Page 55 of Jina

Shaking that dire thought off, he’d focused on examining the younger version of Brad’s buddy, trying to use facial feature markers that would stay the same over time. Even so, spotting someone who looked like Wade Adams on social media was slow going. He wasn’t a facial recognition expert and had thought they may need technical help when he’d finally landed on a possible match.

And if that guy he’d found on social media was the correct Wade Adams, he currently lived and worked as a construction worker in Peabody.

Interesting that Adams could be involved in the same construction project where Brad Crow’s body had been uncovered.

It was a key connection that needed to be explored.

But not today. Pushing his day job concerns aside, he used his phone to find a rideshare. “Looks like we have a ten-minute wait.”

“Takes longer to get a ride this far outside of the city,” she mused.

He shrugged. “At least we have the option of getting around without a vehicle.”

“Yeah.” She sighed. “I miss my Jeep.”

“I know.” He watched the dot on the screen as their ride approached. “We’re looking for a white four-door sedan.”

She nodded, not paying any attention to her teammates heading out without them. “I really hope this guy shows at the rental in Timberland Falls.” She glanced at him. “I want this over and done with.”

“Me too.” On that, they could agree. “When will you turn your phone on?”

She thought about that. “I think I should wait until we get to the precinct. This guy may be wondering why it’s off, and it will appear as if I ran out of battery and had to wait until we got someplace where I could borrow a charger.”

“Smart move.” The dot on his screen was growing closer. “That’s our ride up ahead.”

They watched the white sedan pull up. After comparing the guy’s face to the one on his phone, he opened the back door for Jina.

“Red Mill Motel?” the driver asked.

“Yes, but if you could let us out a mile to the north of the motel, that would be great,” Jina said. “Get off the interstate but keep going past the place. I’ll let you know when to drop us off.”

The guy looked confused by that but shrugged and pulled away from the breakfast restaurant.

“You think the perp is watching the motel?” he asked in a low voice.

“I doubt it. He has no reason to hang out there with the GPS tracker on the vehicle.” She grimaced. “I just think it’s better to take precautions. We need to check if the GPS is still there. Or if anything else has been tampered with.”

“Agree.” He tried to relax, but it wasn’t easy. He figured relaxing wouldn’t happen until they had this perp behind bars.

The trip to the Red Mill Motel didn’t take too long. As requested, the driver went past the establishment without stopping.

“This is good,” Jina said. “Thanks.”

“Whatever you say.” The driver eyed them curiously in the rearview mirror but wisely chose not to ask anything further.

Cole added a generous tip before sliding out of the car. He was glad he and Jina had given their bags over to her teammates. Sneaking up on the motel in broad daylight would be difficult enough without the added bulkiness.

The sky overhead was still overcast, but not nearly dark enough to hide their approach. In silent agreement, they moved away from the side of the road toward the ridge of trees.

“Let’s split up to approach the place,” Jina said. “We can cover more ground that way.”

He didn’t like it but reluctantly nodded. “Fine. Give me a few minutes to head around to the back side of the trees.”

“Okay.” She knelt on the ground behind a large bush. “I don’t have a phone, so I’ll give you three minutes, then will continue moving forward.”

“Hold on.” He reached for her hand.

“What?” She looked impatient.

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