Page 85 of Vanish From Sight

“Whoever lit it made sure to douse the vehicle good,” Callie added, holding a handkerchief up to her mouth and nose and skirting around it to get a better look at the steel bones. The flames had chewed their way through the inside and devoured the paint, leaving little behind.

“Plates had been removed and were in the back of the SUV. I fished them out. Whoever tossed them in there obviously wasn’t smart. The paint’s gone but the embossed letters and numbers are as clear as day. It’s a perfect match.”

“And no one saw who walked away?” Callie asked.

“Nope,” Ansel said.

“Vehicle tracks?”

“If they used one, it must have been parked by the road or they set off on foot through the forest.”

“Footprints?” McKenzie asked.

“Nothing found so far.”

Glancing across the wreckage, Callie noticed a figure approaching in the distance, coffee in hand. It was Noah.

“What’s he doing here?” McKenzie asked.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” she said. “Give us a moment.”

Both of them had been told late last night about Lena. It was devastating news. She couldn’t even fathom the amount of pain it would put his family through. They’d already suffered so much loss as it was.

As Noah got closer, Callie noticed his eyes were bloodshot and his face pale. He looked as if he hadn’t slept at all. “Is it Sawyer’s?” Noah asked, his voice barely above a mutter.

She exchanged a glance of concern with McKenzie before looking back and answering. “Seems so. Plates are a match. Noah, what are you doing here?”

“Same thing as you are. Investigating.”

He went to walk around her and she took him by the arm.

He shucked her with a stern look. “Let me do my job, Callie.”

“That’s what worries me. Can you? Should you even be here?”

Noah nodded; his eyes fixed on the burnt-out SUV. “I had to see it for myself. I can’t stay at home. I have to do something.”

“What about your kids?”

“I dropped them off at my aunt’s.”

“You should be with them.”

“And do what? Huh? Stare at a wall? How is that going to change anything? I can’t change the way they feel. I can’t soften the blow anymore. Or take away their grief. But I can try and find the asshole who took her life. That I can do.”

Callie understood. She’d seen cops like Noah before, the ones who threw themselves into their work to distract from their personal lives. She didn’t blame him for being there, but she figured it was best for his kids if he wasn’t.

There was a short pause.

“Let me guess, no one saw them drop it off?” he asked.

“Nope. A farmer spotted the smoke,” McKenzie replied, walking away.

Callie added, “Sawyer told me that this was a second vehicle that he kept at home in his driveway. I already had a deputy canvass the area for footage. So far nothing. It’s like they just stole it up from underneath his nose, committed a crime and…”

“Them?” he asked.

“Him, her, them. Who knows how many we are dealing with right now.” She narrowed her gaze.