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“There’s plenty more hiding spots,” Violet muttered and began shining the light on the walls, running her hands along them until she found a slight bump in the wood. She carefully pulled, and a small round opening appeared.
Just enough space for an eyeball.
She could see inside her room. See her bed. The dolls. Her stomach tightened into a ball as she replayed the past week in her mind. Getting dressed. Going to bed. A ball of anger rose, filling her cheeks with heat. “He’s been watching me.”
John nudged her aside and peered through the hole. “When I get my hands on him... Do you think there are holes in all the rooms?”
“Probably.” She felt along the walls and found two more. Her phone rang, and she flinched. “It’s Ty.” She answered and put him on speaker. “What’s up?”
“What’re you doing?”
“Peeping in holes.” She peered through another one. “Where are you?”
“I don’t even want to know what that means.” He chuckled. “Right now, Agent Pulaski and I are back with the search party for Bella Dawn. Three things. First, the barmaid confirmed that Atta Atwater had come in around one a.m. the night she went missing and she did have a butterfly stitch. She had a couple of drinks, talked to Amy Miller and then left alone, which must be true since her car was in her driveway. Doesn’t mean someone didn’t follow her from the bar.”
So Jimmy Russell and Amy Miller had both been telling the truth. “Next.”
“Jimmy Russell said he didn’t bring up Ruby because she’s a friend and he wanted to leave her out of it for personal reasons. I pressed. The reason. Whiskey doesn’t want Ruby anywhere near this investigation and what Whiskey wants Whiskey gets.”
“I really hate this guy.” Whiskey didn’t want Ruby anywhere near them, not when he planned to use her for a big drug run. “And lastly?”
“D.J. Lanslow’s alibi has burned to ash. Turns out he wasn’t at the cabin at all. But Ray was and he had company from Friday through Sunday night about nine. Woman in town named Carlotta Joyner.”
Where was the good doctor who played fiddle with catgut and had zero alibi for the weekend when Atta died? He had ties to all the victims. “I knew he was holding back when we first arrived. Any news on Bella Dawn?”
Ty sighed. “No. The search party is tired, and the rain’s coming in again. They’ve postponed until first light tomorrow. We’re not going to find her alive. I think everyone knows that.”
If they found her at all. “What about mines?” She swung a glance at John and mouthed sorry. She hated to bring up bad memories of his wife. “No one is connecting Callie Orlando’s murder to these women except us, and we’ve kept that private. Maybe he’s gone back to a mine because he knows locals are searching caves. See if you can get a local team to revisit where she was found and neighboring mines. It’s worth a shot.”
“Agreed. What are you going to do?”
“Go find out why D.J. Lanslow lied about his alibi.” She paused. “Hey, did you get a call from Quantico about the bloody shirt we found and the beer bottle? We should have heard something. Asa called Rebecca personally and asked if she’d do me a favor and put it at the top of the list, especially since Bella Dawn is missing.”
“No. But FedEx picked it up at the SO and took it. I’ll call. Check on it. They should at least be able to tell us if it’s Atta’s blood or not and if they could pull a print.”
“Call me when you hear something. I still haven’t ruled out Wendell Atwater.” She ended the call. “We can go do our jobs or wait here for Perverted Peeping Tom to show back up. My guess is it’s Regis Owsley, but I can’t ignore Cecil Johnson. He meets the Blind Eye Killer criteria too.”
“Well, you can’t sleep here any longer. You’re being spied on. And stalked. It’s been over twenty-four hours. We need to talk to Aunt Hossie.”
“This is all the more reason to stay and not to talk to her. He doesn’t know I know his little hiding spot. Tonight, we’ll catch him. You in the walls and me as bait.”
John grunted. “I don’t like that.”
“’Cause the cobwebs?”
“No.” He brushed off the idea with a toss of his hand. “Because it’s dangerous.”
“For you. You’re the one who’s gonna be back there with him.” She gave him the eye. “It’s a sting, and we’re trained to do them. If he doesn’t show up, we talk to Hossie and we stay in Pikeville. But I have a feeling he’s going to show.”
“Fine.”
Now to hunt down D.J. Lanslow and find out why he was lying.
Chapter Twenty
Monday, October 23
6:26 p.m.
