As the Mayor stepped to the podium, he walked in front of a female detective standing in the back. She was 5’ 7 or so, thin with black hair that fell to the middle of her back.

There you are!

The mayor was reassuring the public and made reference to the two fine detectives that were leading the investigation.

Jason “something” and Vanessa Layne.

He needed to get closer to Detective Vanessa Layne.

****

Jason and Vanessa were relieved none of the questions had been directed at them. Neither liked the limelight and felt it could compromise their ability to do their job.

As they walked back into the station, Jason overheard a blonde talking to Desk Sergeant Connor. Dave Connor is long time friend and a gunshot had relegated him to a desk job. The girl was clearly upset with the answers he was giving her.

‘I don’t care if it requires 48 hours for her to be considered missing, I’m tellin’ you she’s in trouble.”

The desk sergeant tried to be patient.

“I’m sorry, maam, but that’s the law.”

Jason gestured to Vanessa that he would catch up with her and walked over to where the blonde was standing. She was tall, a little over weight and, when she turned around, he could see her red lipstick was smudged and her eye make-up was running down her face from crying.

“Excuse me, miss...?”

“Donald….Brooke Donald”

“Miss Donald, is your friend a man or a woman?”

“She’s a woman. Stephanie Morris. We walk together, if you know what I mean.”

“I understand. Do you have a picture of her?”

“Sure. I tried to give it to this ape but he wouldn’t take it.”

Jason gave his friend a knowing smile and took the picture from Brooke.

His pulse quickened.

“How tall is your friend…Stephanie, did you say?”

“Yes. Stephanie Morris. She’s about 5’8”, like me.. We share clothes.”

“I’ll take it from here, Dave.”

Jason introduced himself and had Brooke follow him up to Homicide. Vanessa saw him come in and raised an eyebrow in his direction. He asked Brooke to sit next to his desk and then pulled out a pad, sitting down with her.

“Okay, Brooke. Where do you and Stephanie like to ‘Walk’ together? ”

“South Presa”

“And when was the last time you saw your friend?”

“Around 5:30 or 6:00 last night. We were talking by the road when a guy pulled up in a black pick-up with a white bed topper. I went over to talk to him but he said he wasn’t interested. Asked me to send Stephanie over.”

Vanessa was listening in.

“Did he ask for her by name?”

Brooke turned and looked at the questioner.

“Whose she?”

“That’s my Partner, Vanessa Layne.”

Brooke turned back to Jason.

“No, he didn’t call her by name. Just said ‘tell the tall, dark haired one to come over’.”

“What did he look like?”

“Average guy, I guess. Don’t know how tall, seein’ as he was sittin’, and he never looked at me. Just kept starin’ straight ahead. White, dark hair, maybe mid 20’s.”

“Do you think you could give a sketch artist a try?”

“Sure, but I don’t think I remember much detail.”

“I’d like you to try anyway.”

“Okay. Now?”

“Yes. I’ll get him up here as quick as I can.”

****

The sketch artist did his best, but Brooke wasn’t much for description. True to her word, she didn’t remember much detail and Jason was forced to admit, he looked like a white guy with dark hair. Not much help.

Brooke had tried her best, in between requests for help finding her friend, and Jason assured her that he would file the report and start the search. He didn’t tell her why he was willing to move on her case ahead of the 48 hour rule.

Jason and Vanessa both felt they weren’t looking for a missing girl but their next crime scene. They thought their killer had taken Stephanie Morris.

The fact that the pick-up had a white bed topper was new information and it narrowed the search. The problem was that vehicle records don’t list bed toppers and the number of black pick-ups in the greater San Antonio area was huge. Still, each piece of info helped.

They thanked Brooke for her help and the picture of her friend that she brought with her. They got a description of what Stephanie was wearing and promised to call if they found anything.

Vanessa sat at her desk looking at the picture of the missing girl while Jason walked Brooke out to the parking lot. When he came back, she looked up at him and Jason could tell she was feeling the strain. She spoke for both of them

“Man, I hope we’re wrong about this one.”

Chapter  9

Norman waited patiently for the red light to change. He didn’t hear any noise from the back of the pick-up and he liked it that way. Only once had there been a necessity to stop and re-secure one of the girls. That had been Marcie Walker and he had made sure it had not happened again.

The light turned and he headed around the west side of Canyon State Park. He had seen the pictures on TV of the service road and knew it was likely being watched or locked, or both. There was an unmanned archery range down a gravel road and being that it was summer, no one was likely to be there. It wasn’t archery season and there were no lights to shoot by. It was just getting dark when he pulled up.

He sat in the truck for nearly a half hour to make sure there wasn’t any activity. He’d passed a loggers truck parked about a mile back but figured they would have gone home by now.

He got out and went around to the back of the truck. Lifting the topper hatch, he found the girl laying on her side staring at him. He loved the fear in her eyes. Grabbing her taped ankles, he dragged the naked woman towards him. She tried to kick but it was useless.

Once he had her on the tailgate, he slit the duct tape around her ankles and made her walk in front of him towards the woods. The girl was frantically looking for a place to run, someone to save her but she was there alone, just her captor behind her.

They entered the woods and had walked about 50 yards, when Norman decided it was far enough.

“Stop here.”

He turned her around and forced her to sit by the base of a large tree. Her hands were tied in front of her and she started to whimper through the tape over her mouth.

Norman reached into a bag he was carrying and pulled out a wine glass, setting it down near the girl. Next, out of the bag came his 9 millimeter pistol. The girls eyes got huge and she tried to get up but Norman pinned her to the tree with his foot. The time in captivity had taken most of the fight out of her, and she slumped back, resigned to what was coming.

Norman took the gun and placed it against the girls chest, directly over her heart. He watched as she pressed her eyes closed, waiting.

****

Joe stumbled over a root, falling forward and the chain saw he was carrying went sailing.

“Damn! I told you it was getting too dark.”

His buddy, Jonathon, helped him to his feet.

“Oh, stop your whining. We needed to finish the last tree so it could be brought out tomorrow.”

“Yeah, well, it won’t do us much good if we’re dead from falling on our own saws.”

“Whatever! Just watch your step and take your time. You sure the truck was back this way?”

“Oh, great, now we’re lost!”

“Shut-up!”

“I will when I want….”

“No, shush! Look over there.”

Joe stared out towards the direction his friend was pointing. Through the growing darkness he could see someone sitting against the bottom of a tree.