Colleen?

Rick stepped from a doorway and into the woman’s path, grabbing her arm and yanking her to a stop. The woman took a step back, trying to jerk her arm out of the man’s grip. Rick leaned close to her face, his mouth moving with angry words that Troy couldn’t hear.

The woman’s scared face turned Troy’s way for an instant.

It is Colleen.

Rick moved down the sidewalk, hauling the woman along, her feet tripping to keep up with his fast strides. Troy followed, determined not to lose Rick again. He moved into a slow jog to close the long distance between him and the arguing couple.

He can’t hurt her again.

21

“I tried calling Ava, but her phone went to voicemail,” Zander said.

Zander’s phone call was the second occurrence to wake Mason Sunday morning. The first time, Ava had woken him by getting up early and dressing, promising to be back in time for a late Sunday brunch at their favorite riverfront restaurant.

Mason glanced at the clock on his nightstand. “She’s probably in her car. She was going to put in a few hours at the office this morning and then run an errand. What’s up?” He yawned silently and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Beside him Bingo had claimed Ava’s side of the bed, even placing his head on her pillow.

“I picked up Aaron King’s yearbooks last night. His ex-wife was right. He’d kept all sorts of high school memorabilia in a box. Made me feel sorta sorry for the guy as I rummaged through it.”

“Sorry? How so?”

“He seemed like a guy who was going places back then, but his dreams never came true. Looks like he had hopes for a professional baseball career.”

“Didn’t we all,” muttered Mason. “But most of us know better and move on.”

“His ex-wife said he was bitter about it. Sounds like he had some depression issues.”

“Over a lost dream of pro ball?”

“She said that was part of it. He seemed to have good months and bad. She said she married him because she’d seen a good guy. And when he wasn’t that good guy, she believed she had enough strength to help bring him back. I guess some of the time it worked, but she got tired of the ups and downs.”

“Who can blame her? Did she have a need to justify to you why she filed for divorce?”

“A bit. Still fresh, I guess,” said Zander.

“Give it time. There was a point when I felt I had to explain to everyone why Robin and I split. After a while I realized people didn’t want a long explanation.”

Zander was silent for a moment, and Mason thought back to their brief conversation about his marital status yesterday. “Not anymore,” the man had said. What’s Zander’s story?

“Did you find anything in the yearbooks?” Mason asked, filling the silence.

“Not in the yearbooks, but Aaron kept a bunch of mementoes from his interest in rockets. Looks like he belonged to an informal rocket club and attended camps and conventions. There were old flyers and photos from a half dozen different events. He must have been pretty passionate about it. When I asked Laura what she remembered about those days, she said he’d given it up before they started dating and that she’d been surprised to see he had so many keepsakes because he never talked about it.”

A small bell started to chime in the back of Mason’s brain. We’re getting close. “If you’re calling me early Sunday morning, you must think it’s important.” He sat up and swung his feet out of bed in an attempt to think more clearly. Bingo scooted into the warm spot he’d vacated, his furry head burrowing under the covers.

Zander paused. “I do. After visiting Laura King, I dug through the evidence we recovered from Joe Upton’s place. There were three dozen small rockets in a storage box.”

“Do you think it’s a coincidence they shared that interest?”

“I don’t know,” Zander said slowly. “But it’s the only coincidence so far. It caught my attention.”

Mason heard him cover a yawn. “How late were you up last night?”

“You mean this morning? I think I got three hours of sleep. Didn’t feel like I missed any sleep until an hour ago. You know how it is at this point.”

Mason did know. Sleep didn’t matter when he was closing in on an answer during an investigation. When he started feeling the pieces falling into place and making connections. The desire to find answers drove him to keep searching, and rest seemed unimportant.

“I know.” Mason was wide-awake, his brain speeding down different avenues. What did they need to take a closer look at? “I think we should go back to Carson Scott’s place. Or else talk to his parents. Maybe they have his high school stuff, and we can see if there are any common threads with the other guys. You did their initial interview, right?”

“Yes, I went to their home twice after we found him, but I didn’t talk to them about Carson’s high school days. I’ll contact them this morning and try to see them today.”

“Good. Did I miss anything else while I was sleeping?” Mason asked.

“There’s some trace evidence reports from Aaron King’s apartment in your email. I scanned them but haven’t taken a close look. Maybe you’ll spot something. I think our theory that our killer never stepped foot in that apartment or in Carson Scott’s is still correct. I bet evidence from Joe Upton’s home will be how we find him.”

“Agreed. That’s why we’ve got three times the manpower on that one.”