“Is there anything in Schroder’s background that might be suspicious in hindsight?”
“Just the detective’s instincts that said something was hinky about the whole family. That was the exact word he used…hinky. Back then, DNA was only starting to be used, but he said his small police department didn’t have the knowledge or funds for it. In the end, he didn’t have enough proof to make an arrest.”
“But he believes it was either the father or the son who killed the girl? How old was she?”
“Seven. He says he’s positive it was one of the two. That this case has haunted him for thirty years.”
“You said Schroder’s forty-six now, so he would’ve been sixteen at the time. Plenty old enough to commit a murder. Are the father and mother still alive?”
“No, they died in a house fire two years after Lisa, that’s the daughter’s name, was killed.”
“Like that’s not suspicious.”
“There was an arson investigation, but in the end, it was reported as an electrical fire. The arson investigator did write in the report that it was possible the wires had been tampered with, but he couldn’t say for certain.”
“Schroder would’ve turned eighteen by then. Did he wait until he was legally an adult and didn’t have to worry about Child Services to do it?”
“If he did do it that would make sense.” Grayson’s phone chimed. “It’s Jules. Hey, Jules, I’m with Coop and putting you on speaker.”
“Got yourself in the middle of a strange one,” Jules said.
Cooper couldn’t disagree. “You have more intel for us?”
“Yeah. I have to say this is turning out to be a fascinating story, and I’m hooked, so I did some more digging. It turned up a former girlfriend of Schroder’s and I called her. They dated in college, and she said he was fun at first. After a while, though, she said he started getting weird.”
“In what way?” Cooper asked.
“Talking about angels. He’d see a little girl and say what a pretty angel she would be. She said he also talked about his sister a lot, that she was an angel now and wasn’t suffering anymore, that she never cried anymore. She said he started weirding her out and she stopped seeing him.”
All of this was really disturbing. “I have a bad feeling about this whole thing and why he wanted Kendall.”
“Yeah, same here,” Grayson said. “We’re dealing with a mentally disturbed man. Thanks, Jules. We appreciate your digging deeper on this.”
“It’s like a bad B movie, the kind you can’t stop watching even if it is awful. I’ll call if I learn any more. Go find your girl, Coop.”
“That’s the plan.”
A chilling picture of Schroder’s past and potential motives painted a disturbing image of a man teetering on the edge of sanity. And he had Kendall. “Something’s been nagging at me. I think it’s possible that this is the man who kidnapped Kendall when she was seven.”
Grayson darted a glance at Cooper. “Kendall was kidnapped?”
“Yeah, right out of her front yard. She managed to get away and found help. The man who did it was never caught. I don’t know. That was over twenty years ago. Maybe it wasn’t him, but I can’t get the possibility out of my mind.”
“It would make sense as to why he’s fixated on her.”
“What I keep thinking.” Cooper had the sense that time was running out. He glanced at the GPS. They still had thirty-five minutes to go. He was already fifteen miles per hour over the speed limit and didn’t want to press his luck by going any faster. The last thing they needed was to get stopped considering all the weapons they had on them and in the truck.
“When I left, Tyler was teaching Livie a bunch of jokes to tell you when you get back home,” Grayson said.
“Probably all the ones I taught Tyler.” Cooper knew his friend was trying to distract him from worrying about Kendall. It wasn’t going to work, but he’d play along.
“I’m sure, but you’ll have to pretend you’ve never heard them.”
“Of course. I’d never want to disappoint Livie.”
There were a few minutes of silence, then, “You want to keep them. Am I right?”
“You are. I’m going to be in my daughter’s life, but just how is the big question. It depends on Kendall. I’m hoping she’ll be willing to move to Myrtle Beach.”