Chapter Fourteen
They were barely outside the room when Penelope came rushing around the corner.
“We’re okay,” Whitaker reassured her. “Elliot actually covered for us a little bit when his lawyer arrived.”
Penelope let out a sigh of relief. “When I saw the lawyer was Curtis Lowman I nearly had a heart attack. He’s known for getting clients off the hook on technicalities. Did you guys get anything from Elliot?”
“Not anything of consequence,” Whitaker said.
Tanner looked over at him. “I don’t know about you, but I kind of believe the kid when he says he never planned to let Jean Adams drown.”
They began walking back toward command central.
Penelope turned to them. “Did he have anything to say about the first two victims?”
Tanner ran a hand through his hair. “Look, he could be totally playing us, but I don’t think he knew anything about them. I think for him this entire thing has been about seeing if he could get away with taunting the police. Some sort of game.”
Whitaker nodded. “I think you’re right—I don’t think he ever planned to kill Jean Adams.” Whitaker glanced at Penelope. “And unfortunately, I think he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know who or where his ‘partners’ are.”
Penelope let out a curse. “Another dead end.”
“We know Elliot met them online. Maybe Bree will find something.” Tanner hoped it was true because they were running out of options pretty quickly.
“Leon is checking missing persons. Maybe that will get us something,” Whitaker said.
Penelope reached for the door of the command area. “Let’s see if we’ve gotten anywhere here. If not, I think we’re going to need to question Jean Adams. I’d hoped to be able to wait—God knows she’s been through enough. But we’re running out of time.”
The command center was still bustling with activity. Tanner’s eyes automatically found Bree. He wasn’t surprised to find her still working frantically at the computer like she had been when he’d left.
Leon met them as soon as they made it through the door.
“I found two other missing persons who fit the size and weight description. One—Betty Neighbors—actually lives in Waco. She’s forty-five years old, divorced, lives alone.
Her friends are not exactly sure how long she’s been missing but definitely more than three days.
I’ve already sent Morris and Gonzales there to interview. ”
Penelope nodded. “Good. Who’s the other one?”
Leon grimaced. “Twenty-one-year-old Christina. We don’t have a last name. She’s been residing at a women’s shelter out near Arlington and is working for tips at a local bar.”
“Are you sure she’s a legit missing person?” Whitaker asked. “Homeless? No real job? Maybe she just took off.”
Leon nodded. “That was my thought at first, but evidently one of the ladies who works at the shelter has become close with Christina. Watches her eighteen-month-old daughter for Christina when she works.”
They were all silent. Damn it, this case just kept getting worse.
“The lady at the women’s shelter said there’s no way Christina would’ve left the baby behind,” Leon continued.
Penelope nodded. “Good. You and Whitaker head over there and see if you can get any further details. And keep searching for other possible victims. Search outside state lines if you have to.”
Leon nodded and walked over to the whiteboard, adding the pictures and details of Christina and Betty Neighbors.
Identifying possible victims was good for the case overall, but definitely didn’t make it any easier to bear. Maybe in both cases it would end up being a mistake and the women would be found unharmed.
But Tanner had been in law enforcement long enough to know that wasn’t likely.
“I think it’s time to go visit Jean Adams,” Penelope said.
Tanner nodded. “Anything she can remember might help. It’s probably a good idea for you to talk to her. She might not be interested in being near any man right now.”
She nodded. “Why don’t you come with me? If there’s any male she might want to talk to it would be you and Whitaker since you two saved her life.”
Tanner didn’t really want to go. He didn’t want to leave Bree in case she needed him. But he also wanted to do everything in his power to get these other victims home safely.
“Let me just check with Bree and make sure she’s okay.”
Penelope raised an eyebrow, but just nodded. He jogged over to Bree’s computer station.
“Any luck with Elliot?” she asked.
“No. I don’t think he knows who or where the other victims or suspects are. He said he met them online. How’s it going for you?”
She let out a frustrated sigh. “I thought I was going to have to do a lot of extrapolating and rebuilding. That Elliot would’ve destroyed data and not left it available online. But I was wrong. He left damn near everything there.”
“You mean there’s more information than you thought?”
“Exactly. Actually, it’s kind of smart. There’s so much for me to sort through that it would be easy to overlook something important.”
“Do you want us to get you some help?”
She shook her head rapidly. “No. I have a system.”
He knew much better than to try to make changes in any system she’d created.
“Plus,” she continued, “I’m building some programs right now to help me filter through stuff. It’s not foolproof, but it’s propelling me through information quicker than sorting it all myself.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, I have all the equipment I need.”
Tanner trailed a finger down her cheek. “I mean, are you okay, freckles?”
Her shoulders slumped. “They think one of the victims is someone from a women’s shelter,” she whispered. “Someone with a baby.”
“I know.”
“That’s like the women Cassandra and I help. As a matter fact, Christina reminds me of Marilyn, the lady Cass and I have been talking to about living at and running New Journeys once the renovations are done with our new building.”
“She’s going to live there, not you?”
She gave him a look that said she obviously found him deranged. “I live on the ranch. It never even crossed my mind for me to live at New Journeys. Unless you don’t want me on the ranch any—”
He reached over and kissed her before she could finish the word. Kissed her hard, claiming her mouth in the most thorough of fashions. He didn’t care that it was probably inappropriate or that they were in the middle of an important investigation.
“I want you there. Every single day, I want you with me,” he said when he finally eased back from her lips.
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Good.”
She glanced back at her computer. “Marilyn would never ever leave her kids. I don’t think this Christina lady would either. I’ve got a really bad feeling that she might be one of our victims.”
“We’re going to get to her in time. To all of them in time. You just keep working. Penelope and I are going to go talk to Jean Adams. One way or another we’re going to help these women.”
“WE DO APPRECIATE all your help you know,” Penelope said as they pulled up at the hospital thirty minutes later. “You, Bree and Whitaker.”
Tanner nodded. “Thanks, although I’m not doing anything anybody else on your team couldn’t do. Bree is the one with the true talent here.”
They got out of the car and walked toward the entrance. “She’s something else.”
Tanner couldn’t stop his smile even if he had wanted to. “That, she definitely is.”
“I know you guys are together, but after that kiss at the station... I’m assuming it’s pretty serious.”
Tanner gave a one-shouldered shrug. “She’s it for me. From the first moment I saw her, I knew she was my one.”
Penelope gave a half smile. “Yeah, I get it. But Bree just doesn’t seem like your type, you know? You guys are pretty opposite.”
He and Bree were opposites. But that just made them stronger. “She’s not my type. She’s my everything.”
Penelope stopped walking for a second. “Wow. That’s pretty firm.”
“Yes.” But firm wasn’t even the right word. His feelings for Bree were completely unmovable.
She smiled and started walking again. “Can’t blame a gal for double-checking.”
They got Jean’s room information and a doctor met them outside the door.
“How is she doing?” Penelope asked.
Dr. Yang looked at them with narrowed eyes. “Ms. Adams is doing well, physically. Emotionally, it’s a different story. Are you sure this can’t wait?”
“Believe me, we don’t want to drag her through these details,” Penelope explained. “And wouldn’t if we had better options.”
“We’ve got three other women’s lives at stake,” Tanner added. “And we’re on a pretty tight deadline. No physical problems we need to know about? We understood hypothermia could be an issue.”
“No, the water Jean was submerged in was actually temperature controlled. Lukewarm so as not to affect the body one way or another. She has pretty severe bruising on her wrists and ankles, and we’re keeping her overnight to make sure nothing else pops up we need to be concerned with.”
“And emotionally?” Penelope asked.
Dr. Yang tilted his head to the side. “About what you can expect from someone who’s been through what she has. She’s frightened. Angry. Her family is flying in from the East Coast but they haven’t arrived yet. They weren’t even aware she was missing.”
“We’ll be as brief and sensitive as we can. Tanner was the one who kept her above water until they could get her out of the box, so we’re hoping she’ll remember him a little fondly.” Penelope reached for the door.
“And believe me,” Tanner said, “we feel like we’ve gone through this with her. We’re definitely sensitive to her suffering.”
Dr. Yang walked in and introduced Penelope and Tanner.
Jean stared at Tanner. “I remember you. You were the one who helped keep my head out of the water.”
Tanner smiled gently. “We’re all very glad we made it in time.”
Penelope took a step closer. “Jean, we normally would give you much longer to work through some of this before asking questions, but unfortunately you weren’t the only victim.
There are some other women, still trapped in situations exactly like yours.
We’re trying to do whatever we can to get to them. ”