AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Ethan was on his phone at her side, and she frowned as he hung up. He was also scowling.
"His alibi check out?"
"They're sending the footage over. But cops are vouching."
"Shit."
He wiggled his phone, "But that's not who I was just talking too."
"Who?"
"Nephew's place of business. Elroy Terra hasn't been into work for the entire week."
"You serious?"
"Deadly serious."
"Got his car?"
"On it," Ethan said. He was already checking his phone. She watched as he then raised his radio. "APB on a 2010 black Ford Taurus. License plate Bravo Charlie Nine Nine, Six Two Five Oscar," Ethan's voice crackled over the dispatch radio, terse and clipped.
"Driver is a male, mid-twenties, brown hair, blue eyes," Rachel added, fingers drumming against her thigh. "Likely suffers from mental instability. Approach with caution."
"Copy that," came the dispatcher's reply, static-laced and efficient.
She paced back and forth by the window outside the interrogation room, her eyes tracing the late afternoon highway outside the precinct.
Rachel's gaze fixated on the horizon, where dust devils danced with wild abandon. An eerie silence enveloped them, broken only by the occasional creaking of the wooden sign that swayed above the station's entrance, its paint peeling like scabs from old wounds.
"Dispatch to unit four-six-one," the radio chirped suddenly, jolting Rachel from her reverie. Her heart skipped a beat—an instinctual response to the promise of progress.
"Go ahead, dispatch," Ethan replied, his voice steady but expectant.
"Immediate hit on the APB. Black Ford Taurus found abandoned near Mile Marker 27 on Route 15. Another vehicle present."
"10-4. En route." He keyed off the radio and exchanged a glance with Rachel, both sets of eyes reflecting the same mix of hope and apprehension.
Without a word, the two of them hastened towards the door, back into the parking lot.
"Already got a hit?" Ethan said. "Shit. Not a good sign."
"Collision?"
"Can't be anything good," she muttered. Rachel shot a glance back towards the precinct. They'd have to keep Jack on ice for now, but she had a sinking suspicion his alibi would check out.
Rachel fired up the engine, the growl of the ignition cutting through the stillness. Gravel crunched beneath the tires as they peeled away from the station.
Mile Marker 27 wasn't far, and the drive was quick, the urgency propelling them forward at a pace that matched Rachel's racing thoughts. She navigated the bends of Route 15 with practiced ease, each turn drawing them closer to the nephew, to answers.
Her mind flipped through the possibilities, scenarios unfolding like the dark petals of a night-blooming flower. What had driven the nephew out here? What darkness festered within him that mirrored Jack's own troubled psyche? An uncle obsessed with gold... had the same gold lust infected the nephew?
"Approaching the location," Ethan announced, his hand resting on the door handle, ready to disembark.
"Let's see what we find," Rachel said, the edge in her tone belying the calm she projected.
As the vehicles came into view, an inexplicable chill traced its way down her spine. The Taurus sat there, silent and brooding, alongside another car—a silent sentinel to whatever had transpired.
"Stay sharp," she murmured, more to herself than to Ethan. They stepped out, the air heavy with the weight of discovery, every sense attuned to the scene that lay before them.
