Page 100 of Three Steps Behind

“Do you know for how long?” Harper said.

“I mean he’s gone-gone. Took most of his stuff, shoved it into his car, and took off. Beats me. He just paid a month’s rent.”

Not good. “Did he say where he was going?”

“Back home.” The woman went inside.

He turned to Harper. “Looks like we’re headed to Chicago.”

She pulled out her phone. “There’s a flight this afternoon.”

“The sooner we get there, the better.”

She frowned. “You think he’s going to run again?”

“I sure hope not. He’s a big piece in this puzzle. We need him.”

She exhaled. “Then let’s pray we find him.”

Forty-One

THEY CALLED JOEL on speaker on the way to the airport.

“Well?” Joel said upon answering.

“She was definitely poisoned. There was a high concentration of oleander in her hair,” Harper said over speakerphone. She went on to explain the accelerant. “It was most likely mixed by someone in pharmaceuticals or medicine. Someone with enough knowledge to know what would boost oleander and how to combine the two.”

“Okay. And George?”

“Flew the coop,” Deck said, banking right. “We’re on the way to the airport now.”

“To?”

“Chicago.”

“I’ll call local PD.”

“How are things going at Nick’s house?” Harper asked before adding a layer of ChapStick to her still-cracked lips.

“Still working on it. You guys were just recently here for the funeral, and, Harper, she was your friend. If I FaceTime you, can I walk you through the house? See if anything is missing. Not everything, but a surface-level sweep?”

“Sure.”

A half hour and most of the downstairs later, Joel stepped into the family room. He swept the camera from the doorway, moving clockwise.

“Hang on,” she said.

Joel stilled by the bookshelves.

“Go back to the middle section.”

“Okay.”

“Now to the second shelf.” There sat the photo of Nick and Taylor, but nothing sat beside it. “There’s a photograph missing.”

“She’s right,” Deck said.

“Do you remember what the photo was of?”