Chapter 9 - THE MAN AT THE MOTEL
Carol disappeared at 4:26 p.m.
She wasn't answering her phone.
Her motel room was empty.
Her car remained in the parking lot.
Emily immediately panicked.
Cole didn't.
Not outwardly.
He called Brooks.
Within minutes, officers surrounded the motel.
The security footage showed Carol leaving through a side exit.
She wasn't alone.
A man walked beside her.
Victor Shaw.
Emily stared at the screen.
“He took her.”
Brooks shook her head.
“Look carefully.”
They replayed it.
Victor wasn't holding Carol.
He wasn't forcing her.
Carol appeared to be following him willingly.
Emily's face changed.
“Why?”
Cole studied the footage.
Victor said something.
Carol stopped.
Then he showed her his phone.
Whatever she saw made her follow him immediately.
Cole understood.
“He showed her something.”
Brooks nodded.
“Or someone.”
Emily's hand moved toward her stomach.
“My father?”
Cole looked at her.
“Maybe.”
Then Emily's phone rang.
Carol.
Emily answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
Carol was crying.
“I'm sorry.”
“Where are you?”
“I had to come.”
“Come where?”
A male voice spoke in the background.
Victor.
“Put it on speaker.”
Emily looked at Cole.
He nodded.
She activated the speaker.
Victor's voice filled the room.
“Staff Sergeant Mercer.”
Cole remained calm.
“Victor.”
“You've had a busy homecoming.”
“What do you want?”
“The documents Carol brought to your house.”
Cole looked at Brooks.
She silently began tracing the call.
“What documents?”
Victor laughed.
“Don't insult me.”
Cole waited.
Victor continued.
“The original hospital log.”
Carol's voice came faintly through the phone.
“Don't give him anything.”
Victor snapped.
“Quiet.”
Cole's eyes hardened.
Emily began trembling.
Cole took her hand.
“Let Carol leave.”
“Bring me the log.”
“Where?”
Victor gave an address.
An abandoned farmhouse twenty miles outside town.
Brooks shook her head violently.
Cole understood.
He wasn't going there alone.
Victor continued.
“And Staff Sergeant?”
“Yes?”
“If I see police, Carol pays for your mistake.”
The call ended.
Emily stared at Cole.
“You're not going.”
Cole looked at her.
“Correct.”
She blinked.
Brooks seemed surprised too.
Cole picked up his jacket.
“I’m not following his plan.”
“What are you doing?”
Cole looked at the address.
“Finding out why he chose that farmhouse.”
Brooks searched the property records.
Thirty seconds later, she found the answer.
The farmhouse belonged to Patricia Hale.
Emily stared at the screen.
Patricia had owned it for thirty-one years.
Three years before Emily was born.
Brooks opened another database.
Then she froze.
“What?”
Cole asked.
Brooks turned the screen.
The property had an old secondary structure registered beneath it.
Not a barn.
Not a shed.
A private records storage facility.
Cole looked at Emily.
May you like
Whatever Victor was trying to recover wasn't inside their house.
It had been hidden at Patricia's property all along.
