Page 41 of Her Dying Secret

“He took her,” Josie said, stomach churning. “He could have thrown her into the back of the truck. You can’t see it from this angle. Any witnesses?”

“Unfortunately, no. We pulled footage from as many cameras as we could—residential and commercial—trying to follow the truck, maybe get a plate number from it. He avoided all the traffic cams. We caught him on a couple of other residential cameras but with the shitty angles and the distance, we were only able to capture a single number from the license plate—a 7. That’s it. We lost him somewhere near North Denton.”

“Even fewer cameras up there.” Josie pointed at the screen. “But this was fairly early in the afternoon. He took her but then he came back.”

“Yeah,” Noah said, putting his phone away. “Our canvasses of this area didn’t turn up any mention or footage of a white box truck in the hours before or after you encountered Seth Lee in Mira’s home, so he must have parked it pretty far from here and then walked. But, with WYEP all over this now, I don’t think he can drive a white box truck anywhere in the city without someone calling 911.”

If what Rebecca Lee had told them was true, then Seth Lee wouldn’t have known about the warrant or the press coverage. Living outdoors didn’t give him much access to a television. Unless he heard about it on the radio in the truck.

Josie glanced at the house. “He was looking for something.”

But what? There was hardly anything in the place. He already had Mira. What could possibly be inside her home that was worth the risk of returning to a populated area? Or was he operating under some sort of delusion? Did he think there were cameras inside? Was he the person Mira had coffee with after leaving Bobbi’s house? Josie frowned. That was a pretty civilized thing to do with someone who had stabbed you only a day ago. Or had Mira been so frightened of him that she’d tried to placate him? Had she convinced him that she wouldn’t turn him in so he would leave? Then, when she tried to return to Bobbi’s house, he’d followed her and abducted her? Maybe he thought she’d had cameras installed in her house. Based on what Rebecca had told them, it seemed like something he might suspect. He hadn’t destroyed the place. Barely anything was out of place. Only the cabinet with the cat food in it, which was being guarded by said cat.

But how had Seth known when and where to find her in the first place? Had he been following her from the hospital?

Noah interrupted her thoughts. “We’ve already got Mira’s name and photo out to every law enforcement agency and press outlet. Amber’s working on blasting it across social media.”

It should have made Josie feel better, but instead her stomach felt like someone had lit it on fire. Obviously, Mira had already had some kind of connection with Seth if they’d been meeting at the produce stand for at least a year. Josie entertained the idea that they might even have been dating but only seeing a guy at a produce stand, in secret, a handful of times out of the year, when he deigned to appear, didn’t seem like an ideal relationship for any person. He had kept April Carlson for over a year. Josie shuddered thinking about whether or not he was going to do that to Mira Summers. Or would he just kill her? Whatever had happened at the produce stand on Sunday, Josie knew one thing: Mira had put herself between Seth and April, risking her own life to save a woman who had little chance of survival to begin with and receiving horrific wounds for her trouble. Would Seth want to punish her for that, or would he just want to quickly tie up a loose end?

Noah touched her back again. “You okay?”

“Look at this! The lovebirds, reunited.” Turner appeared from down the street, swinging a cat carrier in his hand.

Neither Josie nor Noah bothered to respond to his comment, but Josie must have scowled because Turner laughed and said, “What’s the matter, sweetheart? You don’t have a smile for me? I saved your life tonight, remember?”

If he’d been in the house with her when she encountered Lee, there would have been no chase and no need to save her life. But she didn’t feel like arguing with him. “I’m tired, Turner.”

He stopped in front of them, peering down at her. “You look like hell. Sound like it, too. You should get checked out and then go home. Get some rest. Maybe brush your hair.”

“Turner,” Noah snapped.

Ignoring him, Turner held out the cat carrier to Josie. “After you get Mira’s cat. Bobbi said she’ll keep it until we find Mira. Assuming Mira is still alive. But I didn’t mention that. She’s already pretty upset.”

That’s where he was—flirting with a witness, again. Josie didn’t take the carrier. “What’s wrong with you? You can’t get the cat and take it back to her?”

“She’s coming on a little strong. Not sure I should be the one to take the cat back there.”

Anger sent a flush from Josie’s collar to the roots of her hair. “Are you kidding me? You were the one flirting with her earlier while Seth Lee tried to kill me!”

Turner put the carrier on the ground between them. His fingers drummed against his thigh. His phone appeared in his other hand, and he used his thumb to enter a passcode. Whatever was on the screen was far more important than the conversation they were having. As usual. Josie edged closer, trying to see what it was, but Turner kept the phone out of their view. “That’s not how it went down,” he said. “I was interviewing a witness, on the premises, I might add, while you checked the house. It was a welfare check on a woman who lives alone and had just sustained a head injury. There weren’t any lights on. Pretty low-risk. Neither one of us could have reasonably predicted that a murder suspect was hiding inside.”

Josie opened her mouth to argue but Turner kept talking. “Besides, I saved you from getting mauled without shooting the dog, so I’d say we’re even. You get the cat, okay?”

Noah’s hand against her lower back kept her from saying anything else. “We’ve got an animal control officer for that sort of thing.”

Turner shrugged. “Then call them.”

“No,” Noah said through clenched teeth. “You call them.”

“What’s the number?” Turner asked. “And the name? Also, you mind waiting here for them? The Chief wants to talk to me.”

Josie didn’t want to wait for their animal control officer to arrive—not when she and Noah were right here. This day had already been long enough. “Forget it,” she said. “I’ll do it. This time. Then Noah can take the cat to Bobbi while I go to the hospital.”

Noah looked as though he might object but one look at Josie and he kept quiet. “I can meet you at the hospital after.”

Turner looked up from his phone long enough to grin at Noah. “Hey, LT. Did she tell you I threw her over a fence? Like a paper airplane. She took out a shit-ton of geraniums though. For a little thing, she sure caused a lot of damage.”

“That’s enough, Turner,” Noah said, annoyance edging into his normally even voice. “Go see the Chief.”

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