Page 20 of Bone Echo

Avery made a sound that said it all. This was not good. “I’ll get on it ASAP. You focus on finding that little girl of yours. I’ve got this covered. You keep me posted and I’ll do the same.”

Kurt swallowed another wad of emotions. “Thanks, I will.”

No sooner than the call ended another came in. Audra. “Hey,” he said.

“As we anticipated,” she said, “Dr. Lawler was a no-show this morning. He left a voicemail saying he was very ill. The call came from his cell phone but when I tried to call back it went to voicemail.” She sighed. “I thought you would want to know.”

“I appreciate it. Nothing new here either.” He thought about what Brian said but that wasn’t confirmed so he’d wait until he heard back from Hanes.

“I’ll check in with you later then,” Audra said.

Kurt thanked her and then spent the next hour checking in with each leader of the search teams. No one had anything to report so far. Except Doreen. Lawler’s passport had not been used and was now locked. He wouldn’t be going anywhere with his current identity. She had also called the hospitals in a hundred-mile radius to ensure he hadn’t been admitted. They’d done the same for Ella yesterday which had turned up nothing. They’d gotten the same on Lawler which meant he was in hiding. With Ella if Kurt’s theory was right and he believed that it one hundred percent was.

Kurt’s cell vibrated again and he grabbed it, hoping for good news. The caller wasn’t one of his contacts. “Nichols.”

“Chief, this is Officer Banning.”

“You have news for me, Banning?” Kurt held his breath.

“Yes, sir. I got a call from a Knox County deputy. They’ve found an abandoned vehicle on Beach Road near Bill Haggerty’s place. The vehicle is registered to a Josef Lawler. There’s blood in the vehicle, chief. A lot of blood.”

Kurt felt sick. “On my way.”

He grabbed his coat and headed out. “Doreen, Lawler’s vehicle has been found abandoned with blood inside. Add that to the rest of what we have about Lawler so far and fax the necessary paperwork to the judge. I want that warrant now.”

“I’ll hand carry it,” she called after him.

Good because as soon as he checked out Lawler’s abandoned vehicle he was headed to the judge’s office and he wasn’t leaving until he had that warrant.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

2:00 p.m.

The judge had been in court and wasn’t able to sign off on the warrant until half past noon when they adjourned for lunch. While he’d waited for the warrant, Kurt had checked in with the lab. The blood tested so far had come from at least two different victims. One sample was the same type as Lloyd’s, the other that of his wife, Kathleen. There was a lot of blood evidence from multiple locations so the DNA work would take some time.

He just hoped none of it was Ella’s.

Kurt had called in two of his officers to help with the search of the Lawler property. He assigned Benson to the exterior. Kurt would follow up but for now he needed to be inside with Watts.

“Chief, have a look at this.”

Officer Watts waited at the fireplace. Kurt joined him there and studied the grate where wood was generally stacked and burned. “Looks like he burned a shitload of paper before he disappeared.”

Watts was right. A few corners of pages had survived the flames but not much else beyond staples. “Let’s have an evidence tech decide if there’s anything there that tells us anything.”

Lawler had a good many books. Mostly medical research material. The house was one of the smaller ones in town. A one bedroom with one larger room that served as a living area and kitchen.

Kurt and Watts had taken the space apart one item and one square foot at a time. They checked in the light fixtures, the appliances and bath fixtures, even the drains. Every crack and crevice, every pocket and page. There was nothing about Lawler’s personal life. No family photos. No letters or cards from family or friends or colleagues. Not one thing related to a life…only his career as a school counselor. Even that was kept to a minimum.

Kurt could only assume that anything relevant to his daughter and this case had gone up in flames in that fireplace. Or with the bastard when he took off. That was, of course, assuming his theory was on target.

He was pretty damned sure it was.

Benson appeared at the back door. “There’s a cellar. The doors were well hidden under the shrubs but I found it.”

Hope soared as Kurt followed Benson outside and around to the side of the house. No matter that it was getting dark, their tracks were a vivid contrast in the blanket of white stuff. Benson had parted and pulled back the shrubbery, then dusted off the snow to reveal a set of old-fashioned doors that were nearly level with the ground.

“We’ll need a pair of bolt cutters,” Benson pointed out.

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