Page 97 of Night Hawk
“Did Ziegler say anything about that?” Trent asked.
“No, but he never badmouthed Raintree no matter what others said. It was a high-profile case and an election year. Could explain Raintree’s behavior.”
“Could indeed.” Trent shared an insider’s look with Blake.
Clay couldn’t imagine what went into getting elected and reelected as sheriff. Never made any sense to Clay that the sheriff’s position was often an elected position. He’d seen men and women elected who knew very little about policing.
“Okay.” Trent clapped his hands. “That’s it. Let’s make assignments and get to work catching a killer and trafficker of humans.”
Toni felt Peggy watching her, but she kept on digging through the records, not commenting on anything to Drake to keep Peggy from overhearing. When Toni had turned the last page of the three-ring binder, she sat back to wait for Drake to catch up.
Unless she’d missed something in the four large binders, Sharkey hadn’t been mentioned in Ziegler’s files. Notes did say Raintree canvassed the hotel area as part of the initial assessment, but he claimed not to have learned anything. No mention of Joy at all.
Drake closed the book.
“We should get going,” she said before he could speak.
He didn’t question her but stacked the books on top of Clay’s investigation files and headed for the door.
“Bye again,” he said to his parents.
“Thanks for the coffee,” Toni added.
In the SUV, she turned to Drake. “You see anything about Sharkey in the books?”
“Nada.” Drake cranked the engine. “I say we go to the local newspaper office to review archives. We might even be able to search for mention of Sharkey or a homeless issue. Something like that.”
“Sounds good. And if we don’t find anything, we can talk to Joy again. I’m sure she’ll be glad to provide more information.” Toni got out her phone. “I’ll find the newspaper office’s address.”
“No need. It’s on Main Street. At least it is if it hasn’t moved since I was a kid.”
She swiveled to face him. “Sounds like you guys spent a lot of time here.”
“We each had a week alone with our grandparents every summer plus two weeks all together. We did chores for Grandma and Gramps, and they gave us an allowance. We’d save it up and ride bikes into town to buy saltwater taffy and souvenir junk. You should’ve seen our parents roll their eyes at it when we got home.”
He smiled and his eyes lit with warmth as if he had fond memories. “My favorite was a grabber with a shark’s head. I can’t tell you all the things I picked up with that thing. Or how many times I got socked from grabbing my brothers with it.”
He laughed, but she couldn’t. If she’d been allowed to see her grandparents, would she have had a similar experience? She might’ve even met the Byrd brothers. Been lifelong friends and not someone who had no idea what her future might be with this family.
She could always forgive Clay. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. She knew that. But the hurt was still too fresh to consider anything with him. She had to find out if it was in his nature to act like this again. If something important came up that he wanted and she was in the way, would he cut her out?
“Main Street.” Drake turned onto a typical beach tourist road. Colorful restaurants, souvenir stores, a combo sweet and ice cream shop, and an arcade. She could easily imagine the Byrd siblings exploring the town.
“The paper’s just ahead.” Drake pulled into a parking space in front of a two-story building with a covered patio.
Inside, she could still smell the ink from days gone by, and a giant printing press with rubber letters took up the back wall. She doubted they’d printed the paper this way in eons, but it was fun to see.
An older gentleman with snowy white hair who was likely pushing eighty got up from behind a desk and came to lean on a scarred counter. “Help you?”
“We were hoping to look at your archives for the late eighties,” Toni said.
“Anything particular you’re looking for?”
“Lisa Long’s disappearance.”
He frowned. “Why would you want to see that? Was a sad thing for Walt and Gert Long. They barely survived it.”
Toni took a breath. “Lisa is my sister.”
