Chapter 18 #2
“I promise, okay.” She laughed. Her partner was worried about her. Had their friendship finally risen from the dead? “And I’ll update Griffin.”
“Sounds good. I’m leaving now, so I’ll be there soon.
Wait for me.” Olivia hung up before she could protest, and while she’d promised not to investigate alone, Bel had said nothing about a stakeout.
So, she increased her speed until she arrived at the looming decay.
It was even worse up close, somehow more terrifying than the Reale Estate had been when Eamon purchased the property.
The rusted metal fence sagged. Weeds poked through the cracked pavement.
Mud replaced what should’ve been immaculate landscaping.
The building looked apocalyptic in its shattered overgrowth, a cross between the end of the world and a horror movie.
Her skin flushed cold despite the summer sun beating down on her car.
Was she right? Was this where over a dozen women had spent their last terrified months?
Bel parked in the security camera’s line of sight and then texted her boss before calling Eamon.
“I’m at the aquarium,” she said when he answered her.
“Can you just monitor my location? Olivia and I are following a lead. This place is abandoned, so I don’t expect to run into trouble, but it’s probably smart if you watch me. ”
“You say that as if I don’t already do that,” her boyfriend said. “I always know where you are.”
“When do I get to stalk you?” she teased.
“You have my phone’s location. That’s adequate since I’m not the one who’s always getting kidnapped.”
“I’d like to see someone try to kidnap you.”
“You could manage it.”
“Yup, throw you over my shoulder and shove you in the trunk. Good thing I have an SUV. You’d never fit otherwise.”
His deep chuckle flooded her with warmth. “But you’re okay? You don’t need me to come?”
“No, I just want you to watch me. I’ll text if I think we need backup, though.”
“You’re not doing anything stupid, are you?”
“I’m just watching a fence.”
“Isobel…”
“Seriously, I’m in a parked car.” She settled into a more comfortable position to wait for her partner. “Olivia won’t be here for a bit. Are you free to stay on the phone and keep me company?”
“Sorry, no.” His voice pitched lower, and Bel could tell by those two words that he genuinely hated having to hang up on her. “I’m on the other line with a client. I put them on hold when you called, but since this isn’t an emergency, I need to get back.”
“No, don’t be sorry. I have nothing important to talk about anyway. I’m just killing time.”
“Trust me, Detective. I would prefer to hear your voice speak of nothing rather than finish my meeting.”
“I love you too.”
“See you at home, Isobel.” The smile in his voice was brighter than the summer sunshine.
“See you at home.” Bel hung up and settled in to wait for Olivia. And wait and wait and wait.
“What’s taking her?” she moaned, getting out of the car to stretch her legs.
She scanned the cheap fence that stretched endlessly through the overgrowth to surround this apocalyptic setting, and an intrusive thought slipped into her mind.
How dangerous could walking the perimeter be?
She’d been sitting at the gate for almost half an hour.
The abandoned building had been silent the entire time.
No one was there, and there was no harm in just looking around…
Until she found the opening. A few minutes from the main road, a dirt trail emerged from the woods and ended abruptly before the fence, its metal severed, and not by age.
Someone had cut this section’s chain-link, lining up the snapped sections to appear whole, but Bel had been searching for anomalies.
Not even the most careful reset could hide the fact that the fence offered a human-sized entrance onto this off-limits private property.
Someone had used this makeshift road to reach this forgotten time capsule without ever appearing on the aquarium security footage, and before Bel could stop herself, she obeyed the siren’s call and stepped through the damaged section.
Silence sounded different when it was empty, and Bel felt it in the stillness brushing her skin.
She was alone. No one else disturbed this peace.
Not even the birds disrupted the air. It was as if all life save vegetation had abandoned this cursed ground, and gooseflesh raced over her arms. Not because she was afraid of being caught trespassing, but because it reminded her of space.
No one would hear her scream. It was as if she’d stepped out of time to exist in her own solitary world.
Armed with both a Glock and her panic button, she didn’t see the harm in venturing inside the overgrown building.
The massive glass doors that should’ve been an inviting entrance were shattered, and she entered a place that hadn’t seen human life in a decade.
Sunlight streamed in through the myriad of broken windows, and Bel felt like she’d stepped into another world.
The pooled rainwater. The moss. The vines.
It was a reminder that man was not the master of this world. Nature was.
It was also a harsh confirmation that she’d been wrong about the killer using this forgotten location.
She listened as she moved, one hand hovering over her sidearm, the other readying to grab her necklace, but she was alone.
No serial killers. No kidnapped girls. No animals or humming insects. Every inch of this place proved empty.
“This is stupid,” she laughed at herself.
She’d promised not to explore by herself, and she’d risked her safety yet again for nothing.
This was another dead end in an aggravatingly long line of dead ends.
She’d been certain that this was the discovery eluding them, but maybe Eamon was right.
Maybe this would be her first cold case in Bajka…
a cold case with over a dozen unavenged victims. Their restless souls a heavy burden to bear.
Bel
Where are you?
She stared at the text thread for silent minutes, but Olivia didn’t answer.
She tried dialing her partner, but the call went unanswered as it delivered her to Olivia’s recorded message.
So Bel retreated the way she’d come, hoping she’d make it back outside before Olivia caught her snooping, but as she rounded a corner in her haste, her heel slipped through a micro-puddle.
Her leg slid out from under her, and desperate not to fall, she flailed for anything to break her descent.
Luckily for her, construction materials had also been abandoned, and she caught hold of a rusted barrel.
It halted her fall, but her weight rocked the stack, and the top one plummeted to the concrete.
The crash was deafening, and Bel cringed as the barrel bounced along the ground and rolled to a stop, her ears ringing with its violence.
If anyone was here, her trespassing was no longer a secret, so she picked up her pace when she heard it.
Screams.
A female’s screams.
She was calling for help.
“Hello?” Bel whirled around as if the muted voice might be behind her, but she was utterly alone. Panic flooded her chest. Someone was here in this emptiness with her, but she’d searched the entire building. Only the ghosts of what could’ve been kept her company. “Hello?”
Nothing.
The voice died, and out of desperation, Bel shoved another barrel. It slammed against the floor, a deafening ring obliterating the silence. “Where are you?” she screamed.
The voice sounded again, and Bel bolted deeper into the building.
She didn’t have time to wait for Olivia, if her partner was even on her way.
She should’ve been here already, and a girl screamed for help from somewhere within these walls.
A girl who might not have time, so Bel pressed her necklace’s panic button and prayed.
“Bajka Police, call out!” she screamed, trying her best to track the muffled cries.
“Where are you?” But the girl’s only answer was screams for help.
She probably didn’t know where she was. Bel had explored the entire building.
There was no place for her to hide… unless.
.. a tree-damaged farmhouse pushed to the forefront of her memory.
“The walls!” Bel skid to a halt. She hadn’t noticed it at first, but that sudden reminder of the man Jax Frost had mummified inside the walls brought the glaring reality front and center.
There was something wrong with this building.
She’d walked the outside circumference, but the interior didn’t match.
It was too… small, which meant that a false wall must have been erected somewhere.
That way, if anyone came snooping, they’d find nothing… just like she had.
Bel grabbed a piece of debris and launched it as hard as she could.
The crash echoed endlessly, and when the silence reclaimed the air, the girl’s screams renewed their vigor.
Again and again, the women danced with sound.
Bel knocked something over. The girl shouted.
And with every exchange, Bel drew closer until she came face to face with a dead end. This case was full of them.
“I don’t know where you are.” She ran her hands through her hair, fisting the strands until her head stung.
She was so close, yet she was helpless. She needed Eamon.
His hearing could pinpoint this girl’s location, but he was at least half an hour away.
Did this girl have half an hour? If Bel left to wait for backup, would the killer make sure his trapped victim didn’t live to testify?
“I don’t know where you are!” she screamed, her voice as desperate as the girl’s, and she almost tripped when the voice responded. It was so much louder in this room. This room of dead ends and solid walls and…
What was that?