Page 78 of Stolen Daughters (Detective Amanda Steele)

Before she went looking for the interviews, though, she logged into her email to see if anything useful would filter in. There were a couple. One from Detective Robbins and another from Mia Vaughn. Amanda opened the latter first.

Some pictures of the crowd. Sketches and photos of the house to follow.

They always seemed to take longer, but Amanda couldn’t imagine them revealing much to her, given the condition of the structure. But at least she had something to work with. She printed the three image attachments in color, collected them from the printer on her desk, and closed the email.

Next, she opened Chester Robbins’s email. Attached were the investigation files for Crystal Foster and Ashley Lynch. In the body, he provided a clear list of the top three suspects’ names. At the sight of them, she knew what she had to do. Her father had placed a high value on intuition, that sixth sense as a cop, so she listened to hers and called Patty Glover.

“Detective Glover.”

She had expected voicemail due to the time of night. “Ah, Patty, it’s Amanda Steele.”

“Hey there, what’s up?” The cheeriness in Patty’s voice made Amanda wish she’d been calling with good news.

“There was another fire, and two more young women were killed.”

“Oh.” One word, and Amanda felt the pang of hurt travel the line.

“That’s four victims in…four days, three of them only teens.”

“Were the most recent ones branded too?”

“No way of knowing. The fire destroyed their bodies, left only bones. All we have is an eyewitness who saw a man with two young women go into the backyard of the house.”

There were a few seconds of silence.

Amanda went on. “We were able to ID the victim pulled from the first fire. Her name was Ashley Lynch, out of Washington. She was groomed on social media by someone claiming to be a boy from her high school. Obviously it wasn’t. Ashley was spotted with another friend—who also ran away—talking with a woman.”

“I wish I could help.”

Amanda shifted straighter in her chair. “You might be able to, and I may be able to help you. I have a few names from the detective who investigated Ashley Lynch’s disappearance. He cleared these people, but I was hoping you could take a look and see if any of them mean something to you. Might even give you a lead to shut these monsters down. Or at least make their lives hell.” Amanda had amended her comment because Patty had told her before that it was near impossible to destroy these rings. They’d just reorganize and pick up business as usual.

“Sure, shoot the names over, and I’ll take a look.”

They wished each other a good night in spite of the darkness that had occupied their entire conversation.

Amanda’s phone rang immediately.

“Just wanted to let you know that the tip line will be functional and broadcast on the eleven o’clock news.” It was Malone, and he was to-the-point again.

“You got that set up fast.”

“How I work.”

She thought for a second he was going to hang up on her, but he said, “How are things going with the case?”

“Nothing more since we last spoke. Just about to dig back in now. I’ll probably start with reviewing the interviews conducted by canvassing officers from today and see if any leads pop up there.”

“Good. Keep me posted.”

“You’re sure everything’s okay?”

“Four dead bodies in four days. Not really.” He hung up.

Maybe he was just upset about the murders and his mood had nothing to do with her, after all.

“Heard you on the phone.”

She turned to see Trent going to his desk.