enough of you. Sit down and shut up or you’ll find yourself surrounded by bullies named Bubba who want to be your best buddy,
if
you know what I mean.”
Solliday whistled softly. “It isn’t often they get pretty boys tossed into their cage.”
Mia swallowed a smirk as Zach sat down on his bed without another word. She turned soberly to Joel. “Joel, help me find who did this. When did you last see her?”
“Saturday night. Seven o’clock or so. She said there was a party at TriEpsilon that night but she needed to study. I told her to stay here, but she said if she did we’d... well, she wouldn’t study. She didn’t want to give her father the pleasure of seeing her fail.” He closed his eyes. “This is all my fault.”
“Why do you say that, Joel?” Solliday asked.
“She partied with me too much. I should have backed off like her father said.”
Either this kid was innocent or he was a damn fine actor. Mia was pretty sure it was the first one. “Did you hear from her at any time that night?”
“She IM’d me at eleven. She said she loved me,” he ended in a ragged whisper.
Mia glanced over at Solliday, saw they were in agreement over this kid. “Where were you all evening, Joel?”
“Here until eleven. I IM’d her back, then met some friends at the arcade.” He rattled off six names and she had little doubt they’d corroborate his story.
Mia hated to press him at this point, but it was necessary. “Did anybody else want to hurt her? Anybody following her? Anybody making her uncomfortable?”
He sagged against the wall, dropping his chin to his chest. “No. No. No.”
“One more question, Joel,” Solliday said. “When you didn’t hear from Caitlin all day yesterday or today, weren’t you worried?”
His head snapped up, fury in his eyes. “Of course I was. But I thought she’d gone home. I couldn’t call her at her parents’ house. She’d told them we were through. I figured she’d call when she could. When I didn’t see her in class this morning I asked around. Nobody had seen her. I called her parents, frantic. Left two messages on their answering machine. But they’d rather see me in jail than tell me that she was dead,” he finished bitterly. “God
damn
them.”
Under the circumstances, Mia could see his point of view.
Back at Solliday’s SUV she shook her head. “If I ever have kids, I’m not going to interfere.”
Solliday opened her door for her, as he’d been doing all day. “Never say never. I can understand both sides. Father wants the best for his daughter. Daughter wants to run her own life. I don’t think Joel’s involved.”
“Neither do I. I think our guy chose the Doughertys’ house. Either he stalked her there, or he happened on her and took advantage of the opportunity.”
“And Burnette could still be the real target.” He closed her door, then came around to his side. The engine was roaring to life when she heard his deep chuckle. “‘Bully named Bubba who wants to be your best buddy.’ It’s poetic. Can I use it?”
She smiled at him, oddly at peace for the moment. “Be my guest.”
It was quiet during the drive back to the precinct, both using the time to check their voice mail. He stopped the SUV next to her car. “Wow,” he said. “Nice.”
Mia looked at her little rebuilt Alfa Romeo fondly. “It’s my one splurge.” Then she slid down to the ground, turning to look at him. “Barrington made Caitlin’s ID official.”
“And the lab found an instant message in the cache of the Doughertys’ computer. Time corresponds with Joel’s story.”
“Then we make some progress. How about meeting at eight tomorrow in Spinnelli’s office? He has this thing for eight o’clock meetings.”
“I’ll see if I can get the lab report on the samples I took before then,” he said, “and I’ll meet you at your desk. The Doughertys left me a voice mail saying they were getting into O’Hare at midnight. We can talk to them
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