The two who’d been fooling around as much as talking and drinking were sliding out of the booth. The man slapped down some bills onto the check and then the two of them headed for the door, the woman first.

The camera hadn’t been able to provide a very sharp image of them when they were in the booth, but as they moved out into the middle of the room, it became easier to make them out.

Duckworth clicked the pause button. He leaned in closer and squinted, trying to get as good a look at the couple as possible.

“Something?” Axel said.

“No.”

“If you’re wondering who that is, I can tell you. Well, the guy anyway. The girl, I don’t recognize her. But the guy, he’s in here once in a while.”

“Not important,” Duckworth said, pushing back the chair and standing. “Thanks for all your help.”

“Any time you’re off duty, come on in. Drinks on the house. You like wings? We’ve got the best wings in town.”

“They sure smell good.”

“You want some to go?”

“No, that’s okay, but thanks.”

Duckworth left the office, walked past the kitchen and through the bar, and landed back on the sidewalk.

He wondered whether to tell Maureen that he now knew where Trevor had spent at least one of his evenings. That he seemed to have found a girlfriend.

He wondered about how much fun it was going to be sitting down with Trevor to interview him about who or what he might have seen when he walked out of that bar.

NINE

CAL

“CALL Jeremy,” I said, not addressing anyone in particular.

“I would do it,” Gloria said, “but someone took my phone.”

“Oh for Christ’s sake,” Bob said, and dug into his pocket for her cell and handed it to her.

Gloria called up her son’s number and tapped the screen. She put the phone to her ear and waited.

“He’s not answering,” she said.

“Have you got that app that shows where his phone is?” I asked.

She shook her head.

She went to put the phone back in her pocket, but Bob held out his hand. “Gloria.”

She gave him a look of exasperation and slapped the phone into his palm. Then she looked my way and said, “I wouldn’t be too worried. Jeremy does this sometimes.”

“Takes off?” I said.

She nodded. “He needs to get a little air, decompress, deal with the stress. When you consider what he’s been through, can you blame him?”

I said, “Isn’t it part of Jeremy’s probation deal that he be supervised at all times? Wasn’t he spared prison because you committed to always knowing his whereabouts?”

“He’s been given some leeway in that regard,” Bob offered. “Because of the threats. We cleared it before we came up from Albany.”

“But even if you were allowed to bring Jeremy to Promise Falls, aren’t you supposed to keep close tabs on him?”

“For God’s sake,” Gloria said. “He’s a teenager. You do the best you can, but sometimes he slips away. But he always comes back.”