Proof of Life Read online

  Quinn sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know. It sounds far-fetched, doesn’t it? But it’s a lead, and we can’t afford to ignore any potential link. Especially considering your sister disappeared fourteen years ago, as well.”

  He was right about that, she was forced to admit. The timing of the adoption agency shutting down and her sister’s disappearance was almost too much of a coincidence.

  Their food arrived just then, interrupting the conversation. Shanna bowed her head to silently give thanks for the food before she began to eat. She sensed Quinn’s curious gaze, but when he spoke, he returned to their previous discussion.

  “So what information did you come up with?” Quinn asked after digging into his meal.

  She took a bite of her burger before answering. “Based on what you just told me, I’m not sure if my information is nearly as helpful. I spoke to Al this morning, and we have a few fingerprint matches. Two kids in particular, Tanya Jacobs and Derek Matthews. They were busted well over a year ago for drug dealing at a state campus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And both of their prints showed up on beer cans from your brother’s party.”

  Quinn’s munched a French fry, his expression thoughtful. “Well, that certainly adds an interesting twist.”

  Privately, she thought the former drug dealers were more likely candidates to have murdered Brady than some stranger from a nonexistent adoption agency. Yet she really liked the adoption-agency theory because she wanted, very badly, to believe Skylar had been adopted into a nice family.

  “Yeah, I thought so,” she agreed. “Here they are, hanging around a private college in Chicago, their prints found at the scene of your brother’s murder. They may or may not be actual students—we can find that out easily enough. But even if they’re not officially enrolled, we should get copies of their mug shots and show them around campus.”

  “Sounds like a good plan,” Quinn murmured in agreement as he took another bite of his burger.

  They both fell silent as they finished their meal. Shanna kept thinking about the other children who’d been kidnapped about the same time as Skylar. Was it really possible they were all part of some sort of illegal adoption ring? That they were adopted out to other families? Was this what had happened to Skylar?

  And to Brady’s roommate, Dennis Green?

  Quinn noticed Shanna was lost in thought as they finished their lunch. He had a strong feeling his brother had been on to something with his investigation into the New Beginnings adoption agency.

  But Shanna’s question looped over and over in his mind. Did he really think the adoption article was directly related to Brady’s murder?

  His cop instincts didn’t follow the logic. To think that someone actually linked to the agency, with something to hide, had discovered his brother’s investigation and tracked him down to silence him forever was a total and complete stretch.

  Logically, it made sense that two students with felony convictions for drug dealing were the more likely candidates for being guilty of a crime of opportunity. Shanna was right about that part; it wasn’t as if someone had strategized long and hard about getting Brady alone to kill him. And if someone from the adoption agency was looking for him, it seemed as if they’d go that route, rather than clubbing his brother on the back of the head with a rugby trophy in the early hours of the morning.

  Had his brother found out about their drug dealing? Had Brady kicked them out of the party, and they’d come back later for revenge? Or had some other student gone crazy while under the influence of drugs? Any of those scenarios was far more likely.

  Shanna was right; they needed to start with the two felons. Finding out if they were actually enrolled in classes or if they just liked hanging out with the college crowd.

  “Are you ready?” Quinn asked when the waitress returned with their tab. He took it quickly, before Shanna could try to get all independent on him.

  Her smile was a bit lopsided as she nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.”

  “You look upset,” he said with a frown.

  “Not at all,” she countered quickly. “In fact, I’m glad that we’ve made so much progress in such a short period of time. I believe God is guiding us, Quinn.”

  He stared at her for a moment, remembering how she’d said the same thing last evening, before he’d gone to help his mother with Brady’s funeral arrangements. And he’d also noticed that she’d bowed her head to pray before eating. He wasn’t familiar with the kind of faith she mentioned, so he wasn’t sure how to respond.

  “Quinn, do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” Shanna’s blue eyes were wide and serious.

  “Of course not,” he responded. After all, they were friends, right? Right.

  “Do you believe in God?”

  The blunt question took him by surprise. He’d expected some sort of question related to his previous relationships, or why he wasn’t married. “Yes,” he responded a little too quickly. “Why do you ask?”

  “Because I’ve noticed you get quiet and try to change the subject every time I mention faith or God,” she pointed out. “If you didn’t believe in God, I could understand that you might be uncomfortable with the subject.”

  He shrugged, embarrassed that she’d read him so easily. For a moment he remembered the brief prayer he’d said when he found Shanna alive at her house, and the flash of peace. “I was brought up to believe in God, and my parents took me to church services when I was young. But I haven’t been to church in years,” he said honestly. “So I am a little uncomfortable with the topic, since I can’t claim to be in a close relationship with God.” And didn’t have a clue where to start, even if he wanted to. Which he wasn’t at all sure he did.

  The smile that lit up her face nearly blinded him. “That’s okay, Quinn. Believing in God is half the battle. He’ll forgive you for straying if you want to start fresh. Maybe you need to just give Him a try?”

  He stared at her for several long seconds, not sure if he appreciated the opportunity or was afraid of moving forward. Praying inside was one thing; talking out loud was very different. “I’ll think about it,” he said evasively. And hated himself when the bright light of hope in her eyes dimmed.

  “That’s all I’ll ask,” she said, with a smile that looked forced. “I think you’ll be surprised if you can find a way to open your heart and your mind.”

  He wasn’t so sure, but he nodded anyway. He signed off on the credit-card receipt and then stood. “Do you still want to go back to Carlyle University to go through student IDs?” he asked.

  “Yes. I know there’s no guarantee Skylar is a student, but I feel like I need to go through them all anyway, just in case.”

  He understood her need to be sure. “All right. But on the way, I’m going to stop at the police station to get mug shots of our two suspects, Tanya Jacobs and Derek Matthews.”

  “I’m interested to see those mug shots, too,” she agreed.

  For a moment he wondered if it was possible that Tanya Jacobs was actually Shanna’s sister, Skylar. But just as soon as the thought entered his mind, he knew they couldn’t be one and the same. Both sets of prints were found at the crime scene, which meant there were two different girls.

  Relieved for Shanna’s sake, he slung her bag over his shoulder and let her lead the way out of the restaurant. As they went through the lobby to go outside, their fingers brushed and he found himself wishing things could be different. That he had the right to hold her hand.

  Friends, he reminded himself. He’d learned the hard way that when it came to women, friendship was all he had to offer.

  But it occurred to him as they both climbed into the car that if there ever was a woman he’d want to have a relationship with, she would be exactly like Shanna.

  Shanna stayed with Quinn as he inquired at the student-services desk if either Tanya Jacobs or Derek Matthews was enrolled in the university. She wasn’t surprised when neither name showed up on the student roster.

  “Guess I’ll hav
e to show their photos around, see if anyone recognizes them,” Quinn muttered, “since the only address on file is the one from Milwaukee.”

  “Do you want me to help?” Shanna asked, even though she really wanted to finish up with the student IDs.

  Quinn seemed to consider her offer, but then shook his head. “No, thanks. I’ll meet you back here in a couple of hours.”

  Shanna smiled in agreement and then went over to her usual computer workstation. She pulled up the student IDs, trying not to allow her thoughts to dwell on Quinn.

  She was glad, very glad, that Quinn believed in God. Now she just needed him to open up to the concept of renewing his faith.

  Earlier that morning, when the elevator doors opened and she saw Quinn waiting for her in the lobby, her breath had gotten stuck in her lungs. He’d looked amazing with his black jeans and his long-sleeved white polo shirt. She’d immediately realized that God had brought Quinn into her life for a reason.

  Not just to help her find Skylar, but more importantly, so she could help him reconnect with his faith.

  When lunch was finished, Quinn had agreed to think about it, and she told herself to be patient. So she sent up a quick prayer, asking God for guidance.

  Turning her attention to the task at hand, she flipped through photograph after photograph, trying to see even the slightest resemblance to Skylar’s age-progression photo. As she moved slowly through the alphabet of last names, she began to get discouraged. Leaving the O’s to start on the last names beginning with the letter P, she couldn’t help wondering if she was wasting her time going through the photos.

  There was no guarantee Skylar looked anything like the age-progression picture. But what else could she do? Now that she was more than halfway through the list, she didn’t really want to stop.

  Completely lost in the photos, Shanna started when, over an hour later, Quinn came up behind her, putting a light hand on her shoulder. “How’s it going?” he asked.

  She closed her eyes and willed her heart rate to return to normal. “About the same,” she said honestly. “So far no matches anywhere close.”

  He pulled up a seat beside her. “How many more until you finish the list?”

  “Not very many. I’m already up to the W’s.” She glanced over at him, thinking he seemed tired. “How did it go with the two mug shots?”

  “Didn’t come up with much. A couple of kids thought the two suspects looked familiar, but couldn’t give me any insight as to when or where they saw them last.” His tone sounded as dejected as he looked.

  More dead ends. Seemed like they took two steps backward for every one step forward.

  No, that wasn’t fair. She was letting her discouragement get to her. She needed to have faith that God would show them the way.

  “You know, if the two of them are involved in anything illegal, like selling drugs, other kids aren’t going to be so quick to turn them in,” she said.

  “Yeah, I thought of that,” Quinn said slowly. “But you would still think there are some honest kids who would come forward.”

  “But honest kids probably haven’t interacted with them,” she pointed out. “But maybe we’re on the wrong track. Maybe we need to start with Brady’s roommates. If Brady had spoken to either of the suspects, or argued with them, surely his roommates would have noticed.”

  “Yeah, I already tried to contact them. The Chicago P.D. has already questioned them and didn’t come up with much, at least not according to Hank. And as of today, they were allowed to return to their residence. But when I went over there, no one was around. It would be pretty amazing if they’d already gone back to class.”

  Very true. But it was possible that going back to class was exactly what they needed to feel normal. Sometimes getting lost in the normal routine of her life was the only way she could cope with Skylar’s kidnapping.

  She glanced at her watch, wincing a little when her headache started to return. Time for more ibuprofen. “It’s almost four o’clock. If they did go to class, they’ll be done soon. Why don’t you wait for me to finish here and then we’ll both head back over?”

  “Your energy level is amazing,” Quinn said with a light chuckle. “Okay, you win. We’ll work on this together.”

  She wanted to give her faith credit for her energy level, but decided not to push it. Quinn would find his way, and if God wanted her to intervene, He’d give her a sign.

  Finishing the list of female students didn’t take long. “Take a look at these five,” she suggested, going back to the handful of student images that she’d saved. “Here’s the age-progression photo to compare to. What do you think?”

  “They’re close,” Quinn admitted. “But not really a match. Look at the shape of the eyes on this picture.” He pointed to the first one. “They slant up, and Skylar’s are definitely more round. There are some similarities on these other three, but this last one here is way off. The shape of her face isn’t exactly right, either. Skylar’s is more heart-shaped, like yours, and hers is oval.”

  He thought her face was heart-shaped? “Yeah, that was my thought, too, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t being too picky.” With a sigh, she shut down the computer. “I guess we know that Skylar isn’t likely a student here at the university.”

  “I’m sorry, Shanna,” Quinn murmured.

  “It’s okay. Every bit of knowledge helps.” And she was determined to keep her faith. “If Skylar’s not a student, then she must have run into your brother somewhere here on campus.”

  “I hate to tell you, but Chicago North, an Illinois state campus, is located just six miles from here. The private kids often hang out with the state-school kids.”

  She grimaced. “I know—I already thought of that. Not just as a place to find Skylar, but as a potential link to our two suspects. Since they were enrolled at a state school in Wisconsin, I thought they might have gone the same route here.”

  “Let’s finish up on this campus first, before we broaden our search too wide,” Quinn cautioned.

  “All right.” But she silently vowed to start looking through the Chicago North student ID listing as soon as possible. There was no reason to suspect Skylar couldn’t be a student on that campus. “Are you ready to visit Brady’s roommates?”

  “Yes.” Quinn walked back out with her to his car and drove the couple of blocks to Brady’s former residence. It wasn’t easy finding a place to park, and they ended up several blocks away.

  As they walked up, they ran into Kyle Ryker. “Kyle? Wait up,” Quinn called.

  The young man glanced at them, and for a moment looked as if he might run. But then he stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, giving them time to catch up. “I already gave my statement to the police,” Kyle said defensively.

  “I understand how hard this must be for you,” Shanna quickly spoke up sympathetically. “And we just have a quick question. Do you remember seeing these two people at the party Saturday night?”

  She watched Kyle’s eyes as Quinn handed over the photos. There were no telltale signs of recognition, and after a few moments he shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I don’t recognize either of them. My girlfriend was over, and I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the other kids Brady invited.”

  “You think Brady invited them?” Quinn asked.

  “Either Brady or Dennis. Both of them were passing out flyers to the kids on campus. Mark and I weren’t as keen on the thought of having another party. Especially after getting underage-drinking tickets from the last party.”

  “Thanks. I’d rather you didn’t tell your roommates about these two until we have a chance to show them,” Quinn said.

  Kyle hunched his shoulders. “Fine with me. I already told the cops my theory about how Brady was playing with fire the way he kept flirting with that new chick all night at the party. Either Anna or one of her friends or even Anna’s brother could have smacked him in the head.”

  She caught her breath and glanced at Quinn, his eyes mirroring her sur
prise. New chick? “Do you have a name?”

  He shrugged. “Phoebe—but don’t ask me her last name, ’cause I have no idea.”

  Phoebe? Shanna’s heart raced. Was this the clue they’d been waiting for?

  NINE

  Quinn eagerly grabbed his wallet from his back pocket and pulled out the list of students they knew for sure were at Brady’s party. Quickly, he ran his finger down the neatly typed names.

  No Phoebe.

  He made a mental note to add her name, now that Kyle had confirmed she was there, as he folded the list and put it back inside his wallet. Then he glanced at the mug shots of the two drug dealers and held up the picture of Tanya Jacobs. “And you’re sure this woman isn’t Phoebe?”

  Kyle studied the picture for a long moment. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I mean, they look a little similar I guess, but not a lot. Look, I gotta go.” He moved as if to step past them.

  “Wait.” Shanna stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Can you tell us what Phoebe looks like?”

  Kyle rolled his eyes, clearly annoyed with being detained. “I don’t know. She’s cute I guess, has long dark hair. But I didn’t really pay much attention, ’cause my girl gets jealous, you know?”

  “Is she tall? Short? Thin?” Quinn persisted. Surely if she were as cute as Kyle claimed, he could give them a little more information.

  “Short and thin, in an athletic sort of way. I swear I don’t know anything more. Except that Anna would be mad if she knew how much time Brady spent with her.”

  “Sounds like you don’t like Anna very much,” Quinn observed, hearing the distinct note of disdain in Kyle’s tone.

  “She thinks she’s hot stuff, that’s all. We don’t generally hang with the same crowd. Are we finished now?” His impatience was palpable.