Marla Keene was sixty-one years old and lived alone above a beauty salon in Springfield.<\/p>\n
Detective Alvarez did not knock on her door that night.<\/p>\n
Another department did.<\/p>\n
Travis learned this because Alvarez returned to Melissa's kitchen shortly after ten with the look of a man whose investigation had become substantially larger than his original shift.<\/p>\n
"She answered."<\/p>\n
Travis stood.<\/p>\n
"And?"<\/p>\n
"Claims she barely knows Kurt."<\/p>\n
Bethany gave a sharp laugh.<\/p>\n
Alvarez glanced at her.<\/p>\n
"You disagree?"<\/p>\n
"She came to the house."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Maybe a month ago."<\/p>\n
"Why didn't you mention her?"<\/p>\n
"I didn't know her name."<\/p>\n
"Describe the visit."<\/p>\n
Bethany thought carefully.<\/p>\n
"Kurt said she handled paperwork."<\/p>\n
"Did you see her notarize anything?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Did she have a stamp?"<\/p>\n
"I didn't watch."<\/p>\n
"What did she do?"<\/p>\n
"Sat at the dining table with Kurt for maybe an hour."<\/p>\n
"Did you speak to her?"<\/p>\n
"Just hello."<\/p>\n
"Did she meet Kaylee?"<\/p>\n
Bethany's face tightened.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Travis felt immediate irritation.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"Kaylee was home."<\/p>\n
"Was Marla interested in her?"<\/p>\n
"No. Not especially."<\/p>\n
That helped.<\/p>\n
Alvarez continued.<\/p>\n
"Keene says her notary seal disappeared more than a year ago."<\/p>\n
Hale frowned.<\/p>\n
"Did she report it?"<\/p>\n
"Claims she did."<\/p>\n
"Can she prove that?"<\/p>\n
"We're checking."<\/p>\n
Travis pointed toward the photograph from his father's camera.<\/p>\n
"What about her car?"<\/p>\n
"She says Kurt borrowed it."<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Several times."<\/p>\n
"Today?"<\/p>\n
"She says yes."<\/p>\n
"Did she pick him up at the farm store?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Who did?"<\/p>\n
"She claims she doesn't know."<\/p>\n
Travis looked at Alvarez.<\/p>\n
"You believe her?"<\/p>\n
The detective's expression did not change.<\/p>\n
"I haven't earned a belief yet."<\/p>\n
Hale almost smiled.<\/p>\n
Travis recognized her language.<\/p>\n
Facts first.<\/p>\n
The silver sedan had been located outside Marla's building.<\/p>\n
Police obtained access to nearby security footage.<\/p>\n
At 10:23, Alvarez received the first still image.<\/p>\n
Marla's car entering the farm-supply parking lot.<\/p>\n
The driver was difficult to identify.<\/p>\n
The passenger door opened.<\/p>\n
A man matching Kurt's build entered.<\/p>\n
The sedan left.<\/p>\n
"She lied," Travis said.<\/p>\n
"Maybe about who was driving."<\/p>\n
"Whose car, then?"<\/p>\n
"Registered to her."<\/p>\n
"Who else uses it?"<\/p>\n
"We're determining that."<\/p>\n
Bethany studied the blurry driver.<\/p>\n
"That's not Marla."<\/p>\n
"How can you tell?"<\/p>\n
"Hair."<\/p>\n
The driver appeared to have short dark hair.<\/p>\n
Marla's DMV photograph showed shoulder-length gray hair.<\/p>\n
Could have been tied back.<\/p>\n
Could have been somebody else.<\/p>\n
Then Alvarez received a second camera angle.<\/p>\n
The driver stepped out briefly before Kurt entered.<\/p>\n
Male.<\/p>\n
Heavyset.<\/p>\n
Dark hair.<\/p>\n
Travis looked at Bethany.<\/p>\n
"Darren?"<\/p>\n
She leaned closer.<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"You sure?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Who?"<\/p>\n
Her expression went blank.<\/p>\n
Then recognition arrived.<\/p>\n
"Gary."<\/p>\n
Alvarez immediately asked, "Gary who?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know his last name."<\/p>\n
Travis closed his eyes.<\/p>\n
Hale gave him a warning look before he could react.<\/p>\n
Bethany continued.<\/p>\n
"Gary came to our house twice."<\/p>\n
"What did Kurt say he did?"<\/p>\n
"Insurance."<\/p>\n
"What kind?"<\/p>\n
"Property."<\/p>\n
Alvarez wrote.<\/p>\n
"Description."<\/p>\n
Bethany gave one.<\/p>\n
Late forties.<\/p>\n
Heavyset.<\/p>\n
Dark hair.<\/p>\n
Glasses.<\/p>\n
A limp.<\/p>\n
Usually wore button-down shirts even in warm weather.<\/p>\n
"What did he discuss?"<\/p>\n
"I wasn't part of it."<\/p>\n
"Did you hear anything?"<\/p>\n
"Once."<\/p>\n
She frowned.<\/p>\n
"Kurt asked whether something would trigger inspection."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"I didn't hear."<\/p>\n
"Gary's answer?"<\/p>\n
"Something about under a threshold."<\/p>\n
Hale looked up.<\/p>\n
"What threshold?"<\/p>\n
Bethany shook her head.<\/p>\n
"I genuinely don't know."<\/p>\n
Travis paced to the window.<\/p>\n
Kurt.<\/p>\n
Darren.<\/p>\n
Marla.<\/p>\n
Gary.<\/p>\n
The list was expanding.<\/p>\n
"How many people did you bring into my house?"<\/p>\n
Bethany flinched.<\/p>\n
He regretted the question immediately.<\/p>\n
Not because it was unfair.<\/p>\n
Because it was useless.<\/p>\n
"Sorry."<\/p>\n
Bethany looked surprised.<\/p>\n
Travis did too.<\/p>\n
He had not apologized to her since coming home.<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
Alvarez asked whether Bethany could identify Gary from photographs if they found candidates.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
At 11:07, investigators got a name.<\/p>\n
Gary Blevins.<\/p>\n
Insurance adjuster.<\/p>\n
Former insurance adjuster, more accurately.<\/p>\n
His license had been revoked three years earlier after allegations involving fraudulent claims documentation.<\/p>\n
No criminal conviction appeared in the initial search.<\/p>\n
His current employment was unclear.<\/p>\n
The sedan footage showed Blevins collecting Kurt.<\/p>\n
That established contact.<\/p>\n
It did not explain the red folder.<\/p>\n
Travis's father sat quietly at the kitchen table.<\/p>\n
Then he asked a question nobody else had.<\/p>\n
"Why did they visit my house?"<\/p>\n
Alvarez looked at him.<\/p>\n
"That's still open."<\/p>\n
"Not to break in."<\/p>\n
"Apparently not."<\/p>\n
"If they wanted Travis's records, many are public."<\/p>\n
"Some."<\/p>\n
"The deed certainly is."<\/p>\n
"Correct."<\/p>\n
His father rubbed his chin.<\/p>\n
"So why drive out and look at my house?"<\/p>\n
Travis understood the implication.<\/p>\n
"Me."<\/p>\n
His father nodded.<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
"Background."<\/p>\n
"Maybe."<\/p>\n
Alvarez said, "Surveillance is possible."<\/p>\n
Travis disliked hearing the word officially.<\/p>\n
His father continued.<\/p>\n
"If you're choosing somebody because they're absent, you don't only research the property. You research who might interfere."<\/p>\n
Travis stared at him.<\/p>\n
"You would've interfered."<\/p>\n
"Obviously."<\/p>\n
Bethany looked at the old man.<\/p>\n
"Kurt asked about you."<\/p>\n
Travis turned.<\/p>\n
"When?"<\/p>\n
"Several times."<\/p>\n
"What?"<\/p>\n
"Whether you and your dad were close. How often he came over. Whether he had keys."<\/p>\n
His father sat straighter.<\/p>\n
"Keys?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
Travis felt another piece settle into place.<\/p>\n
His father had a spare key.<\/p>\n
Kurt needed to know who else could unexpectedly enter.<\/p>\n
"Did you tell him?"<\/p>\n
Bethany looked ashamed.<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"Everything?"<\/p>\n
"I thought we were talking."<\/p>\n
Travis looked away.<\/p>\n
Again: the map.<\/p>\n
Every ordinary complaint, family detail and practical fact had become intelligence.<\/p>\n
Alvarez's phone rang.<\/p>\n
He stepped outside.<\/p>\n
Kaylee had been put to bed upstairs with Melissa.<\/p>\n
The house was quieter.<\/p>\n
Bethany sat at the table.<\/p>\n
"I need to tell you something else."<\/p>\n
Travis waited.<\/p>\n
"About your dad."<\/p>\n
His father looked up.<\/p>\n
"Kurt asked if you had a will."<\/p>\n
Travis stared.<\/p>\n
"Why?"<\/p>\n
"He said if you were staying in the Army, we should know what happened to the house if something happened to you."<\/p>\n
That could have been ordinary.<\/p>\n
In another context.<\/p>\n
Here it felt poisonous.<\/p>\n
"What did you tell him?"<\/p>\n
"That your father probably knew."<\/p>\n
Travis's father swore softly.<\/p>\n
"Did he ask where I kept it?"<\/p>\n
"No."<\/p>\n
"Insurance?"<\/p>\n
Bethany hesitated.<\/p>\n
Travis's stomach tightened.<\/p>\n
"He asked about life insurance."<\/p>\n
"Did you tell him?"<\/p>\n
"I said military families usually have it."<\/p>\n
"Beneficiary?"<\/p>\n
"He asked."<\/p>\n
Travis stood.<\/p>\n
"What did you say?"<\/p>\n
"That I was."<\/p>\n
Silence.<\/p>\n
Bethany's face crumpled.<\/p>\n
"I didn't give him policy numbers. I swear."<\/p>\n
Travis walked away from the table.<\/p>\n
He needed space.<\/p>\n
Not because he believed Kurt planned murder.<\/p>\n
That leap was too far.<\/p>\n
But because the man had systematically asked questions Travis himself would consider intrusive from almost anyone.<\/p>\n
Home title.<\/p>\n
Deployment.<\/p>\n
Marriage.<\/p>\n
Childcare.<\/p>\n
Money.<\/p>\n
Family support.<\/p>\n
Life insurance.<\/p>\n
Kurt had gathered vulnerabilities until people became files.<\/p>\n
Hale said quietly, "Don't attach a conclusion without evidence."<\/p>\n
"I know."<\/p>\n
She nodded.<\/p>\n
He was learning.<\/p>\n
Alvarez returned.<\/p>\n
"Gary Blevins has been located."<\/p>\n
"Where?"<\/p>\n
"Home."<\/p>\n
"Talking?"<\/p>\n
"Yes."<\/p>\n
"And?"<\/p>\n
Alvarez pulled out a chair.<\/p>\n
"Blevins says he drove Kurt from the farm store."<\/p>\n
Nobody was surprised.<\/p>\n
"He says Kurt called asking for a ride."<\/p>\n
"What about Marla's car?"<\/p>\n
"Gary says Marla lent it to him earlier today."<\/p>\n
"So they're all connected."<\/p>\n
"Connected isn't necessarily co-conspirators."<\/p>\n
Travis sat.<\/p>\n
"What did Gary think Kurt was doing?"<\/p>\n
"Property consulting."<\/p>\n
Bethany scoffed.<\/p>\n
Alvarez continued.<\/p>\n
"Gary claims he evaluates houses Kurt is considering managing."<\/p>\n
"With a revoked insurance license?"<\/p>\n
"He isn't claiming to act as an adjuster."<\/p>\n
"What does he claim?"<\/p>\n
"Photography. Estimates. Research."<\/p>\n
Travis remembered the house value numbers.<\/p>\n
"House 286."<\/p>\n
Alvarez nodded.<\/p>\n
"Could be valuation."<\/p>\n
"Could be."<\/p>\n
"What about the red folder?"<\/p>\n
"Blevins denies knowing about it."<\/p>\n
"Marla?"<\/p>\n
"Same."<\/p>\n
"Darren?"<\/p>\n
"Still missing."<\/p>\n
That was the first time anyone used that word.<\/p>\n
Missing.<\/p>\n
Not merely unavailable.<\/p>\n
His white van had not been found at his registered address.<\/p>\n
His phone was off.<\/p>\n
Travis looked at Bethany.<\/p>\n
"Where would Darren go?"<\/p>\n
She thought.<\/p>\n
"Kurt once mentioned a cabin."<\/p>\n
"Where?"<\/p>\n
"I don't know."<\/p>\n
Hale gave Travis a look.<\/p>\n
He said nothing.<\/p>\n
Bethany continued.<\/p>\n
"He called it the river place."<\/p>\n
"What river?"<\/p>\n
"I never asked."<\/p>\n
Alvarez wrote it down.<\/p>\n
"Who owns it?"<\/p>\n
"Kurt made it sound like Darren did."<\/p>\n
That was enough for investigators to start searching property records.<\/p>\n
Shortly before midnight, they found a parcel linked not to Darren but to Gary Blevins's deceased father.<\/p>\n
A small cabin beside the Gasconade River.<\/p>\n
Gary had inherited it.<\/p>\n
Alvarez called the officers interviewing him.<\/p>\n
The conversation lasted less than two minutes.<\/p>\n
When he returned, his expression told Travis the answer.<\/p>\n
"Gary admits Kurt uses the cabin sometimes."<\/p>\n
"Is Kurt there?"<\/p>\n
"We don't know."<\/p>\n
"You're going?"<\/p>\n
"Officers are."<\/p>\n
Travis looked toward the stairs where Kaylee slept.<\/p>\n
A day earlier, he would have insisted on going.<\/p>\n
Now he understood the choice before anyone explained it.<\/p>\n
Kurt had spent months making Travis's absence useful.<\/p>\n
Travis was not going to give him another absence tonight.<\/p>\n
"I'm staying here."<\/p>\n
His father nodded.<\/p>\n
Bethany looked at him.<\/p>\n
Something shifted in her expression.<\/p>\n
Perhaps she understood the choice too.<\/p>\n
At 12:41, officers reached the cabin.<\/p>\n
Empty.<\/p>\n
No Kurt.<\/p>\n
No Darren.<\/p>\n
But the place was not clean.<\/p>\n
On a table they found discarded mail.<\/p>\n
Copies of property listings.<\/p>\n
Several prepaid phones.<\/p>\n
A portable scanner.<\/p>\n
And a paper shredder filled with narrow strips.<\/p>\n
Then an officer opened a closet.<\/p>\n
Inside were plastic storage tubs.<\/p>\n
Each labeled with a surname.<\/p>\n
REESE.<\/p>\n
HALE.<\/p>\n
DONOVAN.<\/p>\n
Five more.<\/p>\n
The operation had not been running from Travis's house.<\/p>\n
His house had merely been the newest branch.<\/p>\n
Marla Keene was sixty-one years old and lived alone above a beauty salon in Springfield. Detective Alvarez did not knock on her door that night. Another department did. Travis learned … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-insightdrama"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12767,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12739\/revisions\/12767"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/insightdrama.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}