Page 22 of Vanish From Sight

“Um, uh…”

“Why were you out there in the rain?”

“I like to hike.”

“Not an easy place to hike. There aren’t any trails around there.”

“I prefer places out of the way.”

“You see anyone else while you were there?”

“No.”

“Was the dog wearing a collar?”

“No.”

“And you didn’t hear anything? See anyone?”

“I just told you. It was just me out there.”

“What day did you find the dog?”

“Um.” He looked off toward the clock. “Last Wednesday.”

Noah was about to ask a few more questions when there was a knock at the door. A deputy stuck his head in.

“I’ll just be a minute longer,” Noah replied.

“Oh, take your time. Officer Thorne was asking where you were, said there are two women here to see you.”

“Right.” Noah looked back at Thomas. “We’ll continue this later.”

“I thought you said you could help?”

“We have to confirm a few things first, Thomas. Trust me. If you haven’t done anything wrong, we’ll have you out of here ASAP. Excuse me, I need to go,” he said, heading out and leaving the deputy to continue processing him. There was a good chance it would all be thrown out on Monday morning but for now he would have to be treated no different than someone stealing property until proven otherwise.

Once Noah made his way back around to the front of thebuilding and into the Sheriff’s Office, he found Lena waiting with a middle-aged Chinese woman.

“Hey,” Lena said. “Noah. This is Hannah Chang.”

The smaller woman with dark black hair offered a hand.

“Give me a second, we’ll bring out the dogs.”

A moment later the two pups appeared, carried by Noah and another deputy, and it was clear from the moment they saw the woman that she was the owner. They hurried over, whining and panting. She scooped them up with tears in her eyes, saying their names over and over. A scowl formed. “Is the man who took them in jail?”

“For now.”

“For now? He’s not going to be released, is he?”

“Did you see him take the dogs?”

Almost at the same time, Lena and Hannah replied.

“No,” Hannah said.

“Yes. We have a video,” Lena replied, hoping to clarify. She took out her phone and showed him. The first thing Noah noted was there were two people taking dogs and the van wasn’t the same. It was a bad recording and certainly didn’t offer a good look at the kind of dogs stolen.