Chapter 34
THIRTY-FOUR
Amanda and Trent conducted the search of Bill Johnson’s mother’s property before heading home.
It turned up nada. No sign of the Archers or anything to suggest they had been there.
It was frustrating to hit her pillow with them still out there.
There also wasn’t any sign of Peggy Johnson.
The only upside to last night was Amanda got to salvage some of the evening with Zoe and send her mother home.
Zoe had spent some of that time and this morning asking Amanda what she was doing to find her teacher’s family.
Everything we can was Amanda’s reliable response.
Meanwhile, in her head, she’d taken things further.
She imagined strangling Bill Johnson for the Archers’ location.
After all, he and Peggy had to be behind this.
To consider otherwise wasn’t a place she was willing to go yet.
That would put her and Trent back to ground zero.
No suspects. No leads to follow. But she and Trent weren’t giving into such negative thinking, and that was one reason they agreed to meet at Central despite it being Saturday.
Before any of that though, getting a coffee from Hannah’s Diner hit the top of her list. So after dropping Zoe off at her grandparents’, she lined up and waited fifteen minutes for one. As she parked herself behind her desk at Central and sipped the smooth brew, she had no regrets.
Trent came toward her cubicle a few minutes later. She knew he was around because she’d spotted his lightweight jacket on the back of his chair. But based on his frown, he knew something that she didn’t.
“Should I ask?”
“I take it you haven’t seen Blair’s email.”
“No.” Between juggling the morning with Zoe, she hadn’t had more than five minutes to herself. And she’d used those to get herself ready for work. She’d even stayed offline while she waited for her coffee. “Don’t tell me…”
“None of the hairs or fibers pulled from Johnson’s van were a match to any of the Archers. Blair also added there was no blood or other bodily fluids in the vehicle either.”
“Prints?”
“Only one set, which tied back to Bill Johnson.”
“Crap. So there goes Bill’s suggestion that Peggy took his van and orchestrated all of this.”
“Yep. Not that we believed that cockamamie story.”
“Oh, by the way, this is for you.” She extended a cup of Hannah’s coffee toward him.
“You didn’t need to…”
“Hey, I figured I was already waiting in line forever, so I might as well.” She smiled at him. “It might be a bit cool though.”
“As if that matters. Thanks.” He pushed back the tab on the lid and took a sip. “Still perfection.”
“At least something is. We’re going to need to release Johnson.”
“It still bothers me we never caught up with Peggy.”
“Well, we can’t tie her to her husband’s cargo van, and the chances are slim she sourced one from elsewhere.”
“Though it’s possible.”
“Lots of things are, but I say we call it for what it is. The Johnsons didn’t do this.”
“Agreed, which is why you’ll be interested in knowing that I took the initiative with something else.”
“Now, I’m intrigued.”
“We have one more thread to tug. Detective Briggs told us about a meetup Valerie Archer had last week at Caffeine Café, arranged with someone on the other end of a burner phone. You might remember from going there in the past, the coffee shop wants a warrant if they’re going to part with their security footage? ”
“I do.”
“Well, I submitted for one and just got it back before you got here. We could pay the coffee shop a visit, see if it gets us anywhere.”
“Let’s do it. You never know, it might be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for.” Amanda wished to believe in something, and this was their strongest lead at the moment.
Caffeine Café was a Starbucks wannabe with its endless drink options. Amanda bypassed the line and walked straight up to the counter, flashing her badge to anyone who had an issue with her doing so.
One man still called out, “Hey, lady, get in line!”
The clerk, who was ringing up another man’s order, turned to Amanda and Trent. “I’m sorry, but you’re going to need to go back and wait your turn.”
Amanda lifted her badge higher. “We just need to speak with the manager.”
The woman huffed, collected the money from her customer, and told the next person in line, “I’ll be right back. I apologize.” She shot Amanda a glare before heading toward the back of the coffeehouse.
She returned a moment later, alone, and said nothing to them. Just to the customer. “What can I get started for you today?”
They even stole Starbucks’s line… But what the heck?
What was the ETA on the manager? Amanda was about to ask when she appeared.
Long black hair and lengthy bangs that poked into her eyelashes.
It was the same woman they dealt with during the past investigation.
The tag clipped to her shirt reminded Amanda of her name.
“Carla, I’m Detective Steele, and this is Detective Stenson. We’ve spoken before.”
“Yeah, I remember you.” She slipped her gaze over to Trent. “What is it this time?”
Amanda imagined how saying A murder investigation led us here would draw unwanted attention. Instead, she stuck with the basics. “Could we speak in your office?”
“All right, come along.” She turned and took them to a room in the back that was just big enough to house a desk, a chair, and a filing cabinet. She sat while they stood across from her.
“A person of interest in an investigation met with someone here,” Amanda began. “We wanted to access your security footage to see if we can identify who this person was.”
Carla sat back in her chair. “Since we’ve had dealings in the past, you might recall that I’ll need a warrant before I can hand that over.”
“Which we have.” Trent handed over a copy.
Carla tossed it to a corner of the desk. “Huh. All right, just tell me for what day and time.”
“You’re not even going to look at it?” Trent pointed at the discarded paperwork.
“Nope. It doesn’t matter to me. It’s for my boss and to cover my ass.”
“Just before we get to the time, do you recognize this woman?” Amanda showed her Valerie Archer’s driver’s license photo. It was possible the video they were about to see wouldn’t show anything useful, so she had to take advantage of the opportunity to speak with Carla.
“That’s Val. She’s a regular. She in trouble?”
“You can say that. She’s missing, and we’re trying to find her. We think it’s possible whoever she met with might be able to help us.” Amanda would leave it at that. There was no need to say this person might be connected with the abduction somehow.
Carla’s shoulders lowered. “She’s missing?”
“More precisely, she and her teenage daughter were taken. Is there any way you can help us? Did you see who she was meeting with?” Amanda appealed to this woman’s soft spot for Valerie.
“When was this?”
Trent laid out the day and time from the receipt.
“I worked that day, and I remember her coming in but I don’t recall seeing her with anyone.”
Amanda deflated. “Well, the video could help us.”
Carla moved the mouse around and clicked some buttons on the keyboard.
A moment later, she was wheeling back and walking out from behind the desk.
“It’s ready for you. All you have to do is hit play.
The other controls are right there too if you need to reverse, forward, or play it in slow motion.
It’s just like any media player app. Come get me when you’re finished, and I’ll email a copy of the footage you want to you. ”
“Thank you,” Amanda told her.
Carla left, and Trent walked around the desk and sat down. “If you don’t object…”
“Not at all.” She stood behind his shoulder and watched the screen as he hit play.
On screen, they watched as Valerie walked into the coffee shop solo and ordered a drink and a cupcake.
She sat at a table for several minutes drinking her coffee and eating her treat.
She didn’t look around like most people who were waiting for someone.
Ten minutes later, she got up with her coffee, but left the wrapper and a bunched-up napkin on the table.
Almost immediately a woman with long, straight blond hair, wearing large dark-tinted sunglasses took over her table.
She dropped into the chair Valerie had abandoned, pushed aside the wrapper, but swooped up the napkin.
She unfolded it, and a vee formed in her brow line above her glasses.
Seconds later, she left the coffee shop.
Trent stopped the playback. “Did Valerie write a message on that napkin for this woman?”
“I’d say so, but talk about a clandestine meetup. And whatever the message was, this woman looks upset by it.”
Trent reversed and zoomed in on the stranger’s face. “The video quality is good, but those sunglasses obscure her facial features. Whatever the case, she’s not the woman from the mall’s security footage. Her size and body shape doesn’t fit.”
Tall as me, five-nine… with straight blond hair, but it looked too perfect, ya know… a wig. That was the description Brooke’s friends had given of a woman they’d seen following Brooke on several occasions. A woman Sadie had also said disappeared like a ghost when Brooke headed over to talk to her.
Like a ghost…
Just like Abigail McGee had disappeared from her life eight years ago as if vanishing into thin air. Could it be…? The woman’s hair on the screen didn’t look natural; it was perfect with no strand out of place. “Trent, I think we just found our female stalker.”
“Sure, but who is she?”
“That’s a question I intend to answer.” Though Amanda already had a strong suspicion she knew this woman’s identity.