Chapter 20
Gabe was wrong. El wasn’t wallowing in her disappointment.
She was staring over the railing, her phone to her ear, and talking with the electronics expert at Veritas.
Gabe just caught the tail end of their conversation, but it sounded like they would have Kenna’s call information by the end of the day.
She turned and held up her phone. “That was Nick Thorne from Veritas. Kenna’s phone dried out, and he promised to have data to us by the end of the day.”
“Great news.”
She responded with a sharp nod. “Let’s search this place and hopefully we’ll find evidence that will help too.”
Seeming all business right now, she marched past him and inside. Maybe that was how she’d chosen to hold her emotions in check. He should do the same. He followed her, but paused at the threshold. There it was again. That faint, chemical edge in the air. Not strong. Just wrong.
He moved deeper into the room, eyes scanning every surface.
A sharp hissing sounded from the woodstove area. Also wrong.
“El, I—”
An ear shattering whump, cut off his warning.
A flash slashed across the room. The white-hot streak of orange flames hit the wall and raced up.
“Get out!” He kicked it into gear, grabbing El’s hand on the way to the door, pulling her along.
Eyes wide, El slowed a fraction. “The evidence!”
“Doesn’t matter right now.” He tugged harder to get her moving faster.
Flames raced across the ceiling above. The air filled with an acrid smoke.
El coughed. Gabe couldn’t let her succumb to the smoke. He pulled harder on her hand.
They burst through the front door. Hit the rickety porch.
El stumbled. Fell to her knees, her breathing tortured by the smoke pouring out of the door behind them.
Gabe scooped her up. Tossed her over his shoulder. Smoke burned his chest, but he wouldn’t quit. He leapt from the porch.
“Fire,” he yelled at Price, who was gaping at the cabin.
Price spun. Dropped the tape and charged away.
Gabe was hot on his heels. He pounded across the grass.
The heaviness in his chest begged him to stop, but he kept going.
Didn’t stop until he believed they’d run far enough in case the outside propane tank exploded.
It would take five minutes or more for the fire to heat up the propane, but better safe than sorry when building materials could fly fifty feet or more.
He settled El on the ground and gulped in deep breaths. Coughing out the smoke. Then breathing and coughing again. But all he could think about was sweeping El up in a hug to make sure she was fine. He couldn’t, wouldn’t touch her with Price standing nearby.
Rapidly breathing, eyes watering, she spun to look at the building. “The evidence. Fingerprints. DNA. Our suspect was probably all over that place, leaving valuable evidence behind, and we’re missing out on it.”
Gabe finally cleared his lungs and could breathe again. “Could be why he set a delayed ignition fire. Cleaning the place before he left would take time, and he needed to get away before the fire drew anyone to the scene.”
She flashed a look at him. “Then he wasn’t trying to kill anyone. He just wanted to cover his tracks.”
“That’s my take. And I have to say, he might be experienced in arson, because he didn’t use a common accelerant like gasoline. We would’ve smelled that. He used something that smelled sweet.”
“Yeah, I noticed the odor, but didn’t think it was a problem.” Anguish dulled her eyes. “I should’ve thought the scent was out of place and looked into it.”
“But why? None of us followed up on it. It’s not your fault.”
She shook her head, looking like she didn’t believe him.
Would she accept the blame and feel guilty for this, too?
“I need to report this to Mina and get a fire crew out here.” She stepped a few feet away and got out her phone.
Gabe turned to Price. “You okay?”
“Fine,” he said, but scrubbed a hand over his face. “Never seen anything like it. From building to blazing inferno in minutes.”
Gabe nodded.
A second blast ripped through the air. Deeper, heavier.
A fireball rolled off the side of the structure, and something metal screamed.
He didn’t think, just dove toward El and took her down.
He landed on his elbows to spare her from taking his weight.
Pain radiated up his arms—nothing compared to what El might’ve felt if the metal had reached her.
He rolled free and took a quick look at the cabin area. The blast had kicked debris across the clearing, splintered boards scattered, and a twisted chunk of metal lay farther off, half-buried in the dirt.
Eyes still wide, El rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “What was that?”
“The propane tank,” he said. “The reason I made sure we moved this far from the building.”
On her side now, El inched closer to him. She glanced in Price’s direction. His gaze was fixed on the cabin as if fearing another explosion.
She took Gabe’s hand and lifted it to her mouth for a butterfly-soft kiss. “You could’ve just saved my life. Not once but twice.”
He pressed his lips on her hand, too. “You’re way too important to me to lose you. Especially not after losing Kenna. It would kill me.”
“I don’t want to lose you either.” She squeezed his hand and let go.
“You don’t know how badly I want to kiss you right now.”
“You’re wrong. I want the same thing.”
Price cleared his throat and started toward them.
El lifted her shoulders and sat up, her detective persona solidly in place as she faced Price. “I can hear firetrucks in the distance. Meet them at the trail entrance and escort them back here.”
He took a last look at the cabin and jogged down the trail.
She turned her attention to Gabe. “We need to read Ulrich’s witness report. Maybe see if she gave him additional information. If not, we’ll talk to her.”
“Sounds like a plan,” he said.
“After that, it’s time we interview Silas Tinsley,” she said. “Jonas Trent, too.”
“I doubt they’re personally involved in holding Lucy, but one of them sent a flunky to take care of her. The person who set this fire.”
“You could be right. First, we check in with Hayden to find out what background information he located on them. Should tell us if either of them has military or law enforcement experience. Could mean they’ve used the special chokehold before.
Because if they did then…then we could find Lucy and a killer all in one clean sweep. ”
Three hours later, El and Gabe took seats in the hospital employee lounge, waiting for nurse Caitlyn Armstrong to join them.
El had read Ulrich’s report from the witness interview and wanted to leave immediately to ask additional questions, but as the lead detective on the cabin investigation, she’d had to interface with the fire department.
A good thing. It had allowed her and Gabe to give their eyewitness accounts of the fire, origination, and explosion to the captain.
El and Gabe believed they were looking at arson.
So did the captain. But no one in their small department was skilled in arson detection to confirm their theory, so he’d called in a state arson investigator, who would arrive in the morning.
“Did I do something wrong?” Caitlyn asked as she took a seat in one of the squeaky vinyl chairs across from them. “I mean, I told that other detective everything I know.”
“Absolutely nothing wrong.” El offered her a smile. “We appreciate you reporting the situation and your cooperation.”
“Then why are you here?” Caitlyn began gnawing the pink lipstick off her lower lip.
“I’m the lead detective on the case, and I find it helpful to hear directly from a witness what they observed. So if you don’t mind, could you tell me what happened?”
“Sure, but I can’t be gone for more than fifteen minutes or I’ll screw up the entire department schedule for the day.” She let out a slow breath and launched into the same story that Ulrich had noted in his report.
She didn’t change her story, meaning she was more than likely telling the truth.
Or she could be a great liar. She might’ve been at the park for a different reason than running, and she didn’t want anyone to know.
Maybe she was having an affair and meeting in a deserted parking lot in the middle of the night.
Could be one of many reasons she might lie.
El needed to dig deeper to see if she could catch a contradiction in her story. “Were there any other vehicles in the parking lot?”
She shook her head. “Just mine.”
“If you don’t mind me asking,” Gabe said. “Isn’t it kind of dangerous to run in such a remote area alone?”
Caitlyn cocked her head. “Honestly, I think the seclusion makes it better than my usual trail because not many people even know that one exists.”
“So, you don’t usually run there, then?” El followed up.
“Sometimes, but the trails I usually take are much longer.”
A deviation from her usual routine. This could be important.
“Why this one today?” El asked.
“Got called into work early this morning. Meant I only had time for a short run.” She crossed her arms. “I work in the PICU, and the babies need us. We have to be flexible with our schedules when someone else calls in sick.”
She certainly was well qualified to assess Lucy’s condition. Even if for only a moment. “In your professional opinion, did the child look well?”
Caitlyn released her arms and seemed to relax at the change in questioning. “She did. Her face and clothes were a little dirty, but otherwise she appeared to be well-nourished and hydrated.”
“What was she wearing?” El asked, in case it might be something Gabe would recognize.
“I only remember her blue jacket. It was quilted and had something embroidered on the chest. Looked like a dog, but not a real dog. More like a cartoon character.”
Gabe sat forward. “Are you familiar with the show Bluey?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Her eyes lit up. “My son used to watch it. He’s nine now. Too old for that baby stuff, or so he says.” She chuckled. “I forgot all about Bluey. So yeah, that was it. It was Bluey.”
“Are you sure?” El asked.
Caitlyn nodded. “Positive.”
El now had no doubt the man and child Caitlyn saw were Lucy and her abductor. She looked at Gabe. His expression held the same certainty.
They had a solid lead. Now they needed to find them.
“And the man? Can you describe him?”
“He was tall. Maybe six feet. He had dark hair.” She glanced at Gabe. “Kind of like yours.”
“Did he also look like me?” Gabe clenched his fists.
El got it. He thought Caitlyn might be describing his brother.
No hesitation, she shook her head. “His face was far different than yours. First off, he wasn’t nice looking.” She clapped her hand over her mouth. “I hope that doesn’t embarrass you, but you are.”
“It’s all good.” His offhand tone contradicted the red color crawling up his face.
She wrinkled her nose. “Anyway, he had a really skinny nose with a hook at the end. I couldn’t tell if his eyes were small or if they were just narrow because he was glaring at me.”
El shared a pointed look with Gabe, and his hands relaxed. “Any facial hair?”
“Full beard.”
“And his clothing?” she asked. Ulrich had the details in his report, but witnesses remembered things as time went on and El wanted to make sure she got every detail.
“I only got a good look at his jacket and stocking cap. The cap was black, the jacket sage green. Short. Like the bomber jackets so many people wear these days, but there was a patch on the chest. Maybe military.”
El was thankful for the additional patch detail. “Was there anything else unique about him that might help us find him?”
“Hmm.” She bobbed her leg. “He seemed out of place. You know, you get that feeling where he’s in the outdoors, but he really isn’t an outdoors kind of guy.”
Although Jonas Trent really didn’t fit her description, El pulled up his picture on her phone and showed it to her. “Is this the guy you saw?”
“No. No. Absolutely not.”
El scrolled to a picture of Silas Tinsley. His blond, nearly white hair glistened in the light. He did have sort of a narrow nose, and he could’ve dyed his hair. A long shot, but she showed the picture to Caitlyn.
She shook her head. “Not him either.”
“Since you do take this trail frequently, can you tell me anything about the cabin near the end?”
“That thing?” She shook her head. “What an eyesore. My running group has been trying to get the council to get that thing taken down forever. Apparently, the property is just outside the park border and is privately owned, so they can’t do anything about it.”
Hayden was looking into it, but he’d run into roadblocks. Apparently, the property belonged to a shell company, and he was having a hard time finding the company’s legal owner.
“Then thank you for your time, Ms. Armstrong.” El stood. “Could I get your phone number in case I have additional questions?”
“No problem.” She rattled it off.
El put it in her phone.
Caitlyn tilted her head. “Was I right? Is this the guy in the news who abducted that little child?”
“I’m sorry, I’m not free to discuss the investigation with you at this time. But please know you’ve been very helpful.”
“Man, oh man.” She stood and shoved her hands into the pockets of her uniform top. “I wish I knew, but I understand. Call me if you need anything else.”
She whisked away, her soft-sole clogs squeaking on the floor.
El looked at Gabe. “We don’t have proof positive that it was the abductor and Lucy, but I think we can fairly well assume it is.”
“Yeah, and I’m glad we both agree about that.” Gabe pushed open a hallway door and held it for her. “I want to make sure I’m not letting my feelings for Lucy point me toward a conclusion I want to be true.”
“You aren’t.”
He stepped up beside her. “One thing I can’t dispute. The actual abductor isn’t either Tinsley or Trent.”
“But like you said, they could’ve sent a flunky or an associate to take care of things for them.”
“Just think of that cabin. Could you see men in their positions staying there?”
“No, and I hate that anyone took Lucy there.”
Gabe grimaced. “Me too. But hopefully our interview with these two guys will lead us to her, and she won’t have to suffer in a place like that again.”
El nodded and led the way out of the hospital. She agreed with him, but one thing he probably hadn’t thought through was how he would tell this precious child that her mother had been murdered and her life as she knew it had now completely changed.
But now that someone had seen her, at least they could pray that would be a possibility. As lead investigator, if El made the right moves, they would find Lucy alive. Make a mistake…
No pressure. No pressure at all.