Last Seen Alive

Chapter Twenty-Five

Song: I'm Not CallingYou A Liar - Florence + The Machine

"I think it's safe to say Amanda was definitely the one who hacked these case files," Kelsey said as she went over the list for the third time.

"And since Rachel said she was investigating dirty cops, we could also assume the cops involved in these cases were the ones she was investigating," Michael added, tapping his pen on his desk with a faraway look.

Kelsey grabbed another pen and a blank piece of paper from the stack in front of her. "So, we have a list of potential suspects. You call out the case and the cops involved in each one and I'll write them down, then we'll start investigating. Hopefully, the person we're looking for will be on the list."

Michael nodded and started listing the case files and officers involved while she wrote them down.

"How many more to go?" she asked a few minutes later. "This list is getting longer than I'd hoped."

"Just one more," he replied. "The escape of Maxwell Bandieer with Chief Dan Langdon's assistance. Officers involved are Naomi Jenkins, Nathan Henderson, and Michael Carter."

Kelsey's hand froze over the paper as she looked up at him. "What?"

"You heard Rachel. Chief Langdon was the first cop Amanda investigated and I was part of that case back then."

"I'm not putting you on this list, Michael," she argued.

"Why not?"

"Because you didn't kill Amanda!"

"There's no conclusive proof I didn't."

"There's no conclusive proof you did either."

"And until we get that, my name has to be on that list like everyone else."

"Putting you on this list when we know you're innocent is a waste of time that we don't have. We need to use all our resources to figure out who's guilty so we can save Lydia and Scottie before it's too late. So, I hope you didn't need anything else in that case because it's closed."

"Harris--"

"It's.Closed."

He raised his hands in a sign of surrender and scanned through the list she'd written. "So that's 13 potential suspects."

"Yep. What can you find out about these people in your capacity as Chief-of-Police?"

"Plenty. I'll have to make a few calls, though."

"Okay, you work on that. I'm going to Dispatch and I'll try to figure out what the building in this picture is so maybe we can find out where supposedly missing and dead Maggie actually is," she said, waving the printout of the picture they'd found on Amanda's memory card.

"Okay," he said distractedly. "Oh, by the way, there'll be a news broadcast by Kimberly today confirming the dead body found at the tannery is Amanda Desser."

"Wait, what?" Kelsey spun around so fast, she got whiplash. "Why?"

"Too many civilians already know, thanks in part to you and me and we're just delaying the inevitable. So, now our best bet is to tell some version of the truth and control the narrative. I'm also hoping if we drop that bombshell, the killer will be caught off guard and make a mistake that will lead us to them. I've asked Kimberly to throw in some details that are not-so-true but may tempt Amanda's killer out of hiding, especially if it's a cop."

"When did you decide this?"

"Last night when I got home."

"And you didn't think to discuss it with me first? I thought..." She trailed off and cleared her throat. "I thought we were partners."