Chapter 21

Dawkins smiled as he walked back to his car. The more lies he told, the easier it got-even if he didn't like it. Now he had lied twice in one day to Kelly. He wouldn't let her beauty distract him from following his new orders. A night worrying about Cal would make her putty in the boss's hands. And that's what they needed at the moment since Cal was now missing and up to who knows what. Kelly wouldn't think straight. Three boys would be buried on Saturday. Statenville would move on by the time she thought about revisiting the suspicious information she and Cal were gathering.

But there was a problem. A big problem.

For all of Dawkins' lies, he didn't know the full truth himself. The part he really cared about was Cal's whereabouts. Cal was missing. How his car eluded the onslaught of obstacles down the hill until making a soft enough landing in the trees for him to walk away was nothing short of a miracle. But who sent him careening off the road was a bigger mystery at the moment.

By the time Dawkins arrived on the scene and found Cal's car in the woods, Cal was gone. Did he stumble off into the woods alone? Did someone help him? What happened? Suddenly the protector of one mystery found himself wondering about another.

Just where was Cal Murphy?