"Don't we wish. I'm drawing the line at aliens, though. I do think I've heard of time distortion in ghost stories. Not that I'm jumping to that conclusion yet. What else have you got?"
He told her what Patrick had uncovered: a pattern of similar reports in the region, stretching back for decades. Gabriel didn't have details. As eager as Patrick had been to provide the stories, Gabriel wanted facts, which he would use to find commonalities and connections before he dug deeper.
The facts were this: in the past fifty years, twenty-three people had reported picking up a hitchhiking "woman in white." That meant twenty-three had filed a police report or gone to the newspapers with their story. Online, Patrick had found many more who'd claimed to have seen the woman or knew a "friend of a friend" who had. Most of those could be dismissed as attention-seeking. Even some of the actual reports could be dismissed on the same basis. That still left a sizable number.
The dates were also of interest. Seven reports had been made in the last two years, meaning almost one-third fell within four percent of the time frame.
"Which does not mean increased occurrences," he said to Olivia. "It's more likely increased awareness. Reports causing more people to step forward."
"Who are either making false reports or are emboldened by the others and coming forward to give their stories. That doesn't explain this Lambert guy--he reported it right away, didn't he?"
"Yes. He walked until he had cell service and called the police."
"Which is weird. Especially when you had cell service in the same spot. I suppose it could be a different provider but... Still seems weird. Are you going to talk to him?"
"I am."
"Anything you'd like me to do?"
Just come home.
"Nothing that will delay your return, as I know Don needs Ricky back. The case will be here for you, if you want it."
FOUR
GABRIEL
After his call with Olivia, Gabriel took a moment.
Take a moment.
A favorite phrase of his, as Olivia had discovered. When a client started to become overwrought--as they were wont to do when facing life in prison--he would tell them to take a moment. He used to say the same to Olivia in her moments of emotional turmoil.
Take a moment.
Clients appreciated this, a gesture of kindness and consideration from a man who seemed incapable of either. Proof that Gabriel was not nearly as cold and detached as he appeared.
Olivia knew better. She'd figured it out from the start.
Do me a favor? Erase those words from your vocabulary. At least with me.
"Take a moment" wasn't a thoughtful invitation but an impatient "get it over with." Work past this inconvenient emotional turmoil so we may return to the business at hand.
Right now, Gabriel was taking a moment, not to recover emotional equilibrium, but to enjoy the recovery of it. Olivia was pleased with the case. She was heading home. She seemed happy about that, ready to start work without hesitation.
He'd feared that in her two weeks away, she would decide not to return to work for him. She could easily go back to waiting tables at the Cainsville diner, and in a few months, her twenty-fifth birthday would bring a multimillion-dollar trust fund from her adoptive family. She didn't need the job he'd given her.
And it's not as if she'd have any reason to regret taking it...
Gabriel rolled his shoulders, sloughing off that damnable voice. Gwynn's voice. An unwanted reminder of so many things. Particularly unwelcome when it spoke the truth. After Gabriel's spat with Olivia--
Spat? I
s that what you'd call it?
All right, after he betrayed Olivia's trust--again--he'd told her not to come into work. That had been petty. Bratty, even. Selfish and immature, exercising control in the only way he could.
I am displeased, and so I will hold your job hostage.