Chapter 37 Elijah
Elijah
“I’m going to need you to calm down,” Detective Jameson says, raising her hand.
Police officers roam up and down the floors, trying to search for evidence and clues that can lead us in the right destination.
My eyes widen at her audacity. “How can you tell me to calm down when Tobias isn’t here? Every single second we sit here, is a second he’s alone with that lunatic.”
Gwen squeezes my arm, trying to get me to lower my voice, but I can’t. I won’t. “This whole time, Tobias has been silently going through all of this and now…” My breath stutters. “Now Derrick has him and…and I can’t remain calm about this.”
“I know. I understand. Trust us when we say, no one feels more guilty than we do.”
“So prove it. Please.” I beg. “We need to find him.”
Jameson sighs heavily, giving me a curt nod. Sitting down in the arm chair beside me as she looks at Gwen and I.
Jameson pulls out her phone, scrolling through the app for the map.
“We’ve been making calls to the surrounding motels in the area ever since you told us about the missing documents. We got no hits…” She circles her finger around our town, making it clear that wherever they are, it won’t be close.
My stomach sinks. “Oh…”
“Which led us to believe he’s gotten further out of this area than we thought.
Somehow he must have gotten cash which made it possible for him to acquire a vehicle with false license plates.
Once we learned this, we were able to scan the surrounding area with Jude Thorne’s name and.
...we got a match.” She taps on the screen and shows me a small motel on the outskirts of town.
“He stayed here for a couple nights in October before moving here—” she taps again, further north.
“He’s been jumping. Not staying anywhere for too long and always paying with cash so there’s no paper trail. ”
My brain races through the information. “Okay, so what does that mean? He could be jumping again?”
She winces. “That’s the thing—since late September, the trail’s gone cold.” She slips the phone back into her pocket.
My heart races. “No, that can’t be it. That can’t be all we have.”
“We have to consider the possibility that he’s caught on. Maybe he’s changed up his tactics, moved east, west, south…we don’t know.”
I stand up suddenly, feeling at a loss. “So what do you know? Because it doesn’t seem like you know anything.”
She raises her hands again. “Elijah, I implore you to take it easy—”
“No!” I shout, not being able to keep it in. “I won’t stop. I’ll never stop.” I rush out. “Pull up the map again. Let me see it.”
She stares at my eyes for a beat, judging my forcefulness.
My fists tremble at my sides until Gwen grips my wrist and pulls me back into the chair.
“Okay. Let’s think about it. Together.” Jameson takes out her phone again, showing me.
“Okay, here.” I point at the screen re-tracking what she showed me before. “These don’t make sense. It’s like he’s moving in a jagged line, unsure of where to go but still north.”
I let that thought settle in my brain. “Maybe he’s searching for something…”
We all stare at the map for a while, as I bite my thumbnail.
“You think he found whatever he was searching for and that’s why he went cold?” Gwen asks, looking at me.
“Maybe.” I nod. “Or maybe he didn’t and that’s why he came back for Tobias.” I run my hand through my hair.
Jameson’s whole body stops as she looks at my face. “Wait…”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I just…”
“Does your dad have anything of importance in this area that Derrick would’ve wanted?”
I look at the map again. “I guess. But he’d be way off. The lake house is this way.” I point a few hours east of where he was headed.
“What if he was trying to throw us off? And what if he still needs something and that’s why he’s come back for Tobias?”
My eyebrows raise. “You think he’s at the lake house?”
“It’s worth a shot to check.”
“The lake house is three hours from here…if we’re wrong…” A cold dread washes over me. “That’s a lot of time lost.” I shake my head.
“We’ll move fast.” She says signaling to her police force to follow.
“Okay, let’s do it.” I jump up, Gwen following close behind. She’s right. If there’s even a possibility Tobias is anywhere, we’ve got to try.
Jameson’s eyes flick over to me. “Woah, where do you think you’re going?”
I throw on my jacket and grab the keys from my pocket. “If you think I’m not coming, you’re fucking crazy.” I huff.
Gwen snags my keys from my hand as she shoves past the both of us. “I’ll drive.” She says to me. “Come on, what are we still doing here!?” She swings open the door.
Jameson and I exchange a look before making our exit outside.
I’m coming, Tobias.