Page 40 of Save Her Life (Sandra Vos #1)

THIRTY-NINE

Sandra checked into a motel near the prison, taking Elwood’s direction. She really was too wiped out to drive back to Washington. The choices weren’t great in this area, but her body and mind were begging for rest. The place was seedy, and her room smelled strongly of cleaning chemicals and a fragrant floral spray. All of it was likely an attempt to override other unpleasant odors.

She’d tried reaching Natalie Roth several times without success and had finally given in and told Elwood. He said he’d dispatched an agent to the Roth residence, and no one was home, but he’d send another agent back in the morning. It was only after that she started to munch on a cheeseburger she’d picked up and brought to the hotel, but the patty had gone cold. Most of it wound up in the trash. Probably for the best as what she had eaten churned in her stomach.

The bed was firm, like lying on a board. She didn’t expect sleep to come easily, but if she could just rest her eyes for a bit it might help. Instead, she found herself staring at the cracked ceiling. There had been a leak at some point given the discoloration in the corner near the door. Maybe there still was.

There was no way she was even going to rest. Not without any give to the mattress. Yet, she remained stretched out as she returned Eric’s call. He’d left a voicemail when she was in with Patton.

“There you are,” he said when he answered. “How did it go with Patton?”

“Don’t even ask.” She massaged her left temple. Her eyes were achy from exhaustion.

“Not well, then.”

“Not at all.” She told him that she was working to make a deepfake happen to convince Patton that Jennings had Natalie.

“It could work.”

“It had better work. Listen, I’m completely wiped out. I just wanted to return your call, give you an update.”

“I had a message for you too. It’s why I called, otherwise I wouldn’t have bothered you tonight.”

“Right. You said you wanted to talk.” She must be more tired than she realized. She was losing the ability to think clearly, and her memory was shit.

“The medical examiner took a closer look at Eaton. The round was a nine mil and fired at a range of between five and ten feet. There’s probably nothing much left of it that would provide us with lands and grooves.”

Also known as rifling, this was caused when a bullet traveled through the gun. They were unique to each gun, but there were also markers that were generic and could narrow down gun make and model. “Well, the picture’s still a scary one. Jennings has Olivia, and now we have proof he’s armed. What about Eaton’s phone? Did that get us anywhere?”

“No. I was just going to get to that. Considering the urgency of the situation, everything was rushed through, but the short of it is the last location for his phone showed in Brentwood on Friday at seven AM.”

“So much for that leading us to where Jennings is holding Olivia.”

“All isn’t necessarily lost though. There was some tar on the bottom of Dennis’s shoes. But not any regular tar. Wood tar. It’s used as a water repellant for boats.”

“Dennis works at a boat factory, though, so I’m not sure how that helps us.”

“I thought you might say that so I had a talk with them. There’s no way Dennis came into contact with it there.”

This finding piqued her interest, but she was still too tired to sit up. “Is wood tar used for anything else?”

“It can also be used in roofing construction, soaps, and in some medications for skin diseases.”

“Right. So that’s a lot. How can we narrow that down?”

“I’m just passing on what I’ve found out, Sandra.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just so exhausted, my eyes hurt, my back and neck hurt. Heck, even my nose hurts.”

“Get some rest. Love you.”

“Love you.” She hung up, or believed she did.