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“No.” The sheriff pulled out his own phone and hit the speed dial. “I’ll get her cell phone number from her employer. I hate to think we might have a serial killer on our hands. But with one woman dead already, I’m willing to bet Mary Alice’s disappearance is related.”
While the sheriff placed his call to the state police, Paul worked his way around the room and into the bedroom, careful not to touch anything. The covers on the bed lay in disarray but not like a struggle had taken place. More like someone who didn’t make the bed after sleeping in it. In the bathroom, cosmetics and perfume littered the counter but no sign of a cell phone.
The sheriff’s voice carried to him from the other room.
When he emerged, the sheriff was hitting the off button on his cell phone.
“Not a robbery or they would have taken the purse and the car.” Paul circled the living room, pausing to stare at a picture sitting on the end table beside a faded blue couch. Both people in the photo were smiling. The young man, possibly in his late twenties, and the young woman, vaguely familiar with long blond hair and blue eyes. Paul’s heart plunged to his stomach, churning the food he’d eaten earlier. “This must be Mary Alice.”
The sheriff moved to join Paul by the couch. “I’ve seen her around town. Always has a smile.”
“Know the guy in this picture?”
The sheriff bent forward and stared hard at the man in the picture. “He looks like the police officer assigned to the high school.”
“What?” Paul straightened, his heart leaping against his chest, pounding so hard he couldn’t hear himself think.
The sheriff frowned at him. “Is there something wrong with that? I’ve met him once or twice at football games at the high school stadium. Last name’s West.” The sheriff scratched his chin. “Colton West, if I’m not mistaken. Kinda new. Only been on the city police force for two or three months.”
The urge to get to the high school and find Officer Colton West hit Paul hard, but he kept his cool in frontof the sheriff. He wanted to get to Elise as quickly as possible. Whoever had left Elise the note in her box had access to the school. A campus police officer had access to every place on campus, including the front office. “Let’s start there. Maybe he can help us pinpoint the last time she’d been seen.”
“Yeah. As soon as the state police crime scene investigators arrive, I’m on it.”
“I have to make some calls to check in with the office. Want to meet up at the high school in, say an hour?”
“I’ll meet you there.” The sheriff returned his attention to the notebook in his hand, scribbling words on the page.
Paul left the apartment complex and pushed the posted speed limits on his way to the high school on the other side of Breuer.
At a stop light, he dialed Brian.
“Hey, Fletcher.”
“Anything on that phone call?”
“Got an electronic copy of your phone records just a few minutes ago. The fastest I’ve ever gotten anything from the phone company. Gotta love technology.”
Paul wanted to tell Brian to get to the point. The light changed and he concentrated on making a left turn onto Main Street.
“Anyway, I scanned for the time you gave me and sure enough, there was a phone call from a cell phone.Only the cell phone was a burner, one of those disposable types you can’t trace.”
“Great.” Another dead end and his killer was using all the tricks.
“I’m trying to trace the phone back to the dealer. Maybe we can get an ID on the person who bought it.”
“Thanks, Brian.” Paul hung up and resisted the urge to throw his cell phone out the window. They were running out of time on this case. Another woman could be fighting for her life as they chased dead-end clues.
The afternoon had passed, and school would be getting out soon. As he pulled into the parking lot, the boy he’d caught giving Elise hell sprinted past him. A man dressed in the solid black uniform of the Breuer Police Department pounded the pavement after the kid. The kid had a good hundred yards on the officer. Unless he was in better shape than a seventeen-year-old, he didn’t stand a chance of capturing the punk.
Unfortunately, the cop chasing the kid was the one Paul wanted to talk to.
The best way to speed this up was to slow the kid down.
Paul whipped his vehicle around and raced after the punk, pulling in front of him. He spun his steering wheel hard to the left, spinning the car broadside on the road leading out of the high school campus. Paul leaped out and gave chase.
The young man changed directions and ran for thefive-foot-tall, chain-link fence bordering the road. With the ease of youth, he grabbed the wire, and vaulted over the top. He dropped to the ground on the other side and disappeared between the tightly packed houses of a neighborhood.
By the time Paul could get over the fence, the kid would be long gone.