Page 41 of Wicked and Ruthless

RedHotSavvySleuth: Am I female? LOL! Love them. Anyway, the remainder of the restaurant storefronts all fan out to the left of the pastry shop before a nasty pizza place curls back toward the main aisle on the far left.

JasperThePrivateDick: No point of entry or exit by the bad pizza joint?

RedHotSavvySleuth: No. Just more shops. Did your cop connection say any of the other abductions were in a different part of the mall?

JasperThePrivateDick: No. All in the same spot. Which begs the question, why doesn’t your boss do something about that location? Is he not concerned?

RedHotSavvySleuth: He’s deeply concerned. At least that’s what he says. Between you and me, I think he’s mostly concerned financially. He’s worried this will ruin him. But according to him, he’s tried to beef up security to no avail.

JasperThePrivateDick: Besides the parking lot, what’s behind that mall? It looks like a main thoroughfare with several highways close by.

RedHotSavvySleuth: Exactly. So once these kidnappers get someone out the door and into their vehicle, they can be on the freeway, headed to almost anywhere, in less than three minutes.

JasperThePrivateDick: That’s disturbing, but optimal for scum like these kidnappers. I also looked at a county map. I see a couple of private airstrips not too far away.

RedHotSavvySleuth: That’s possible. To be honest, I never paid attention to them. I’m not flying any sort of airplane myself, except maybe paper. LOL!

JasperThePrivateDick: A private airstrip is the easiest way to get a victim out of the area and ultimately anywhere in the world where there’s a waiting buyer.

The idea made Haisley sick to her stomach. Yes, she knew such things happened, but knowing it was taking place so close to where she laid her head every night? So close to a place she’d been shopping? It was deeply unsettling.

RedHotSavvySleuth: So you think they’re being sold rather than being a kill trophy for a single sick perpetrator?

JasperThePrivateDick: Either is possible, but no one has found any bodies. The rate of the abductions and the fact they’re getting more frequent suggests this is likely a burgeoning business model rather than a sick thrill. Of course, serial offenders need their high more and more often, so I won’t take that possibility off the table, but it seems awfully organized for one perpetrator. And correct me if I’m wrong, but the curb just outside those double doors is a no-parking zone.

Haisley had never looked herself, but she opened her scan of the mall’s schematics and verified with the satellite footage available online. It led her to one obvious conclusion.

RedHotSavvySleuth: You’re right. That suggests this guy isn’t working alone. The bricked-off area where the dumpsters are housed protects anyone driving on the street west of the mall from seeing whatever’s going on at the curb. The east side isn’t really visible either since the mall curves around. Even the main drag encircling the mall is probably half a football field away. So unless you’re in that specific area—which almost no one is—or you’re looking at those double doors—which, again, why would anyone do that?—then no one would see a victim being dragged out against their will.

JasperThePrivateDick: Precisely. It almost makes me wonder if the mall was designed with this vulnerability.

Was he suggesting her boss had purposefully designed the building as the perfect place for abductions? She didn’t know Mr. Benedict, and she didn’t like him so far, but being gruff hardly made him evil. It also didn’t make him a saint.

RedHotSavvySleuth: I don’t know. That seems like a big leap. I mean, it would still be hard to take someone from that area without anyone hearing. Victims surely screamed… Did your cop contact say anything about witnesses hearing cries for help?

JasperThePrivateDick: No. But I didn’t ask specifically. Our conversation was cut short since he got an urgent call. I’ll add that to my list for what I hope will be our next conversation. You make a good point, though. My guess is that, with road noise and whatnot, it’s a noisy area in general, so any screaming might get drowned out or ignored. And that assumes the victim isn’t being gagged or drugged as she’s being hauled into the offenders’ vehicle.

RedHotSavvySleuth: True. And if I were doing this, I’d use some sort of industrial vehicle that looks like a delivery van or trash truck—something most people would never question.

JasperThePrivateDick: Yes. That would also explain why some of these abductions have been in broad daylight during very busy times, but no one saw anything.

RedHotSavvySleuth: Exactly. Did the cop say he’d talked to any of the regular food-court employees?

JasperThePrivateDick: It’s not actually his case, but he hears things… I’ll add that to my list. I’m sure they have but who or what was asked, I don’t know.

RedHotSavvySleuth: If we could get our hands on that information, it might be really helpful.

They filled the message screen for another ten minutes before realizing they’d hit something of a dead end with the information they currently shared. Questions had few or no answers, and they could speculate themselves in circles, but that helped no one, least of all those poor women who had been abducted and had now been missing anywhere from eighteen months to ten days.

JasperThePrivateDick: I wish we knew more.

RedHotSavvySleuth: Me, too. I feel helpless. I really want to drive out there and poke around. They don’t close for another couple of hours. Maybe I can find some security guards or restaurant employees to ask our questions.

JasperThePrivateDick: No! It’s too dangerous. For all we know, the assailants are watching and waiting for either another opportunity or anyone who could thwart them. I’ve gathered from your profile that you’re female, and I’m going to guess that you fit into the victims’ age range. Am I right, Red?

RedHotSavvySleuth: Yes, but I can take care of myself.

JasperThePrivateDick: Do you think there’s ever been a victim of such a crime who didn’t feel the same way?

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