“My folks think I’m in my room and your ma thinks you’re doing your chores so we have all the time I need.” She giggled. “She’ll wake up soon.” She moved close to Vicky’s ear. “Wake up so I can kill you.”
Dread slammed into Vicky. Time was running out fast and no one knew she’d left the safety of Aunt Betty’s Café with him. Her ally was a gutless coward. He’d insisted on secrecy and now she knew why. They’d tied her so tight, she couldn’t fight back, and if they discovered she was awake they’d torture her slowly. To survive she had to outsmart them. These were the people who’d killed her friends and expected her to scream and fight but she wouldn’t give them the satisfaction. Anger rose and shattered in terror. Vicky bit down hard on the cloth in her mouth in an effort to appear unconscious. She couldn’t keep up the pretense forever. Her face throbbed and beneath her eyelashes she could see blood dripping onto her arm. An uncontrollable tremble rippled through her. Had they seen it? She braced herself waiting for the inevitable. I’m going to die in a world of pain.
Fifty-Five
Remaining calm when the world was going to hell was part of Jenna’s training and fate had given her at least two people with the same attitude. Running around in circles wouldn’t help Vicky Perez. “We have four main male suspects, call them. I want to know if they’re home. I’ll take Wyatt Cooper, Kane, call Stan Williams, Carter, you have Dale Collins, Rio, Cory Hughes. Their home and cellphone numbers are in the files. I want to know where they are and who they’re with.”
Jenna called Wyatt Cooper and found him at home. After speaking to both his parents, she removed him from their list. Her deputies and Carter discovered two of the four unobtainable, their phones turned off and not at home. “So, we have Cory Hughes and Dale Collins missing. Do we know what they drive?” She stared at the evidence on the whiteboard.
“Hughes had a white pickup at the high school but that might be supplied, he could have another vehicle.” Kane tapped on his computer. “Nothing else belongs to him.”
“That doesn’t mean a thing.” Carter rubbed the back of his neck. “Kids often borrow rides. He could be driving anyone’s vehicle.” He waved at the whiteboard. “What about Dr. Turner, he’s out on bail?”
Jenna met his gaze. “I still have the Blackwater deputies patrolling in town and keeping an eye on his home. I’ll call one and ask them to go and check on him.” She made the call. “He is close by. I’ll hold until he has eyes on him.”
She waited, for what seemed like ages before the deputy came back on the line. She nodded. “Okay, thanks. Watch him for a bit and then continue on patrol. It won’t hurt for him to know we’re tracking his movements.” She disconnected.
“Dr. Turner is at home.” Jenna stared at the men. “We have a girl out there in danger. We have to find her. Come on, Dave, where would they take a girl to murder her?”
“I’d imagine somewhere close to home. At sixteen they wouldn’t risk taking her into the forest.” Kane’s brow furrowed in concentration. “I’ll search Google Earth in their local area for abandoned ranches or businesses.”
“Okay.” Jenna turned to Rio. “Head down to Aunt Betty’s and take a look at their CCTV feed, see if you can get a time Vicky left and maybe a look at the vehicle.” She turned to Carter. “Can you check the feed on the CCTV cameras on Main? You may hit paydirt.”
With a nod of their heads both men took off in a hurry. Jenna turned to stare at the board when Wolfe’s ringtone filled the office. She snatched up the phone and put it on speaker. “I hope you have something for me, Shane, we have just been notified of another missing girl, Vicky Perez.”
“Oh, Jesus.” Wolfe paused a beat. “I hope this will help. The Snapshot DNA Profiler came through. This is amazing technology. We have an image of a female. I’m sending it through to your phone now. Do you have anything to compare it to? Dark hair and eyes, Caucasian?”
Astonished, Jenna stared at the image on her phone. “She looks familiar. Kane has a file with recent images of the cheerleaders. I’ll get straight on it. Thanks, Shane.”
“I’m at the office until late if you need backup. Call me if you get anything.” He disconnected.
“I have something on the possible hideouts.” Kane looked up from his laptop. “Both Hughes and Collins have outbuildings on their ranches. Hughes has what looks like an old run-down building about half a mile from the house. Collins has a similar place. Both could be old barns from when they ran stock.” He tapped away again. “I have the files up for the cheerleaders, show me the image.”
Jenna sat beside him as they scanned the photographs. The image Wolfe had sent was like an identikit picture, not a photograph, and she stared at all the faces. So many girls had dark hair and eyes. “What about her, Verna Hughes?”
“Yeah, it’s a close enough match for us to chase down Hughes.” Kane scrolled through the images. “And her. I’ve spoken to her. She was at the kiosk talking to Dale Collins.” He stared at the whiteboard. “Marlene Moore.”
Astonished two similar girls had links to two suspects, she picked up her phone and called Rio. “Get back here, we have a lead.” She headed down the hallway and burst into the communications room. “Ty, we have two possible couples. We’ll have to split up. Kane figures he has the most probable locations.”
“Let me see.” Carter ran back to her office and stared at Kane’s results. “Yeah, it’s secluded enough not to be heard and close enough to home the kids wouldn’t be missed.” He turned to look at her. “Don’t call the girls. You don’t want to alert them we’re coming, Jenna. They might do something stupid. Give me the coordinates.”
“Yeah, I agree.” Kane pushed to his feet. “If I’m right and the girl is the dominant personality here, anything might happen.”
Jenna nodded in agreement. “Okay, we go in silent. Wear your liquid Kevlar vests, I don’t want anyone getting the jump on us.”
“The day a kid gets the jump on me is the day I retire.” Carter snorted. “But I’ll wear the vest.”
“Vicky left Aunt Betty’s at eight.” Rio bounded into the room. “I couldn’t ID the red truck but when I called in the media report, I put out a BOLO on the vehicle as well as the girl.”
Jenna nodded. “Good work. If she’s been gone that long, we need to move on this now.”
“What have you found?” Rio raised his eyebrows in question.
Jenna brought him up to date. “Look, I don’t want these kids to die in a hail of bullets. I doubt they’ll be armed and I’d like to know what’s behind this killing spree.”
“I hear you’re a sharpshooter.” Kane looked at Rio. “How good?”
“Damn good.” Rio’s face was deadly serious. “I don’t kill unless my partner or I are in mortal danger.”