Mean Streak

Knight scooted aside his coffee mug and picked up a rubber band, which he popped against his fingers. “Sad truth is, Jeff, we don’t know shit about where Emory’s at.”

He looked over at Grange, who gave a solemn nod of confirmation.

“Her car…?”

“Was the only one in a parking area that accesses a scenic overlook and several hiking trails. Those trails branch off every which o’ way, then each one has arteries that go up, down, all around. I wrote down the names of some of the trails. Take a look, see if one sounds familiar.”

Jeff took the sheet of paper Knight passed him and read down the list. “They all sound the same. Indian names. Nothing jumps out at me. The trail she took might be here, but… I’m sorry. I just don’t remember.”

“Well, all of them were being searched till it got dark. Up to that point there’d been no sign of her.”

Jeff let the sheet drift down onto Knight’s desk, then bent his head low and massaged his eye sockets. The two officers gave him several moments to absorb the implications of what they’d told him. Finally he raised his head and dragged his hand down his face. “Her car didn’t provide any clues?”

“It was glazed with a thin layer of ice, covered in snow, but otherwise didn’t seem to have been touched since she left it. No tracks around it either, indicating nobody else has been up there since she parked.”

“What about inside the car? Any sign of a struggle?” He swallowed. “Foul play?”

“That’s the good news. No sign of struggle,” Knight said, smiling at him kindly.

“Thank God.”

“Looked to us like she parked and walked away on her own. No flat tire. She didn’t leave the key, of course, but after the, uh, crime scene guys—”

“Crime scene?”

“We’re treating it as such till we know better. Anyway, after they got finished with the car, we checked it out. It started right up. No engine trouble. In the trunk we found the boots she was wearing on Friday and a duffel bag with an ID tag on it.”

“A gold leather fleur-de-lis with her business card inside.”

Knight nodded.

“She has a set of those,” Jeff said.

“We brought the duffel to the office here and want you to go through it, see if you notice anything unusual. But we already checked inside and saw nothing but normal stuff. Change of clothes, underwear, toiletries.”

“She would have been traveling light. She intended to stay away two nights at the most.”

“There was also a laptop in it,” Grange said.

“She never goes anywhere without that.”

“We can’t crack it without the password. Do you know it?”

“Her mom and dad’s names, only backward.”

Grange jotted down what he spelled out. “They’re waiting on this.” He got up and disappeared down a hallway, where Jeff supposed personnel would begin exploring the contents of Emory’s computer.

“We didn’t find her cell phone.”

He came back around to Knight. “She carries it in a fanny pack when she runs. In case…” He paused on the stammer. “In case she has trouble.”

“Well, she still hasn’t used it. We checked. And it’s not emitting a signal.”

Grange returned and said to Knight, “They’ll let us know.”

“Who’ll let you know what?” Jeff asked.

Grange was characteristically laconic. “Our computer geeks. They’ll let us know if they find anything useful on her laptop.”