Chapter 54
Saturday late afternoon
Sabre sat at the desk in the living room. The day was nearly over, but the work wasn’t.
JP came in the front door and set his notebook on her desk.
Sabre looked up. “Did you find Marcus?”
“Yeah.”
She watched his face a second. “And?”
JP walked to the window, looked out, then turned back. “He tried to force something out of Hayes in prison, but it didn’t work.”
“That doesn’t surprise me.”
JP pulled out the chair and sat. “He did have something.”
“What?”
“He thought he saw Hannah a couple weeks after she disappeared.”
“Where?”
“In Oceanside, at a stoplight, in a yellow Mustang. She was in the passenger seat and she didn’t look scared.”
“Was he sure it was her?”
“No. He questions what he saw.”
“Did he report it?” she asked.
JP shook his head.
Sabre’s jaw tightened, but she didn’t comment. “What else?”
“Not much that helps us move forward,” JP said. “He doesn’t think Yvonne would’ve taken her. He says she would’ve stayed within the system, even if it cost her.”
Sabre nodded. “That sounds right.”
“He also doesn’t think his sister, Rochelle, or any other family member would’ve taken her.”
“I agree with that,” Sabre said.
JP opened his notebook, flipped it around, and slid it toward her.
“We have the sighting that Rourke mentioned in Oceanside, and now Marcus. They were both a few weeks after the abduction.”
Sabre looked at the note, then back at him. “And then nothing,” she said.
“For years,” JP replied.
“That’s not movement,” Sabre said quietly. “That’s a hole.”
“So, if someone took her and kept her alive, they were likely in Oceanside at first,” JP said. “That would be far enough away to maybe not be noticed. We don’t know where she was until she showed up in El Cajon. How do we fill that hole?”
“Bay,” Sabre said.
“Where are you going with this?”
“Let’s say she’s connected,” Sabre continued. “She could be Hannah or not Hannah, but we know she’s connected. And she’s about the same age. She also knew my name and what I did for Hannah.”
“She also asked for you specifically,” JP said.
“Yes,” Sabre said. “Now add this. We have a birth certificate for Lila Bay Mercer in San Bernardino from three years ago. And one from Riverside for a Joy Bay Ridden about two years before that.”
“Two identities,” he said.
“Two records,” Sabre corrected. “Not necessarily identities. They could be constructed.”
“Or reused,” JP said.
Sabre nodded. “Either way, that might explain the gap. Maybe Oceanside was getting too risky, so they moved out of the county for a while.”
“Five years ago,” she said. “If that record is real, she was there long enough to establish identity.”
“Same with San Bernardino,” JP added. “Three years ago.”
“Which means,” Sabre said, “they weren’t moving constantly.”
JP nodded. “They were settling,” he said. “Then resettling.”
“Only when they had to,” Sabre added.
“So, Oceanside early,” he said. “Then we have Riverside, San Bernardino, and El Cajon.”
“He or she must’ve felt safe enough to come back to this area. Probably because Hannah had changed so much. But they stayed long enough in at least two places to create paper.”
“Which means those places felt safe,” JP said.
“Yes.” Sabre turned back to him. “So, what makes a place safe for someone like this?”
“Low visibility,” JP said. “Cash rentals. No schools. No neighbors asking questions.”
Then Sabre said, “Bay told me she let the other girl talk to Maddox. That it was her fault.”
“So, the other girl, Hannah or not, breaks the rules,” he said.
“Yes.”
“And that creates exposure.”
“Yes.”
“And that exposure leads to Todd.”
“And Todd leads to movement,” Sabre finished.
“We need to know what Maddox figured out,” JP said. “Or what he knew that spooked them.”
“Or what the other girl told him.”
“So, I’ll dig deeper on Maddox,” JP said.
Sabre pulled a report out of her briefcase. “Maybe this will help.” She handed it to JP. “It’s the police report from Nelson, and the ME’s prelim report.”
“Good. That ought to tell us something.”
Sabre met his eyes. “I’ll go back to Bay and let her know that we know about Riverside and Oceanside. Maybe I can spook her a little. She’s feeling vulnerable right now because no one has come to help her. A little pressure might get her talking.” Sabre held his gaze. “So, we have a plan.”
“There’s something I can’t wrap my head around,” JP said.
“What’s that?”
“How could a father see his missing little girl and not report it?”