by C. M. Sutter
I took the stairway to the lower level and entered the tech department. Billy was in the middle of what looked to be a big project. I didn’t want to disrupt him.
“Todd, are you busy right now?”
“Give me one second. I’m almost finished reviewing this videotape. Okay, what can I do for you?”
“Can you find the construction zones on interstates?”
“Sure, not a problem. Do you have an area in mind?”
“We don’t exactly have a state, but we’re thinking Midwest. Cornfields, flat land, that sort of thing.”
“Uh-huh. Let’s see what we have. Interstate 80 has some construction going on in western Nebraska. That’s corn country.”
“Yeah, hang on.” I called Kate’s cell phone. “Kate, it’s Jade. Have you ever been to Nebraska?”
“Never. Nebraska is definitely the Midwest, but it doesn’t feel right.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll be back up in a few minutes.” I clicked off. “What else do you have, Todd?”
“Well, US 41 isn’t an interstate, but it does go through farmland in a north-and-south route. There’s a lot of construction on it too.”
I leaned over Todd’s computer screen to take a look. “This is interesting. Where exactly is the construction?”
“There’s about thirty miles of construction north of Nashville and, again, a good distance of it in Indiana.”
“Parts of Indiana would be considered farmland, right?”
“Yeah, sure.”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing as we stared at the map. “Oh my God! Todd, can you enlarge the image?”
“Yeah, here we go. What do you see, Jade?”
“You have got to be shitting me. US 41 goes through Atlanta, Nashville, and Chicago. It passes a few miles west of North Bend too.”
“Looks that way. From northern Illinois to Green Bay, they’ve switched it from a US highway to an interstate. It’s called I-41 for one hundred and seventy-five miles.”
“So throughout Wisconsin, US 41 is now considered an interstate? Is there any construction at all in Wisconsin, even a little?”
“Actually, there is some set to begin in about a week north of the I-41 and State Highway 45 split. The planning department site shows the repaving will cause detours at night while the crews are working.”
I was pumped. I thanked Todd and ran back upstairs to tell Kate what we’d found. I entered the conference room to find her already digging in.
“Sorry, I started without you. This was weighing so heavily on my mind, I just had to get going on it. I took the liberty of reheating your coffee—the cup felt cold. I made myself another cup of tea too.”
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Kate, I think we finally have a real lead.”
Chapter 15
“Scoot over. Let me show you what I mean.” I pulled one of the heavy conference room chairs up against Kate’s and sat. “Okay, I’ll open a new tab so it doesn’t interfere with the unidentified-persons site. You won’t believe what we found.” I typed into the search bar that I wanted a map of US 41. “Okay, here we go. This state highway goes from Florida to northern Michigan. Through most of Wisconsin, it’s been changed to an interstate.”
She leaned in to take a closer look at the screen. “Oh my God, it goes through Atlanta, Nashville, and Chicago—and Washburn County too. I saw a detour sign and construction barrels in the dream with the blond woman. Jade, this highway follows my path from Georgia to Wisconsin and goes through every major city I’ve lived in. I’m kind of dumbstruck right now. I’ve never paid attention to US 41 in my life, but now I’m getting a strong sense of its relevance. Do you think Robert actually knows where I am and he’s heading here? Do you think he killed that woman on his way to kill me?”
“I don’t know. Right now, let’s try to identify her. There are three states that Highway 41 passes through that would have cornfields. Let’s check Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin. Farms in southern Indiana may have already harvested their corn, maybe even Illinois too, but around here, it’s just beginning. We don’t know which direction that woman was traveling, and chances are that if one side of a freeway is detoured, the other side will be too. Go ahead and start with Indiana. I’m going to fax the sketch of the blond woman to all the major police departments along US 41 just in case something pops. I’ll be back soon.” I checked the time—11:07. “We’re going to break for lunch in an hour. Let’s see if we have anything by then.”
I returned to the conference room with two cans of iced tea from the vending machine. I figured as much as Kate liked hot tea, she was probably a fan of iced tea too. I faxed the sketch of our possible Jane Doe to police departments in Atlanta, Nashville, Hopkinsville, Evansville, and Chicago. Now we had the difficult task of putting a name and an address to the face. I sat again at Kate’s side and watched as she searched the database.
“Anything close in Indiana?”
“Not so far. There are women that vaguely fit the description, but of course, they’re all composites or photographs of deceased women that didn’t have any ID on them.”
“Sorry we can’t go off the missing-persons database. You have to have the name of the person to conduct the search. How many more pages in Indiana?”
“Four more.”
“Okay, I’m going to see what’s going on in the bull pen. As soon as Indiana is done, let’s go out for lunch.”
Kate nodded and continued scrolling through the list.
“How’s the search going?” Jack asked.
I pulled up a seat and anxiously tapped a pencil on my desk.
“That good, huh?”
“She’s going through Indiana now, but nothing’s popping yet. Do you think the whole Highway 41 thing is nothing more than a coincidence?”
Jack raised his brows. “Hard to say.”
“I mean, there’s the interstate detour sign, farm country, cornfields, and the highway follows the same cities she’s worked in. That’s just creepy.”
“Are you sure she saw an interstate detour sign or just a highway detour sign?”
I shrugged. “I’ll check with her again. Why would that matter?”
Jack leaned back in his chair and stretched. “Her dream could have taken place anywhere along that route if the sign was a highway detour sign. If it was an interstate detour sign, it could only take place in northern Illinois or Wisconsin since that’s where US 41 turns into an interstate.”
“You’re absolutely right. I’ll see if she can recall. That could eliminate Indiana and most of Illinois.”
I started to get up when Jack stopped me. He looked left and right, then leaned across our face-to-face desks.
“What?”
“Don’t get sucked in too deep on this, Jade. You guys don’t have any missing women that have been reported. Even if there was someone missing, unless she was in our county, there isn’t a damn thing you can do about it. If this woman even exists somewhere, you have no idea where she came from. She could have been on Highway 41 for five minutes coming from somewhere else.”
That reality hit me like an anchor tied around my neck. I was getting pulled in, fast and deep, and that wasn’t my nature. I groaned with acknowledgment. “I’ll give this a few more days, and that’s it. It’s only because we aren’t busy—thank God. I’m counting on you, partner, to keep me on the straight and narrow. Remind me to check myself again tomorrow.”
Jack gave me a wink. “You know I will.”
I heard footsteps clacking down the hallway. I put my index finger to my mouth. “Shhh, sounds like she’s headed this way. Want to join us for lunch?” I looked around. “Anyone?”
The room fell quiet, and nobody responded. All eyes went back to the paperwork on their individual desks.
“Chickenshits.” I rose and grabbed my coat and Kate’s out of the closet. With my purse, cell, and keys in hand, I joined her, and we left the bull pen.
Outside, I led the way to my car. “We’re right her
e.” I clicked the key fob, and the door locks popped up. “Do you have a favorite restaurant in town?”
“How about Omicron on South Main?”
“Yeah, that sounds good. They serve breakfast all day too.”
Once we were seated in a booth at the typical Greek-style restaurant with the pale floral upholstery and the brass trim on everything, our waitress delivered two glasses of water and the menus. I brought up the unidentified-persons investigation. “So you’ve finished Indiana and didn’t have any luck?”
“That’s unfortunately true. Nothing felt right. This might be harder than I thought. I guess I imagined a clear, perfect photo popping up and matching the blond woman in my dream. With ours being a sketch, and everything on that website being a sketch too”—she paused—“or a photograph of a dead woman, it isn’t as easy as I thought it would be.”
I agreed with her deduction, then waved my hand to get the waitress’s attention. “Do you know what you want, Kate?”
“Yeah, a bowl of chili and an order of fries.”
“Hmmm…that sounds pretty good. I think I’ll have the same.”
The waitress took our order, collected the menus, and topped off our coffees before she walked away.
I placed my napkin in my lap. “I have to be straightforward with you.”
“Of course, I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
“I’m working with you for two reasons. Yes, I’ll admit, I’m intrigued by your intuition. But the main reason I’m engaged in this dream world of yours is because it’s quiet at the sheriff’s department, meaning nothing is pressing right now. I can only justify a few more days of this if nothing pops before then. You do understand my position, don’t you?”
She nodded. “So unless we find the women in the database or they come up dead somewhere, you’re saying there isn’t a real case?”
“Unfortunately, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
Chapter 16
Robert
Robert leaned against the kitchen counter and took a deep drag of the cigarette. The end glowed orange. He stared at his mother while she made lunch. The white wife-beater tank top was tight against his muscular body, and prison tattoos covered both arms and the back of his right hand. Tony sat at the table, his feet up on the chair to his left while he waited for the sandwich Lea was preparing.
“I still don’t know why you two are going on a road trip when you just got home, Bobby. Haven’t you been away long enough? You know how much I missed you, and now you’re picking up and leaving.”
Robert blew out his last puff of smoke and squashed the cigarette on a lunch plate, then dipped the butt in the dishwater. He flicked the wet butt across the kitchen, where it bounced off the wall and landed in the trash can. He laughed. “Did you see that?”
Lea smacked him with the dish towel that was draped over her shoulder then wiped the ash mark off the wall.
“We’ll be back in ten days or so. This is a brother thing. Don’t worry about it, Ma. I need to spread my wings beyond a six-by-eight-foot cell. We’re going to have a little fun and reconnect, that’s all.”
“Reconnect with me,” Lea complained as she jammed a plate with two tuna sandwiches against his stomach.
Robert grunted, and Tony laughed. Lea slid across the table to Tony a matching plate containing the same thing. She tore open a bag of chips and set it in front of them.
“Hand me a beer, Ma,” Robert said.
“What?”
“Hand me a beer, Ma, please.”
“That’s better.” Lea reached in the refrigerator and pulled out three. She sat at the table with her sons, handed a beer to each of them, cracked one open for herself, and grabbed a handful of chips. “So, when are you boys heading out?”
Robert looked at Tony and replied, “Right after supper, right?”
Tony nodded, his mouth full of sandwich.
“And don’t tell James that we left. He’s got a thing with me, and I don’t need his crap.”
“I’ll keep my mouth shut. He isn’t likely to stop by again that soon, anyway. Go ahead and finish your lunch. I’m going to the grocery store. Need any snacks for your road trip?”
“Yeah, grab me a pencil, Ma. I’ll write it down.”
She stared at Tony.
“Please.”
She flicked the back of his hand with her fingers, then got up and opened the junk drawer. “You two better brush up on your manners. I’m not taking any disrespect.” She slid the pad of paper and a pencil across the table to Tony and waited for the list.
The brothers watched through the kitchen window as Lea backed out of the driveway. Once she was safely out of sight, they firmed up the plan.
“We need at least four knives, maybe some rope, zip ties, and duct tape too.”
“Everything is in the garage.” Tony jerked his head to the left. “Come on. I’ll show you. We can always stop at Shopmart on our way out of town if we think of something else.”
“Like flashlight batteries.”
Tony nodded. “Exactly.”
Once in the garage, Tony pointed at a box pushed back against the wall under a stack of magazines.
“Why the hell do you guys keep all this shit? You’re like a bunch of pack rats.”
“Talk to Ma. It’s her junk.”
Robert pushed the magazines off the box, and they slid across the cement floor. He opened the folded cardboard flaps and looked in. “Open the overhead so I can actually see. It’s like a cave in here.”
Tony pressed the button on the wall, and the heavy garage door lifted.
“There, that’s better.” With his foot, Robert pushed the box closer to daylight and pulled out a camp chair. “Looks like we need two more knives—bigger ones.” He ran his thumb across the blades of the ones in the box. “These are way too dull. Do we have a wet stone anywhere?”
“Yeah, in the silverware drawer.”
“Good, that’s going along, and we’ll stop at the store before we leave town. There’s no rope or tape, and we have to get flashlight batteries and zip ties, anyway. How much money do you have, bro?”
“Twelve hundred bucks. I’ve been cashing my unemployment checks and keeping the money in my dresser.”
“Okay, and I have seven hundred and fifty dollars. That took me four years to save. Let’s start loading the truck. Is there a cooler we can take along?”
“Yeah, back by the garbage cans behind the gate.”
“Let’s take a look at your phone.”
Tony pulled it out of his back pocket and handed it to Robert.
Robert stared at the home screen. “Is there a navigation thing on this or do we have to buy a map?”
Tony chuckled. “Yeah, I guess technology has come a long way in the last ten years. No map needed, bro. I have the navigation app on my phone. I-75 to I-65 is the most direct route.”
“Not happening. We’re taking Highway 41 all the way. We need to stay off the grid. No tolls or toll booth cameras. I don’t want to leave a trail that we’ve passed through.”
Four hours later after the evening meal, they loaded the final supplies into the bed of the truck. Tony filled the cooler with ice and placed sandwiches, string cheese, four apples, beer, and soda inside. Two bags of chips and a foil-lined bag of caramel corn sat on the console inside the pickup. They tossed the suitcase they shared in the back too. They placed a canvas topper over their goods and used tie-downs to secure it in place.
After saying good-bye to Lea, Tony backed out of the driveway.
He rolled down the window. “We’ll be back soon, Ma. Don’t worry about us.”
“So, I’m supposed to spend Thanksgiving alone? What do I tell the family?”
“Don’t answer the phone. The three of us will have a nice Thanksgiving together after we get back.”
Lea grumbled. “Why’d you grab your jackets?”
Robert nudged his brother. “Let’s go. We still have supplies to get.”
“We’r
e heading north, Ma. See you soon and keep your mouth shut.”
The road trip hadn’t begun until nearly seven o’clock. The stop at Shopmart took longer than they had anticipated. The store carried a few knife selections, but the ones that Robert wanted weren’t sold at that particular location.
“What stores carry them?” Robert asked, becoming impatient.
“Give me one moment, sir. I’ll check the computer. Ah—we have a full selection in stock at the Nashville store. I can have them shipped here for you at no expense as long as you pick them up.”
“That won’t work. Nashville, huh?” Robert raked his fingers through his short hair.
“That’s correct, sir.”
“Which store has them, and can they hold them? We’re heading in that direction, anyway.”
“That location is on the north edge of town. The intersections are Poplar Street and Adams in the Music City Plaza. Would you like them set aside?”
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
With a few keystrokes, the clerk put in the order and handed Robert a ticket for the knives. “Here you go. Just hand this to the clerk at that store and they’ll get your merchandise for you.”
Robert nodded. “Thanks. That should work.” He folded the slip of paper and placed it in his wallet.
Robert paid for the rope and batteries at one register, and Tony grabbed the duct tape and zip ties and went through the self-checkout.
Ten minutes later, and after the gas tank was filled, they headed north on Highway 41. The drive time to Nashville would take an extra hour on that highway versus the interstate. They’d pass through a dozen or more small towns before they’d reach Music City.
Tony tuned the radio to a country station. “We’ll have to get a hotel room in Nashville tonight. Shopmart’s doors don’t open until eight o’clock tomorrow morning.”
Chapter 17
Kate
Doubt took over her mind. Kate sat scrunched up at the end of the couch. She pulled her knees tightly against her chest in an upright fetal position. A cup of hot tea was within reach on the end table. She thought about the day and the disappointment of spending hours in the conference room of the sheriff’s department but to no avail. Between the three states she’d searched online, nobody matched the blond woman’s description. She was sure the detectives scoffed at her behind her back.