Chapter 53
Fifty-Three
A bsently, Asher flipped his phone over as it buzzed in his hand. He and Stroud had just left the station and were on their way to Coos Bay.
The alert that appeared on the screen turned his blood to ice water. He muttered a curse.
“What?” Stroud asked.
“The alarm at Esther’s is off. The power went out.”
Stroud reached for his radio. “I’ll ask them to check if it’s her street or just her house.”
Asher logged into the doorbell camera while Stroud talked to dispatch, hoping it was still transmitting. If the power was out, the Wi-Fi probably was as well. It would back up to the chip in the camera, but wouldn’t sync to the cloud until the power was restored.
The live feed was down, as he’d feared, so he accessed the stored footage. He rewound it to the time he left, then hit play, speeding up the recording until he saw a vehicle drive past. After doing that several times, one caught his eye. It was a burgundy SUV. A nice one. It approached the house and slowed a little. Asher saw the glow of brake lights before it sped up and drove away.
A couple of minutes later, it returned, moving even more slowly.
He muttered another curse. “I think we might have a problem.”
Pinching the screen, he tried to zoom in, but the car was too far away.
A message from Esther popped up on his screen.
Someone broke in. Called the police.
“What the hell does that mean, Essy?” Was she safe? Was the person still there? Was anyone hurt? Asher looked at Stroud. “Turn us around. Someone broke into Esther’s. She said she called the police.”
Stroud pulled a U-turn and hit his siren. “She say anything else?”
“No.” He clutched the phone, staring at Esther’s words.
As they rocketed down the road, Stroud called dispatch again to ask about the call Esther made to the department. Asher’s jaw clenched as the dispatcher relayed that the call actually came in as a text and that they were unable to establish contact with them. Units were on their way.
“Could Lennox get in?” Stroud asked.
“Yes. But I’m not sure how far he’d get. Edie was there. Audra wasn’t, though.” He slammed his hand onto the dash. “Dammit, I should have brought them all with me to come see you.”
Stroud’s lips thinned. He stayed silent, but Asher noticed the car went a little faster.