Where One Road Leads by Cerian Hebert Page B

smile. “Better now the nausea has settled and I’m turning my fear into anger. I’m so pissed off, Matt. You have no idea.”
    “I think I do,” he replied with a frown.
    “How did he get away with it? Somehow I can’t picture him breaking in here and doing this. Well, I can see him planning it, but not carrying it out.” Krista pulled the pack of cigarettes out of her purse, then paused, glancing at Matt, who seemed lost in his own thoughts. She shoved it back in the bag and pursed her lips. The cigarette would have to wait.
    “We’ll be talking to him.” Matt still stared out the window. “I tend to agree with you. He had to be the mastermind.”
    She laughed shortly. “Mastermind. Sounds so criminal, so big city. Hardly Quail Ridge.”
    “Not at all. I’m used to calling parents when I find their kids drinking by Crawford Pond. An occasional idiot with a can of spray paint. This is a hell of a lot different.”
    “Glad I could broaden your horizon,” she muttered sullenly. “He’s not going to chase me out of here. I’ve faced scarier people covering stories in the Mid-East and Africa. Hell, even in our own country. He’s child’s play.”
    She tried to sound braver than she felt. The kind of stories she went after forced her to remain as detached as possible. This time it was personal.
    She glanced back at Matt. “You go and take care of the creep and I’ll get this place up and running.”
    Matt nodded. “By the way, I accept your job offer.”
    He hadn’t meant to take the job until that moment. He planned on mulling it over for a good long time. The thought of working for her, or with her, didn’t sit too well, yet if it was for the kids it couldn’t be a bad thing. It would take away from his social life. Then again, it wasn’t as if he had such an incredible social life that he couldn’t sacrifice a little of it to a good cause.
    Krista gave him a tight-lipped smile. “Thank you, I appreciate it. We’ll work out the schedule to suit you.”
    Matt nodded. “Sounds good. Okay, I should go.”
    Standing, Krista followed him to the door, opening it for him. “Again, thanks for your help. If you need anything, please let me know. I’ll be here for the rest of the day trying to get things straightened out.”
    “We’ll be in touch. Something I highly recommend is installing security cameras in this place. You may need them.”
    “Good idea. I’ll make those arrangements now.”
    A few minutes later, Matt and a few of Quail Ridge’s finest dealt with Ricky.
    “I was with Rachel and my parents at a dinner party in Boston,” he said smoothly. “We left Quail Ridge at three PM and stayed at the Boston Harbor Hotel. We checked out of the hotel at eleven o’clock this morning and came home. Sorry, Officer Burgess, I couldn’t possibly have been vandalizing the youth center.”
    Ed Burgess wrote the information down and nodded at Ken Pickford to verify the alibi. Matt knew it would check out beautifully.
    This time they’d gone by the book, questioning Ricky. There was still a chance he would cause trouble for them, but at this point Matt doubted it.
    “Look at me.” Ricky held his arms out. “Do I seem like a common vandal? I’m past those days.”
    Matt eyed him sharply. He didn’t like Ricky. Didn’t like the sharpness, the smugness, the way he seemed to laugh at everyone. As if he had a secret he kept from the world.
    “Okay, we’ll check it out,” Ed told him, his voice flush with resignation. “You can leave now.”
    Ricky laughed. “You sound so disappointed, Officer Burgess. Apparently you and your son are eager to pin these things on me. I wonder if you’re even looking for other suspects.” He stood and straightened his expensive jacket.
    “You’ve done well for yourself over the past fifteen years,” Matt noted blandly.
    Ricky shot him a harsh glance, his eyes narrowing. Some of the humor disappeared from those dark depths. “Meaning what?”
    “Meaning if