Page 25 of Once Vanished
“Then she’ll be okay.I’ll be in touch.”
After hanging up, Riley and Bill sat in silence for a moment, processing this new potential lead.
“It’s something,” Bill finally said.“Not much, but something.”
Before Riley could respond, her phone rang again.Ann Marie’s name flashed on the screen.
“Ann Marie,” Riley answered.“Please tell me you’ve found something.”
“We’re making progress,” Ann Marie replied, her normally cheerful voice sounded serious and focused.“We’ve been investigating the office where Pope was abducted.It was leased to a shell company called Briarwood Holdings.Garner’s team has identified several other properties leased by the same company.”
Riley felt another surge of hope.“Addresses?”
“I’m texting them to you now,” Ann Marie said.“But Riley...there are quite a few.And they could all be false leads.”
“I know,” Riley said, trying to keep the disappointment from her voice.“Leo’s smart.He’d leave us breadcrumbs pointing in the wrong direction.”
“That’s what Garner thinks too,” Ann Marie agreed.“But we have to check them all, just in case.I’m heading to one now—an abandoned warehouse in Anacostia.The team is splitting up to cover more ground.”
Riley’s phone chimed with the incoming text.“We’ll meet you there,” she said decisively.“Then we can decide if we should split up to cover more of them.Text me the exact address.”
After ending the call, Riley turned to Bill.“We should go.”
Bill was already on his feet, gathering their dinner plates from the table.“I’ll put all this in the kitchen.You can tell Gabriela why we’re going.”
Riley grabbed her jacket and checked her weapon, habits ingrained over decades of fieldwork.She went downstairs to look in on Gabriela, who was sitting in her small apartment, staring at an open magazine but obviously not reading it.
“We have to go out,” Riley told her softly.“The team may have some leads.But your protection detail is still outside.We just put our dishes in the kitchen …”
Gabriela looked up, her eyes red but determined.“Go.I’ll clean up the kitchen.You will find her, Señora.I know this.You always find them.”
Riley couldn’t bear to acknowledge the woman’s unwavering faith, so she simply nodded.
When she rushed back upstairs, Bill was waiting.“I’ll drive,” he said.
Outside, the night air was cool against Riley’s face as she and Bill walked to his car.The unmarked police vehicle was still parked across the street, the officer inside raising a hand in acknowledgment as they passed.
“You know,” Bill said as they got into his car, “these locations Ann Marie sent—they’re probably all dead ends.Just like you said.”
“Probably,” Riley agreed, buckling her seat belt.“But we have to try.”
“And if they are all dead ends?”Bill asked, starting the engine.
Riley stared out at the darkened street.“Then we keep looking.We don’t stop until we find her.”She turned to look at Bill.“No matter what Leo throws at us next.”
As they pulled away from the curb, Riley felt the constant pressure of time.Somewhere out there, Jilly was waiting for them to find her.And Leo was waiting too, planning his next move in a game where the stakes couldn’t possibly be higher.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Time had lost all meaning for Jilly.She was in a dimly-lit space that might have once been a storage room, the single overhead bulb casting pale yellow light that barely reached the corners.Her wrists still bore angry red welts where the zip ties had cut into her skin.How long had she been here?Hours?Days?The not knowing was almost as torturous as captivity itself.
Leo had released her legs from the metal folding chair and hauled her to her feet before he’d uncovered her head.He’d brought her here, walking shakily with the taser held close to her back, its plastic casing occasionally brushing against her spine and sending involuntary shivers through her body.Then he’d freed her hands with a quick snip of wire cutters and shoved her inside with enough force that she stumbled forward onto her knees, leaving it to her to get rid of the cotton gag that had dried her mouth to sandpaper.
He’d said, “Make yourself comfortable while you can.I’ll need you back in the chair again later.”
There was an old, stained cushion on the floor, barely big enough for her to lie down on.A bulb high overhead, flickering like it might give out at any moment.No windows, just the one door that she’d heard him padlock from the outside.Not even a chair to sit on.No furniture at all, no shelves, nothing but hard walls.Not sheet rock, not even wood.Nothing she could claw her way through.He’d left a bag of chips, crumpled and greasy, next to a paper cup.
One small mercy she was grateful for: an old toilet and sink at the far end of the room.