Chapter 72: A New Line In The Water

Open Road, Temperance, South Dakota...

Once again high winds and the chill of a near on nightly breeze had greeted Brick Kenneally when he found himself on the road again courtesy of his bike as he sped down the winding highways after departing from The Quinn residence following a hot meal, a quick shower and leaving Layla with a final kiss before heading back into the big wide world. While he had enjoyed his time with his new lover, he'd been determined to find out more about his missing person's case and more importantly, what happened to the little girl and how Layla's mother had been possibly involved with the kidnapper/murderer in the first place. There was a lot that wasn't seeming to add up about what happened, not when it came to the missing girl and especially not when it came to the blonde.

Brick had especially been suspicious about the likes of Jarrett Quinn and what he had been about ever since he first met him. He could tell even if everyone else couldn't that Quinn was most likely hiding something. It was even more odd that he'd decided to take off for two weeks given the amount of questions they had for him and left his only daughter home alone in the process.

Layla didn't seem all that bothered by it, in fact, it seemed to be the sort of thing her father had done more often than not as she was growing up. Brick had not liked the idea of Layla having been raised by a man with more than his fair share of secrets and even less about his odd behavior when it came to his ex-wife and her death. He saw no photos of Mrs. Quinn and nothing in that house seemed to belong to her as if he'd been trying to erase her from his daughter's memory.

While he understood the bitterness of the man from his wife leaving him with a daughter to raise on his own, he had not understood why he elected to try and erase her altogether unless she'd been involved in something he had not wanted his daughter anywhere near.

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The Parking Lot, Earl's Diner, Temperance, South Dakota...

Brick pulled his bike into the parking lot of the diner and shut it off the moment the boys approached him seeing as if they had something on their minds regarding the issue with their cold case Goldie had been present as well and she'd been quite keen on finding any man who might have been dealing with the blonde before her demise that still lived in town. While Brick had a lot on his mind, the boys had narrowed down a location of origin for the blonde in the sketches and deciphered that she had not been born in Temperance and only barely moved there with her husband and daughter before she disappeared only to reappear dead and buried after a short funeral arranged by her former husband.

"Brick, a lot of this stuff with this woman ain't addin' up," said Rooster in his usual gruff tone.

"Tell me about it." agreed Brick looking over the sketch once more.

"This here case stinks to high Heaven if you ask me," said Gunther shaking his head. "And my gut tells me Jarrett Quinn either knows something about the wife's involvement or he's hiding somethin' about his wife and either way we can't trust him."

"I'm of the same mind." replied Brick, "But for now, we need to follow up on the lead with the blonde, it's well established she ain't from around here and married life had not been all that great for her with all them aspirations and dreams to be something better than what she was."

"She also liked to keep company with a lot of men," said Rooster recalling what he'd known of her.

"The wealthier the better," said Goldie walking up to the crew with a smirk filed across her face.

Brick arched a brow at her and gave her his undivided attention.

"Turns out our girl has run afoul of quite a few men before meeting her end, possibly at the hands of our suspect," said Goldie standing with her hands on her hips as she popped a bit of her pink chewing gum.

"Do tell," replied Brick very much interested.

"The name Charlie Mack came up when I was investigating the blonde, his brother lives right here in town and had for quite some time before the blonde showed up after swindling his brother out of thousands in order to fund her expensive tastes for stardom and get this, she had actually come up and spoke to him to ask for help concerning a certain vile man that was out to harm her."

"Is Charlie still kickin'?" asked Brick at least not wanting to get his hopes up too soon.

"Alive and well," replied Goldie. "Spoke with him all afternoon before he headed home, Man's got a real chip on his shoulder about the blonde and what she'd done to his brother so when I showed him the sketch and asked around, he knew her the moment he saw her."

"Well shit," said Brick impressed. "You got my attention."

"And a solid lead for once," remarked Rooster.

"How you wanna play it?" asked Gunther. "Should we get Tillman on this?"

"Hell no," replied Brick rather sternly. "Ain't no way I'm letting Johnny Law come and scoop this lead out from under us, I'll interview Charlie Mack man to man and see what he's got to say about this blonde, chances are he's our key in the door to this investigation and I don't want nothin' messin' it up."

The boys nodded and Goldie seemed to be in agreement.

"We gonna take this one nice and slow," replied Brick directing his crew. "If Charlie Mack is willing to talk then we let him talk, no need for browbeating when it ain't required."

Everyone nodded and awaited further instructions.

"Everyone else go see what you can dig up, ask who you need to ask, and knock on the doors if you have to, somebody knows something bout this lady and whoever she'd been with we just gotta find out who'd be more inclined to talk about it." continued Brick. "Keep up the good work, we'll solve this here case in no time."

Goldie smiled pleasantly knowing she'd be rewarded in the long run for her hard work and detective skills.

"That'll do for now, rest up and get full tomorrow we hit the ground running on this case," said Brick evenly. "Whatever information you find stays in house, do I make myself clear?"

"Crystal," replied Rooster.

"Can do," replied Gunther.

The remainder of the group nodded as Brick climbed off his bike and they all ventured into the diner. He knew all too well that Layla wouldn't be in this night but he had been delighted to have spent so much time with her beforehand.