Lowcountry Boneyard Read Online Free PDF Page B

tea, refilled mine, and moved on to the next table.
    “You said they ‘handled’ the case with care. Past tense. That mean they’ve stopped working it?”
    Sonny lifted a shoulder. “It’s still an open case.”
    “But there wouldn’t be any harm in me poking around.”
    He turned down the corners of his mouth in a facial shrug. “Nobody’s going to make any noise about you looking into it. Anything that keeps Colton Heyward—and Abigail Bounetheau, the grandmother—off the chief’s phone line is good for all of us. It’s not like Kent isn’t a priority. We’ve just exhausted our leads on this one. And every day brings a new batch of victims.”
    The Bounetheaus had been in Charleston as long as pluff mud. Philanthropic and civic-minded, family members were frequent subjects of newspaper and magazine spreads. Any case involving them would bring an added layer of complexity.
    “You think I should mention that I’m looking into Kent’s disappearance to the case detectives?” I asked.
    “Maybe let me fill them in.”
    “Thanks.” I kept my disappointment out of my voice. While I was grateful for Sonny’s help, I would rather have spoken to the detectives myself, maybe find out what leads they’d already worked and discarded.
    “Don’t mention it.”
    “Will you ask them if they’ll meet with me?”
    “I can ask. Not all detectives are as open-minded as me as regards private investigators. Could be, due to the sensitive nature of the parties involved the lieutenant won’t allow it. Department told the family there are no more leads to pursue. Lieutenant likely wouldn’t want to send a mixed message.”
    Lunch was served, and for a few minutes, corn fritters and crab cakes got my undivided attention. Sonny dug into a cheeseburger.
    We caught up on family and friends while we ate. After all the usual suspects were accounted for, Sonny said, “Hey, you might want to take five-twenty-six back to Mount Pleasant.”
    I stilled. I wasn’t ready to think too much on the bridge accident.
    Sonny cocked his thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of East Cooper. “The Cooper River Bridge is closed heading into town. Flatbed lost a load of lumber. It’s a bona fide miracle no one was killed. Northbound lanes are open, but folks have been sitting there for a couple hours. Rubberneckers got themselves into a chain reaction of fender-benders. It’s a god-awful mess.”
    “I’ll do that—thanks.” It was a miracle all right. Hearing Sonny tell it, it finally sank in. If not for Colleen, I would be dead right now. I’d seen it in her eyes. I couldn’t catch my breath. I focused. In…out. In…out. How many times in the past seventeen years had Colleen intervened to save me that I wasn’t even aware of?
    “You okay?” Sonny scrutinized me.
    I smiled and shook it off. “I’m fine.” I forked another bite of crab cake and dabbed it in lemon aioli. “What do you make of the phone call her daddy got from her cell?”
    “Could support either theory. Proves nothing. Detectives flew to Memphis and Amarillo to canvas the areas around the gas stations. No cameras. No one saw her. No evidence she was ever there. But nothing to prove she wasn’t, either. Hard to prove a negative.”
    “It looks bad, her not using her credit cards—except for the two tanks of gas—or bank account. She walked away from her job. Her boyfriend is still in town, right? How is she supporting herself?” I set down my fork and added the question to my list.
    “Yeah, the boyfriend’s still here. Theoretically, she could be staying with any one of fifty college friends who scattered all over the country after graduation.”
    “But Ansley—her best friend—called everyone they hung out with.”
    “And the case detectives called every name on the list she gave them. Local departments followed up. Doesn’t mean one of the friends wasn’t hiding something.”
    I weighed that. “This is probably about as much use as