Kayli Unknown

Chapter 18 - Lunch and Options

The café was nearly full, but they found a booth in the corner. Sarah shuffled over with a coffee pot and two cups. "Cheeseburgers?" She asked. "We also have a pot roast special." They both went with cheeseburgers. Sarah poured the coffee, smiled, and shuffled away. Her ankles looked thicker than usual. Kat had to wonder how much longer she could run the café.

"How did it go with the loggers?" Dave was getting straight to business. Kat understood. He was uncomfortable. Best response after an ugly moment is to just move on.

"Chuck gave me a history of where they had been cutting, and warned me about crazies up old roads."

"We have those. And he was right to warn you. Sometimes they just need a couple months in an icy cabin to cool off. Sometimes they get up there and just keep getting worse. Maybe they eat a gun. Maybe they talk to the squirrels. Either way, give them their space."

"And if Kayli came from one of those places, might there be other girls there too?"

"Yes." Dave said the word quietly, looking straight at Kat. "We have a lot of emptiness up here. More all the time as people clear out, looking for work. What's left in the emptiness is a few guys who want to try roughing it, and a few guys who think life begins and ends with a fishing rod, and a few guys playing with half a deck, or less."

"You're forgetting the dopers."

"That's about over. Wisconsin will never legalize marijuana – the state is run by crabby old men and the Tavern League. But all the states around us either sell it legally now, or soon will. Why buy bad weed from a guy like Ron Klein, when you can just drive across the state line and get it in fifty different flavors from a guy who smiles and takes a shower every day?"

"Tavern League?" Kat had to ask.

"Don't get me started on our drunk driving laws."

"I suspect every logger I put on the road last night was over the limit." Kat paused. Sarah was already back with their cheeseburgers. It was painful to watch her cross the room. "I'm pretty sure, by the way, that none of them were the reason Kayli hit the bar. I talked to every one of them, and I saw no sign of evasion. Not a pupil moved or dilated. They were just six guys drinking a beer when Kayli crashed the place."

"I'm running out of places to look, and things to try. I appreciate your help by the way."

"I want to find her family, Dave. I want to know what happened to her. I saw her face. I still see her face. She was terrified. I want to know why."

"I'm out of ideas, Kat. Our detectives did one day of door knocking. They won't be back. They'll work cases in Marinette. Cases closer to home. You've driven back roads, I've driven back roads, we talked to all the witnesses. This could be a case that never closes."

"She was twelve years old, driving a piece of crap. She didn't go all that far. And I agree with your theory that the bar was her destination. We may not ever know if she wanted to destroy it or not, but I am pretty sure she wanted to get there. So we know important things."

"Okay, let me add to that." Dave was leaning well over the table as he talked. Sarah's cheeseburger were great, but greasy. Drops fell onto his plate as he held his burger. "We can be pretty sure her family didn't go off on a cruise and leave her behind. Wherever she came from, things aren't right. Maybe they are in trouble. Maybe they are trouble. But something is going on back there."

"So?" Kat had already finished her burger. Twenty years in the army set eating habits for life. She was now working her way through her third napkin getting the grease off her fingers.

"We look, we listen, and I guess we keep driving back roads." Dave set the remains of his burger down. Kat guessed he had already eaten a lunch packed for him by Bonnie. Everyone said they had been childhood sweethearts. "Kat, I know you have a business to run. This is my job to do."

"Dave, I'm not going out because I used to be a military cop. I am going out because I want to know about this girl. I think we owe her. She came to my bar, looking for something. I want to know what it was."

In the end, they got out their phones, pulled out the map app, and picked areas of the county. She got north and west. He took north and east. It didn't amount to much of a plan, but it was something.

They spent the drive back to Kat's lodge talking basketball. Dave's sons had Dave's height, but loved the game. Kat listened while Dave bragged. The older boy had made the junior high JV team and had scored his first bucket. Not much playing time yet, but he had one basket and one free throw. And there was still some season left.