Page 20 of Wild Sentinel

"Well, she broke up with me. I guess I do still care about her. But I’ve moved on. I got another girlfriend now. So far so good.”

"Did Michelle ever mention anything to you about leaving town?”

Kyle shook his head. "No. She would never leave her mother.”

"You don't think she met some guy and ran off?” I said, playing devil's advocate.

His face tightened again. He didn't like the sound of that. I figured he still had quite a few feelings for Michelle. "Like I said, I don't think she would ever leave her mother. Not without saying something." Kyle frowned and shook his head. "I think some drifter came through town, picked her up, and her corpse is rotting out there in the desert somewhere."

"That's optimistic," I quipped.

"I'm a realist. People who go missing for over a month don’t magically reappear?”

He had a point. It was unlikely she was still alive. If she had run off with a lover, she would have made a phone call to her mother. I wasn’t holding out hope for Michelle.

"Did she have any enemies? Anybody who might have wanted to cause her harm?”

Kyle shook his head again. "No. Michelle got along with everybody.”

"What about her work?”

"What about it?”

"Did she ever talk about what she was working on? Did she ever express any concern?”

"We really didn't talk much about that. I knew she worked for QRG. But that's about it." He looked embarrassed. "I hate to say it, but Michelle is a lot smarter than I am. Half the time when she’d talk about things, I wouldn't know what the hell she was talking about." A frown pulled his lips, and he hung his head. "I think that's one of the reasons she got so frustrated with me.”

His responses seemed genuine.

I gave him a card and told him to get in touch if he remembered anything that might be helpful. Kyle looked over the card and finally snapped to the fact that we were from out of town. His face wrinkled with confusion. "Florida? What the hell are you doing here?"

“Trying to put the pieces together.”

We talked to some of the waitresses on the way out, and they confirmed Kyle's alibi. At that point, I didn't think he had any involvement. This was bigger than a jealous lover losing control.

We left the bar and set out to find Emily.

12

Emily was a fitness instructor. We caught up with her at the Stillwater Athletic Club. Dressed in tight yoga pants and a sports bra, she was easy on the eyes. She instructed another lovely young lady on proper form for tricep pushdowns.

For as small as Stillwater was, there were a lot of cuties running around this place.

I flashed my badge and made introductions. I figured Emily had already been interviewed a time or two by Sheriff Rollins and the FBI. She wasn't surprised to see two officers, though she did give us a look over, based on our attire.

"We have a few questions for you about Michelle Morgan," I said. "You have a minute?”

"I'm just finishing up with a client, but if you can give me 15 minutes, I’d be more than happy to talk to you.”

We stepped away and gave her some privacy.

It was a nice gym. They had an array of free weights and machines, along with medicine balls, balance boards, and rooms for spin class, boxing, yoga, and performance enhancement. The club was starting to fill up with people just getting off work.

With all the aerospace jobs, Stillwater was a wealthy town, chock-full of high-end boutiques, trendy restaurants, and nightlife.

After Emily finished with her client, she joined us. "I told Sheriff Rollins and the FBI everything I know.”

"We just talked to Kyle. He's got a pretty solid alibi. You think there's any way he could have been involved?"