by Laura Scott
Turner made her wait a full ten minutes before joining her. So much for expecting her.
“Ms. Palmer, I’m Detective Turner.”
She gave a curt nod. He was older than she’d expected, maybe early forties. His dark hair was turning gray around his temples.
“Okay, let’s see.” He sat across from her with a pad of paper. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”
His rather blunt, matter-of-fact attitude wasn’t reassuring. She explained about how her sister hadn’t come home from work and that a friend had noticed Kate getting a ride in a boxy white van. Then she went on about how she’d followed the white boxy van from Dalton across the Tennessee border, been rear-ended, then kidnapped. She paused, expecting him to ask questions, but he simply regarded her steadily.
“Go on,” he encouraged.
He hadn’t written anything down, which irked her. She went on to describe how she’d escaped the kidnappers, hid in the woods, and was picked up a while later by Officer Murphy.
“Then what? Where did Officer Murphy take you?”
The detective’s question raised the tiny hairs on the back of her neck. Was he looking for a way to harm Sawyer’s reputation? Were there bad feelings between the two men?
“He offered to take me to a motel.” That much was true. She didn’t want to lie, but she wasn’t about to throw Sawyer under the bus either. “Can we get back to my sister, Kate, for a moment? She’s sixteen and has been missing for three, no four days now. Do you know if anyone else has seen a boxy white van around here?”
Turner hesitated, then said, “Not to my knowledge. You didn’t get a license plate number?”
“No. It was dark, and I was staying back, hoping they wouldn’t notice me following them. But they must have, otherwise why would they bother to run me off the road and kidnap me?”
“It could be a coincidence. You’re a pretty woman, and some men have no scruples.”
It wasn’t easy to hold herself back. “No, it’s more than that. And it’s not a coincidence. They knew I was searching for my sister.”
“They said that?” Turner looked surprised.
“Not directly, no.” She thought back to those frightening moments she’d been stuck with Curtis and leering man. “I asked several times where they were taking me, and leering man told me I’d find out soon enough. Oh, and the leering man told the driver to keep an eye out for the road. Sawyer found a dirt road that stopped a few yards in from the highway.”
“Hmm.” Turner stared down at his notepad for a moment. “I called the Dalton police, they seem to believe your sister ran away.”
She felt her cheeks flush. “She didn’t. I’m telling you, she was taken away in that boxy white van.”
“There isn’t any proof of that.”
“Isn’t it your job to find that proof?” She held on to her temper with an effort. “I’m telling you my sister was kidnapped. And I hear there’s a young girl by the name of Louisa missing here too. A dead girl was found in the brush, and Melvin Curtis who was one of the kidnappers tried to kill me. Why aren’t you trying to find out if there are similarities between the three cases?”
“I’m the detective here, you aren’t.” He wrote something on his notepad that looked like the word runaway. “I’m looking into all angles of these cases, down to the last detail.”
“You could have fooled me.” Naomi jumped to her feet. “Whatever. I’m done talking to you.”
He shot to his feet. “You can’t leave until we’re finished.”
Fear curled through her, but she lifted her chin and looked him in the eye. “I came here voluntarily. You can’t hold me against my will.”
Turner stared at her, but a knock at the door distracted him. The door opened, and the lieutenant Sawyer had introduced her to yesterday stood there. “Is there a problem?”
“No, Lieutenant.” Turner stepped aside. “Ms. Palmer doesn’t have any more information for us. She’s ready to leave.”
The lieutenant looked at her, then opened the door wider. “Of course. Thanks for coming in, Ms. Palmer.”
“Yeah, well, you can thank me by finding my sister. And if you ask me, that guy”—she jabbed her thumb at Turner—“isn’t doing enough.”
The lieutenant frowned but didn’t say anything more. Any hope she’d harbored about Detective Turner actually finding her sister vanished.
Unable to hide her disgust at how her interview had gone, she walked through the police station and into the early morning sun. She stopped and lifted her face to the warmth, determined to release her anger.
Being upset with Turner wouldn’t help find Kate. At least she had support from Sawyer. Even if he was officially on leave of absence.
“Naomi?” Sawyer’s low husky voice had her turning to face him. “How did it go?”
She tried to smile. “He’s utterly useless if you ask me. But I did my duty by telling him what I know.”
“I’m sorry.” Sawyer came over and opened the passenger door for her.
“Did your boss believe you about the gunfire?”
“Yeah, I think he did.” Sawyer looked somewhat relieved as he said this.
“Good.” At least one thing went right for them. She slid into the SUV and closed the door. Now they needed to find leering man, before he took another shot at them.
As far as she could tell, leering man was their only lead to finding Kate.
Sawyer wasn’t happy that Naomi’s interview with Turner hadn’t gone well, but he’d done what he could in letting the lieutenant know his opinion. His boss mentioned he’d insisted the FBI get involved, which would help immensely. Sawyer let the lieutenant know Naomi would gladly talk to the Feds. He felt bad he hadn’t followed through with taking her to their office, but things had been a bit hairy over the past few days.
His boss had gotten upset when Sawyer had explained about the gunfire. The lieutenant didn’t take shooting at a cop lightly, and for a moment, Sawyer thought his boss would put him back on active duty.
But he didn’t. After telling Sawyer to be careful, his boss had promised to keep him updated on the investigation related to the shooting of Melvin Curtis and the identity of the unknown female, for which Sawyer was grateful.
“We need to find a place to stay for at least the next twenty-four hours.” He backed the SUV out of the parking space.
“How about one in East Ridge?”
Shocked, he glanced at her. “Are you crazy? You were almost killed in East Ridge.”
“I know, Sawyer. But don’t you think that’s the most logical place to find leering man?”
Yeah, he did. Had thought the same thing about staying there. “It’s too dangerous.”
“We’re already in danger. They found us outside your place, remember?” Naomi said stubbornly.
He couldn’t deny it made sense to go on offense rather than running from this guy. It would be an easy decision to make if not for the small problem of putting Naomi in danger.
As if reading his thoughts, she lightly grasped his arm. “Kate is my sister. I need to find her. Detective Turner isn’t going to do diddly squat. Please, Sawyer, you’re the only one who can help me.”
He didn’t want to admit she was right. Turner was mired so deep in ridiculous details Sawyer didn’t think he’d ever find a connection between the dead girl, Kate, and Louisa. If there was one.
The ME’s office had deemed the unknown female’s cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head. Which was interesting as it leaned more toward the girl running from her assailant and being hit on the back of the head. It was a grim yet highly probable scenario.
“Sawyer? Please?” Naomi repeated in a pleading tone.
She was difficult to resist. “Okay, we’ll see if we can find a motel near East Ridge.”
“In the city would be better.” She released his arm, and oddly, he missed her touch. “We need to find leering man before he hurts someone else.”
Sawyer didn’t li
ke knowing she was right about the need to find leering man. Had the girl in the woods been murdered by Curtis or the leering man?
Or someone else?
“Do me a favor,” he said as he drove toward East Ridge. “We’re almost at the city limits. I need you to keep your head down until I can find us a place to stay.”
She wrinkled her nose but did as he asked, tucking her head down near her feet. “This makes my head throb, and you should be glad I don’t experience motion sickness or doing this would probably make me puke,” she said in a muffled voice. “Especially earlier when you were pretending to be an Indy 500 race car driver.”
Her teasing comment made him smile. Trust Naomi to try to lighten a grim situation.
“I’m sorry it makes your head hurt.” He raked his gaze over the city, trying to remember where the reasonably priced motels were located. He was hoping for something low budget so they could use cash without being hassled for a credit card.
Using a card was fine under normal circumstances, but these were anything but. He had no way of knowing which motel owners or their respective employees were working with those involved in sex trafficking.
And he didn’t want to find out the hard way by trusting the wrong person.
Cruising past the gas station near Melvin Curtis’s crime scene, he could see the area had finally been cleared of all yellow tape and police personnel. He found himself sending up a silent prayer that he’d be cleared of any wrongdoing.
He wasn’t sure why his go-to response was to reach out to a God he didn’t entirely believe in. Naomi’s influence? Maybe.
A low-budget motel caught his eye. Warily, he drove past it, glancing at his rearview mirror.
No sign of a tail since leaving the police station. But he decided to drive around a bit before heading back to the motel.
“Are we there yet?” Naomi asked.
“Soon,” he promised, taking another turn. “The motel I’m considering happens to be located less than a mile from the gas station where Melvin grabbed you.”
“That sounds perfect,” Naomi said.
He shook his head. “Only you would think so. It’s a two-star motel, a ranking obviously designated by someone feeling generous.”
“Hey, it’s better than sleeping in the woods,” she shot back.
“Yeah.” Considering how many nights he’d slept in the woods, he had to agree. After escaping the Preacher and spending years in the cellar, he and the others had preferred living outdoors. He’d raided the garden before disappearing from the cabin and had learned enough to survive over those next few weeks.
Eventually, being rained on got old and they were forced to seek shelter in places much like the one he was heading toward. But even then he’d only been able to sleep with a window open, no matter how hot or cold the outside temperature might be.
“Sawyer? My head is hurting from being bent over like this.”
Naomi brought him back to the present. “Almost there.” He turned into the parking lot, then drove behind the corner of the building where his SUV couldn’t be seen from the road.
“Can I sit up now?” Naomi asked when the SUV came to a stop.
“Yes.” He glanced at her. “Sorry about that, but I needed to be sure we weren’t followed.”
“I know.” She pushed her hair from her face. “This place doesn’t look too bad.”
“We haven’t seen the inside of the rooms yet.” He hesitated, then asked, “Do you trust me?”
“What? Yes, of course I trust you.”
He drew in a deep breath. “Getting connecting rooms might raise suspicions. I’d like to get one room with two double beds.” He turned to face her. “I promise you don’t have any reason to be afraid I’ll take advantage of you.”
She blushed and waved a hand. “I’m not worried. You’re not like that, Sawyer.”
Her trust was humbling. “Thanks. This way I’ll be a single guy getting one room. No one has to know you’ll be staying there with me.”
“It’s okay,” she repeated. “I’m fine.”
He tossed her the key fob and slid out from behind the wheel. “If anything happens, I want you to drive back to the police station. The lieutenant will listen to you.”
“Okay.” A hint of fear shadowed her blue eyes.
He smiled reassuringly, then slammed the door. He walked around the corner toward the front of the building. There was a small lobby with a neon red vacancy sign in the window.
A man emerged from a room, letting the door shut loudly behind him. Moving instinctively, Sawyer hugged the wall, making himself small as he watched the man stride toward the lobby. Something about him was familiar. The image of Naomi’s sketch flashed in his mind.
Leering man?
No, it couldn’t be. What were the chances they’d end up at the same motel as Naomi’s leering guy?
He needed to get a better look at the guy’s face. Sawyer was glad he was casually dressed in black jeans and a black T-shirt. And that he still had the small gun in his ankle holster.
Easing forward, he abruptly stopped when the lobby door opened and the same guy emerged.
Now that he could see his face, the resemblance was clear. The man was a dead ringer for the sketch Naomi had helped create of her leering man.
Leering man jumped behind the wheel of a dark gray pickup truck. Sawyer moved forward, trying to get a glimpse of the license plate. It was covered with mud.
Frustrated, Sawyer turned and ran back to the SUV.
No way was he letting this guy get away.
Chapter Fifteen
Naomi looked up in surprise when Sawyer came around the corner, running toward the SUV. She was about to get out of the vehicle when he yanked the door open and said, “I just saw leering guy.”
She quickly closed her door in time for Sawyer to throw the gear shift into reverse to barrel out of their parking spot. “Where? At the motel?”
“At first, but now he’s in a dark gray Chevy pickup truck with a muddy license plate.” He pulled out his phone and tossed it into her lap. “Call 911, let them know.”
She didn’t hesitate to grab the phone Sawyer had handed her. As she explained to the dispatcher that they’d gotten a glimpse of the man in the sketch in a gray truck with muddy plates, she saw the vehicle up ahead. “There he is! We’re on Highway 41 heading northwest.”
“I’ll have officers respond to the area,” the dispatcher said in a calm voice. “Do not engage with the suspect.”
Sawyer hit a pothole. She bounced in her seat and dropped the phone. Then he hit the brakes as the truck made a left turn, sending the phone beneath her seat.
She could hear the dispatcher talking but didn’t want to take her eyes from the truck. It was far enough away that she could barely see the make and model, much less a license plate. Even if it hadn’t been covered in mud. “Can you get close enough so I can see his face?”
Sawyer shook his head. “Right now, I just want to get him into custody. If it’s not the right guy, fine. But if it is, I don’t want him to slip away.”
She could see his logic. The truck pulled off Highway 41 onto a smaller road. “Where is he going?”
“I’m not sure.” Sawyer sped up a bit when the truck disappeared around a curve. “Maybe to where the girls are being kept?”
The thought of finding Kate filled her with hope, and she silently prayed God would guide them to her sister.
“I need the phone so we can let them know the truck has left the main highway.” She bent over and reached beneath her seat, trying to find the device.
She couldn’t hear the dispatcher’s voice any longer and assumed their call had been disconnected. Where were the police? The dispatcher had claimed she’d send officers, but there was no sign of them.
Finally, she found the phone. Upon straightening in her seat, she frowned. “Where’s the truck?”
“I don’t know.” Sawyer’s voice was grim. “Look on your side for any sign of a drivewa
y leading off this road.”
Peering through the passenger-side window, she felt sick at the thick foliage. How would they ever find the truck? Leering man could have driven it anywhere.
Like a dead-end road, similar to the one where she’d managed to escape on that horrible night that seemed like eons ago rather than a few days.
And she had Sawyer and God to thank for saving her.
“I think I found it.” Sawyer’s voice broke into her thoughts.
“Where?” She craned her neck to look past him.
“I already passed it. Hang on.” He slowed the SUV and made a Y turn in the road so they could head back. “Check out the driveway from your side. See it?”
“Yes.” She swallowed hard. “But I don’t see the truck.”
“It’s the only place where the truck could have pulled off, at least from what I can see.” Sawyer pulled over to the side of the road and shut down the car. “I’m going to check it out.”
“Wait.” She grabbed his arm. “Don’t go alone. Let’s call for backup.”
“I just want to see if the truck is there. If it is, then we’ll get the police, okay?”
She didn’t like it but slowly nodded. “Okay, but you have five minutes.” She lifted the phone. “Then I’m calling them, even if the truck and leering man aren’t here.”
“Agreed. Keep the key fob, just in case.” Sawyer dropped it into the cupholder, slid out from behind the wheel, and softly closed the door. She saw him reach down and grab something from his ankle, belatedly realizing it was a gun.
It made her feel better to know he was armed. But the thought that he might get into worse trouble quickly overwhelmed her.
Please, Lord, keep Sawyer safe in Your care!
She crawled over the console to get into the driver’s seat. Sawyer was already gone from view, so she looked at the phone and made note of the time. He had five minutes, and not one second longer.
Was it possible this is where Kate and Louisa were being held? Other girls too?
She hoped and prayed if her sister was here, that she was all right.
The seconds ticked by slowly. One minute passed. Then another. She gripped the phone so tightly her knuckles went white. She wished the windows were down so she could hear better. But the only sound was her own ragged breathing and the rapid beat of her pulse.