Page 46 of Race to Save Her

“Are you Shelby’s boyfriend?”

“No, well, kinda.”

“Yes or no,” said McGaven. “If we don’t like the answers, we can take you in.”

“Look,” Tyler began. “We hang out together. I really like her.”

“When was the last time you saw her?” said Katie.

“It’s been a while, which doesn’t make sense.”

“How long is a while?”

“About two months… We were supposed to meet at this coffee place.”

“On Pine?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“When she got off work?”

“Yeah… she’s a yoga instructor.”

Katie sighed. “So why are you here?”

“I’ve checked places where she would go and I haven’t seen her. Her phone went directly to voicemail and now nothing…”

Katie eased up a bit and holstered her weapon. “Look at this from our point of view.”

“I know… but if you’re here… then that means… Oh God… something happened to her.”

McGaven holstered his weapon and sat next to the devastated young man. “Tyler, we’re sorry to have to tell you this but Shelby is dead,” he said.

“No… no…” He started to cry. “How? When?”

Katie looked at her partner. “We can’t divulge the details yet due to the ongoing investigation.”

“Which means… it’s bad, really bad.”

Katie softened her voice and sat in a chair across from him. “We’re working hard to try to find out who did this. What can you tell us about Shelby? Anything different? Anything bothering her recently? New people in her life?”

“No. Everything seemed fine. She is such a… was a great person and honestly cared about others. Even though she didn’t have any family, she still cared about other people.” He wiped his face and tried to pull himself together.

“How did you meet her?” said Katie.

“At the coffee house about two years ago.”

“Has anyone ever bothered her there?”

“No. Like I said, everything seemed normal…” He fidgeted. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

“Okay, Tyler, we need you to come down to the department and make a statement. Can you do that?”

“Of course.”

Katie pulled out her small notebook. “We need your full name, home address, and where you work.”

Tyler nodded. “Tyler Anthony Brandt. My address is 1299 Brown Valley Road, apartment 6.”