Blood Loss by Alex Barclay Page B

wouldn’t Shelby Royce have gotten in contact with someone if the little girl ran away?’ said one of the female officers. ‘Wouldn’t she call her own parents? I know my daughter calls me if she’s babysitting and something happens, or she’s not sure what to do …’
    ‘My boss has spoken with the Royces, so we’ll see what they say,’ said Ren. ‘OK, moving on: with regard to vehicles in and out of Breck, there are almost ten thousand extra visitors here this weekend. Because of this, and because of a charity fundraiser on Saturday night, there were no road closures when the authorities were alerted, and without confirmation of a kidnapping, and without any license plates to go on, we don’t know what we’re looking for on the highway cameras, so until that changes, there’s not a lot of point in pulling the tapes.
    ‘On the Whaleys’ finances, there’s no indication that the family’s going through any financial difficulties – they have $55,000 cash, $3 million in liquid assets, $2 million in a 401k, plus their paid-off $1.1 million-dollar home, and, at today’s rate, $2.3 million in stock options with MeesterBrandt.’
    Ren handed the briefing over to Paul Louderback.
    ‘Thank you, SA Bryce. Good morning, everyone. I’m SSA Paul Louderback and I’m with CARD – the FBI’s Child Abduction Rapid Deployment Team. For those of you who don’t know, CARD works alongside agents from the BAU – Behavioral Analysis Unit – the National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime, and the Crimes Against Children Unit. We’re here as a resource to you all, so if there is anything you need, please, let us know.’
    Ren had drifted from his explanation – she knew who Paul Louderback was, she knew why he was there. She knew more about him than anyone else in the room. So, she just watched. She had an opportunity she had not had since she was at the Academy – to stand in a room, and study Paul Louderback.
    He was dictionary-definition handsome, the type who comes from a long line of handsome men, men who wear chinos and button-down shirts, and smart shoes. He was too classically good-looking for other men to get Ren’s attraction to him. They would think ‘nah – he’s too straight for her’.
    Corruptible …
    The thoughts that used to run through Ren’s head were trying to run their course again.
    Stop. Stop. Stop.
    Part of Ren resented Paul Louderback. He should have known better. She was hardly the first student to have a crush on him.
    But it wasn’t a crush. It was more than that. It was just … complicated.
    When they first met, she was with someone else, someone her own age, her hometown boyfriend, someone she really cared about. And what hundreds-of-miles-away twenty-four-year-old Catskill boyfriend could compete with a thirty-four-year-old FBI PT instructor? Especially when he didn’t even know a starting pistol had been fired. The guilt had consumed Ren. She left her boyfriend, not because he had done anything wrong, but because she didn’t know what to do with her feelings for Paul Louderback.
    She took her eyes off Paul, physically shook her head as if that would get rid of the thoughts.
    Jesus, stop thinking about men.
    Gary Dettling caught Ren’s eye, holding her gaze until she focused back on the top of the room. Gary had asked her once was she sleeping with Paul Louderback, and she was able to truthfully answer no, but … well. The important thing was that she had let the friendship slide, and she wanted to keep it that way.
    But ‘wanted to’ and ‘would’ are two entirely different things.
    Ren zoned back in when Gary Dettling took over and delivered what he knew about the Royces.
    ‘Shelby Royce’s parents are Cal Royce, sixty-five years old, and Connie Royce, forty-six years old. They’re married twenty-eight years, and have lived for the past sixteen years in Blue River, four miles outside of Breckenridge. Shelby is their only child. Cal runs The Miner on Main