Page 56 of Vanish From Sight

“No one saw anything.” He sighed.

“Actually, we have a couple of witnesses. Not to her being dragged and shoved into a vehicle but a couple walking their dog witnessed a suspicious SUV driving back and forth up this road, they aren’t exactly sure but the husband said he thought it looked like a blue Kia Sportage. An older model.”

“Could he identify if the driver was male or female?”

“Nope.”

Noah swept back his jacket and rested his hand on his service weapon. He glanced off toward River Road. “So, the connection with River Road?”

Callie brought out her phone and pulled up a social media website. “This is Laura’s Facebook page.” She scrolled up through several of the posts. She had posted all of her runs online showing the route she took. “Laura put out an invite to other friends a few months ago, stating that she usually parks here and then walks over to the mouth of River Road and runs the full stretch down to Cascade Road and then back again. It’s about eight miles round trip.”

“So, others knew the route and routine.”

“And these posts online are marked public. Meaning anyone could have seen the announcement.”

He shook his head. Social media was making it easier to connect and even easier for stalkers and crazies to hone in on the vulnerable. “All right, so there was no post for last night. Where’s her phone?” he said, glancing around the gravel.

“That’s the thing. We haven’t found it yet. The corded headset must have been yanked out of the cellphone when she was jumped and dragged. At least that’s the going theory. I’ve called for search and rescue to assist this morning.”

“If she’s out here.”

“Right. But it’s where we begin.”

Noah dropped to a crouch, touching the gravel. “The tire tracks could have been useful if they weren’t driven over multiple times,” he said, glancing at the police cruisers.

“And they could have belonged to any number of locals and tourists before or after. Public place and all,” Callie said.

He nodded.

Mistakes were made all too often in cases. Police and neighbors unknowingly could destroy evidence. “So where did you dash off to last night?” Callie asked.

“Ah, just some matters related to family.”

“Problems?

“It’s personal.”

He didn’t want to get into it with her or tarnish Ray’s reputation. Whatever he was going through, it wasn’t his place to air his dirty laundry. Likewise, he would have expected nothing less from him. “By the way, any luck with that phone number from the shelter?” Noah asked.

“Yeah, it came back to a private company called the Sawyer Group owned by a journalist. Nate Sawyer.”

“Nate Sawyer?”

“You know him?”

The name rang a bell. That’s when he remembered the newspaper article from Katherine’s home. “I think so. What about High Peaks Academy? What did they tell you about Charlie?”

“There was only one Charlie who was seeing Katherine for counseling. A Charlie Delaney.”

“Is he still at the school?”

“Yeah.”

“All right. Let’s see what we can find this morning, and hope to God that Laura is still alive.”

Within two hours the trailhead popular for jogging was packed with experienced SAR professionals, equipped with advanced technology and trained in all forms of search and rescue, along with county deputies and anxious trusted volunteers.

They were given a quick briefing on the situation and how to conduct the search. Then they were divided into teams and provided with maps of the area, along with radios to communicate with the other team leaders. They would be working on both sides of the road and spaced 14 to 20 feet apart as they performed a grid pattern search. They were to alert the others if they found anything of significance: clothing, footprints, personal belongings even if it couldn’t be confirmed as Laura’s.