Page 4 of Once Vanished
Hogue was tall and lean, with close-cropped hair and the kind of face that revealed nothing without his permission.Riley had known him for years and respected his methodical approach to investigation.Under different circumstances, she might have been reassured by his presence.Today, she read only frustration in the tightness around his mouth.
“I hope I’m not late,” Hogue said, nodding briefly to Riley and Bill before focusing on Meredith.“I have that update you requested.”
“We were just discussing Dillard,” Meredith replied.“Paige and Jeffreys should hear this too.”
Hogue hesitated only a moment before taking the remaining empty chair.“We’ve been following the money trail, as you suggested.Dillard’s parents were thorough in cutting him off financially after his cruelty to his sister drove her to suicide, but they couldn’t touch the inheritance that came from his grandfather.”
“How much are we talking about?”Bill asked.
“Seven figures, conservatively,” Hogue replied.“Plus some property holdings that weren’t directly tied to the family trusts.We’re running them down now, but most were sold off in the years before he enrolled at the Academy.”
“So you think he’s been planning something like this for years?”Riley asked.She had no reason to believe that Leo’s fixation on her went back that far.
“Planning something,” Hogue corrected.“Maybe just building his own power, staking out his independence.Maybe he’s been looking for an adversary.”
“But the resources are there,” Meredith said.“That’s what matters now.”
“Yes,” Hogue agreed.“He has the money to move around, change identities, bribe his way through situations if necessary.”
“What about facial recognition?”Riley asked.“Traffic cameras, airport security—”
“We’ve been running those programs continuously,” Hogue said, a hint of defensiveness creeping into his voice.“The problem is that Dillard is a chameleon.From what we’ve pieced together, he’s skilled with theatrical makeup and disguise.”
Riley recalled her interactions with Leo in her classroom—his unremarkable appearance, his ability to blend in with the other trainees despite being, in retrospect, nothing like them at all.She’d dismissed him as just another student, nothing special.That had been her first mistake.
“He’s staying local,” Riley said with sudden certainty.“He won’t go far from me.That’s the whole point for him.You shouldn’t have to look very far.”
“Agent Paige,” Hogue said carefully, “I understand your personal investment in this case, but my team has been tracking all possible movements, and we’re not limiting our search to any area.We’ve got alerts at every transportation hub in a five-hundred-mile radius, we’re monitoring all known associates—”
“He doesn’t have associates,” Riley cut in.“He has targets and he has tools.People are just means to an end for Leo.”
The room fell silent.Riley knew she was letting her frustration show, knew that Hogue was just doing his job—and doing it well, by any standard measure.But standard measures didn’t apply to Leo Dillard.
Bill placed a steadying hand on her forearm.“What about properties?”he asked Hogue.“You mentioned he sold most of them, but are there any still in his name?Family vacation homes, hunting cabins, anything off the grid?”
“We’ve identified three properties still technically in his name or held by shell companies we believe he controls,” Hogue replied, his tone professional despite Riley’s outburst.“One in the Poconos, one in coastal North Carolina, and a condo in Baltimore.All have been searched thoroughly.No sign of recent occupation.”
“He wouldn’t use anything traceable to him,” Riley muttered.“He’s too smart for that.”
“Which is why we’re expanding the search to properties that might be rented under aliases, or held by third parties who might not even realize their connection to him.It’s painstaking work.I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but we’re doing everything possible.Every resource available is committed to finding him.”
“Before or after he makes his next move?”Riley asked, unable to keep the edge from her voice.
Meredith shot her a warning look.“Agent Hogue’s team is the best we’ve got, Paige.”
“I know that,” she said, softening slightly.“I’m sorry, Garner.I know you’re doing everything in the book.”
“The problem is,” Bill interjected, “Dillard hasn’t read the same book.”
A humorless smile flashed across Hogue’s face.“Oh, he’s read the book, all right.He knows the book backwards and forwards.But he ignores it.He thinks it’s one big joke.”
The conversation might have continued along those lines—professional, tense, ultimately unsatisfying—if Riley’s phone hadn’t chosen that moment to buzz sharply.She fished it from her pocket, expecting a text from April about a ride home from practice.
Instead, Gabriela’s name flashed on the screen.Riley felt a cold apprehension as she swiped to answer.
“Gabriela?What’s—”
A flood of Spanish poured through the speaker, too rapid and distraught for Riley to follow completely.But some words cut through clearly: “Jilly...gone...police...”