Page 79 of Pied Sniper

“He saw me and ran,” I said, jogging over to the SUV.

“I saw it. I thought I could cut him off but the traffic was against me.” He hopped out, removing his gun from his holster. “Wait here.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Are you armed?”

“No.”

“Then wait.” Solomon was gone before I could protest, even though he did have a point. I wasn’t armed but I wasn’t sure the man who ran away was either. Sure, he was taller and heavier than me so he posed a threat, but he didn’t flash a gun or even seem to reach for one. So why did he run away? “He’s gone,” said Solomon, returning to stand with me. “There’re a bunch of buildings he could have entered and a couple of passages that lead to the parallel street. He could have taken any one of them.”

“Damn.”

“What made you follow him?”

“He was the only man here alone and he looked cross when Maddox mentioned the reward. I thought I’d try and engage him in conversation but he just ran!”

“I got photos. Let’s see if we can find out who he is and whether this is a wild goose chase.”

“He ran too fast for it to be nothing,” I insisted.

“That’s what concerns me.”

Both of our phones burst into life. “It’s Garrett,” I said.

“Lucas,” said Solomon. We both stepped apart and answered. I felt unfocused, wanting to know what Lucas had to say, as well as Garrett.

“Where did you get to?” asked Garrett. “I saw you run from the crowd.”

“I was following a guy who disappeared.”

“Why? What did he do?”

“Well, nothing. But he stood out. Not much, just enough to catch my attention. I’m on my way back.”

“Don’t. Something happened.”

“There was a tip?”

“No. My guys with Abigail said she gave them the slip. Your guys too. Did she call you?”

“No!”

“Damn it. Where the hell could she have gone?”

“Did you call her?”

“Five times. She turned her phone off. If you have any idea why she would do that, I need to know now!”

“I don’t.”

“She hasn’t sent you any kind of message?”

I shook my phone, bringing it to life, and pressed the screen. “No texts, no calls, no voicemails,” I told him. “Garrett, if I knew where she was, I’d tell you.”

“I have a bad feeling about this. I’ll call you back.” The line went dead just as Solomon hung up.

“The tip line transferred a call to Lucas from someone saying she’s Tiffany’s mom and she’s on her way to town. We might have finally caught a break,” Solomon told me. “She should be here tomorrow and she’s keen to talk but she refused to say about what, which is frustrating.”

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