When she came in, she stood almost at attention just inside the door, “You wanted to see me,” she said.
“Have a seat. It’s not about anything personal. The guy Clint got an ID on, the same one from the Giant Foods Mart and the one who probably trashed your car—it seems like he has a pattern of getting picked up for a misdemeanor, being released and then, a young girl disappears right after that. Five so far, not counting Becky Simms or the girl from Overton. That’s in the last year. So this could conceivably shape up to be a serial killer situation. And if he’s got an eye on you, which we think he does—”
“Then we can use me as bait,” she said.
“No. We’re not gonna use you as bait,” I said, the thought making me cold. “Stop and think for a minute. He may not have been trying to warn you off his trail. He may have been letting you know he’s coming for you.”
21
Laura
What he said rattled me, whether I wanted to admit it or not.
“I get it. I’m a cop. I’ve been on dangerous cases before,” I said, trying to shake it off. “I just don’t want him coming after my parents. My dad isn’t doing great to begin with, and added stress is bad for his blood pressure.”
“Want me to give Damon a heads up?”
“No, I’ll call him.” I got up. “Was that all?”
“Yeah. Keep your head on a swivel, Vance. He’s out there.”
I nodded. When I called Damon, he agreed to take a few days off and stick close to home to watch out for Mom and Dad. There was no way we were telling them why. He could do some of his online trainings and say he just needed to catch up on those. He’d keep an eye on them, which made me feel better. I hung up the phone and rubbed my hands over my face, not sure what to do with myself.
Just then, Brody came up to my desk, “We got a lead, come on.”
I followed him to the car and he filled me in.
“There was a tip called in at Overton, some maid at a motel by the exit 29 saw a guy with two teen girls that looked like the ones on TV. She phoned it in, and Overton called me because we’re closer. Maybe we can get him.”
‘They’re alive. We have somebody that saw them alive,” I said, grasping at that hope.
“Or somebody who thinks it’s them. Even if it’s not Becky and the Overton girl, something shady’s going on if a grown man has two teenagers in a cheap motel room. Could be trafficking, could be a bad custody dispute. We need to get involved. I’m not gonna let some creep take off with a couple kids or do God knows what to them in the Evergreen Motel.”
I nodded and rode along, heart pounding. It could be over in half an hour. We could get him, free the girls, and it would be over. My parents could come home, I could quit biting my nails over a possible serial killer watching me, and life could go back to normal. I could pretend like I never had sex with Brody Peters.
Outside the seedy-looking motel, an Overton cop got out of an unmarked cruiser and shook hands with Brody. We planned to go in on a no-knock warrant and find out who was in that room. We headed for the ratty-looking stairway and up to the second floor. When we reached the door of number twenty-two, I had my hand on my stun gun, ready. Brody tried for the knob and the door swung open. We stepped in and looked around, but it was an empty room. It looked like it had been vacated in a hurry. There were takeout bags on the floor, the remote still on the bed, and something on the covers. I stepped forward and bent down to look.
“Come here,” I said, “look.”
I pointed, “Get me a bag. I got gloves.” I pulled on a latex glove and picked up a tiny gold hoop earring with one bezel set sapphire on it. “That’s Becky’s birthstone. Her mom said she never takes these off. She got them last Christmas. And it’s a post earring, not a hook, so it wouldn’t come off by accident. The earring back is on it. This has been removed carefully. Like she left it for us to find, Brody,” I said excitedly as I put it in an evidence bag and scrawled a brief description.
“That’s great, but we’re still a step behind this guy,” Brody said, aggravated.
“We haven’t been tailing him as long as you, but it’s pissing me off. How did he know to bounce when we just got the tip?” the other officer said.