Page 48 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)
FORTY-ONE
Amanda looked over at Trent from the passenger seat. “Trent, do you have those numbers Wilcox used with Mara? The one he used to pretend he was Jean Tanner and the one he gave her when he asked her out?”
“Yeah, it’s on there.” He handed her his tablet and told her where to find the information and got them on the road to the rental property.
She opened the file he’d directed her to. “All right. I thought they looked familiar. The numbers he provided for two of his references were those.”
“This guy put in a lot of time planning, including lining up prepaid numbers.”
“It’s sickening.” She couldn’t give it much more thought than that. Instead, she’d focus on how this evidence solidified a case against him. No defense attorney could argue against premeditation.
“He only provided two references?”
“No, there is a third. Let me try that number.” She took out her phone and tapped in the digits.
The line went directly to voicemail. “Well, it’s in service,” she said, while listening to the automated greeting.
She didn’t leave a message and hung up. “No personalization to the voicemail greeting. Could this be Wilcox’s active number? ”
“We can’t take the chance it isn’t.”
She got on the phone with Detective Briggs and explained the situation. He told her he’d get the authorization and track the number ASAP. She ended the call and updated Trent.
He turned down the street for the rental property and parked at the edge of the police cordon. Officer Traci Cochran was posted there. As they passed her, she gave them a nod.
The SWAT command vehicle was parked on the street near Malone’s SUV. He was standing next to it. When he spotted them, he hustled over.
“SWAT’s got this part,” he rushed out.
“I understand that.” His interception brought back a conversation they had more recently about her needing to hold off and wait for backup. In her defense, she only moved in earlier when she felt life was in danger.
“Have they breached yet?” Trent asked Malone.
“They’re getting ready to.” As Malone said this, SWAT officers in tactical gear approached the two-story house on the north side of the street.
The middle-class neighborhood was attractive to families with young children.
The thought fired through and sickened her.
The location might even be what led Wilcox to choose the house.
They knew Wilcox planned ahead with the rental and the phones, so to think he’d scoped out the area wasn’t a stretch.
A SWAT officer called out in the distance, announcing himself as PWCPD, just before the cracking of wood echoed in the air.
They would be inside. Now it was a waiting game. Would they find Eloise?
“Did any of the neighbors comment on seeing any young girls going into the house or being around Wilcox?” she asked Malone.
“No, but the place has a garage. He could have had them in the backseat or the trunk, taken them in, put down the door…”
“With no one any the wiser,” she finished his thought. It was terrifying what people could do when they set their minds to it.
“Do we know if the gray Kia is in the garage?” Trent asked.
“No way of checking that discreetly. The windows are slim rectangles and high in the door.”
“Did anyone go around back? There might be a more accessible window on the rear side,” she said.
“Officers checked that out. No window,” Malone said. “The man door on the side has one, but a blind is covering the glass.”
They didn’t even know if this creep was home.
Time slowed down to a cruel pace. With each passing minute, Amanda became more anxious. After ten minutes, SWAT officers came out the front, and most headed back to their vehicle. The team leader started walking toward them. She, Trent, and Malone helped bridge the distance.
“No one’s inside, but we found some disturbing things. There’s a room in the basement with a padlock on the door. We broke it, and there’s a child’s bed in there with some stuffed toys and a play kitchen.”
Amanda grinded her teeth. Her insides were pulsating.
The SWAT officer added, “Some girls’ clothing was in the closet and a pair of unicorn pajamas on the bed.”
“Eloise.” The girl’s name fell off Amanda’s tongue, but she didn’t give herself much time for sorrow. She turned to Trent and pulled out her phone. “We need the results on that number.”
Malone held up a hand, and the SWAT officer angled his head.
“What number?” Malone asked her, and she told him about the lease agreement and her call with Briggs.
“Let’s hope it turns out to be the break we need,” Malone said.
“I want to go inside now,” she told Malone.
“I get that. But just so you know, Crime Scene is on their way too.”
She nodded and received his unspoken caution, even if it didn’t need communicating. She could go in but had to be careful of what she touched to not contaminate the house any more. The crime scene. It was also likely the scene of Hailey’s murder.
Just that thought had her moving toward the house, ready to strangle this Wilcox bastard. I’m coming for you, you son of a bitch!
Trent’s footsteps sounded behind her, but she kept her pace fast and steady.
She gloved up and put booties over her shoes before entering the home and heading toward the basement stairs.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” Trent asked from behind her.
“I need to.” She didn’t understand the compulsion herself.
An internal urge nudged her forward, as if by being there, she’d be brought closer to Eloise.
She wasn’t given the chance to save Hailey Tanner, and she wasn’t failing Eloise.
That girl had been taken on her watch, and she would make this right.
She reached the last step and let her instinct guide her. The basement was finished, and she walked through a family room to a doorway at the other end. This area housed the furnace, water heater, and laundry, but beyond that, another opened door led to a smaller space.
The sight of pink bedding made her head spin.
She thought she was prepared to see this room…
She reached out to the doorframe to steady herself as her legs became weak.
Being here br ought back the nightmares served up by a case they worked in February.
Three months ago, but the imagery was still fresh.
Though, she didn’t think she’d ever forget that creepy house with its hidden room of horrors.
“Amanda.” Trent reached out for her as her legs buckled.
She held up her hand, regaining her balance. “I’m fine.” She wasn’t. They both knew it. But surely, he must be having a bit of déjà vu himself. How these deviants could continue to draw breath after snuffing out the innocent was beyond her.
She let out a roar and drew back a fist to punch the wall. Trent caught her arm in the elbow.
“Just let me,” she hissed at him.
“No. It’s not going to help anything. It’s just going to hurt you and contaminate the scene.”
She was heaving for breath, consumed by rage.
“Amanda,” Trent whispered. His soft tone drawing her back from the brink. “Save your fist for his face.”
She met his eyes. “You always know the right thing to say.”
He dipped his head. “We will get him. And Eloise.”
“We have to.” Her phone rang, and Briggs’s name flashed on the screen. She answered before the first ring finished. “Tell me we have his location.”
A pause, then, “I wish I could, but the phone’s inactive.”
She balled her hand into a fist. To be this close, yet so far away, felt like a cruel joke. “Okay, well, where did it last ping?”
“I can’t tell you that either, unfortunately.
I can tell you that number is also part of a prepaid block serviced by Universal.
I also got authorization to look at the history on it, and the other one you provided me with.
The one given to Mara from Wilson M. They were all activated the first of December and purchased at the same convenience store. ”
“Thanks,” she said, despite wanting to punch the wall. The phone being offline might be her fault. She’d tried that phone about forty minutes ago. Had he seen the unknown number, freaked out, and turned the phone off?
“I hope you find this guy.”
“Makes two of us.” She said goodbye and turned to Trent, shaking her head. But she filled him in on the link.
“The evidence is just stacking up against this guy now.” His phone rang. He pulled it out and told her it was the rental company he was waiting to hear from.
She listened in and could only catch so much, but what she could piece together sounded promising.
“Thank you so much. Goodbye.” Trent cupped his phone in his hand. “We have our lead. We are going to find him, Amanda, and save Eloise.”
This was his second time saying as much within a short time. Was he that positive or was he trying to reassure himself?