Page 67 of Catching Fire

He felt as if he could finally contribute something of value. “This just doesn’t look right.”

He pointed at the tablet and the dots. Seline’s phone pinged off the towers for the last time on the northwest side of Lincoln. “Where would she have been going?”

That wasn’t on the road home.

“Who does she know out there?” Verner was interested, as if this might be helpful.

Kalan wracked his brain. “No one.”

Though he wondered if he truly knew all of these things about Seline. But she’d said several times that she had a few friends in Lincoln, but that was it. “She has an extended cousin in Idaho, in Boise.”

But she wouldn't be goingthere. Not when she’d just gotten her job back and expected to start again on Monday. She would have to drive across all of Nebraska and the bulk of Idaho to get to Boise.

“Look,” Verner said, “Watson just sent updated cell tower data.”

“I thought you couldn’t triangulate her phone?”

Verner shook her head. “Not out in the boonies. But near the city, there are a lot more towers.”

This time, there were twice as many dots and timestamps on the map. Slowly, the three connected where she’d gone. This solidified that Seline had in fact taken a random series of turns for about ten minutes, and then headed out of town.

“There isn’t even enough time to stop … if she was running errands,” Kalan commented and both Verner and Rossi nodded their agreement.

The phone signal finally disappeared on a stretch of road with nothing on it. Verner pointed. “There are no stores here, no homes, just open road.”

Kalan caught the meaning at the same time Rossi said the words. “He threw the phone out the window.”

“Because Seline wouldn't have done that,” Kalan added. “Which means he probably had her before the car left the parking garage.”

Verner tapped at the screen and pulled up the footage from the university garage. “Maybe we can see something from the car leaving.”

Seline had been gone for over five hours already,but Kalan told himself not to think of the time he’d wasted driving out of town. Whether Sanders’ plan with the email had fully worked, Kalan didn’t know, but he’d certainly stalled the person who’d eventually declared her missing. He’d bought himself at least a few more hours with that bullshit. Kalan fought the pit that formed in his stomach. How had he fallen for it?

“It's pretty good footage.” Rossi’s voice pulled him back to the job at hand. “They have cameras aimed on the cars both coming and going.”

“So you're sure it's her car?” he asked.

“That's her plate,” Verner pointed, and Kalan had to take her word. He’d not memorized the number.

Despite his self flagellation, he still looked at the image. “I don't see her in the car. The person in the driver’s seat—” he pointed at the silhouette. “—That’s not Seline.”

“No. She's either low in the backseat or in the trunk.” Verner said it as though it wasn’t a horrific thought. The two agents looked at each other, but didn't say anything more.

And Kalan once again lost his cool.

“What?”he demanded, slapping his hands on the small folding table and nearly collapsing it. “What aren't you telling me?”

Chapter Forty-Two

Seline pushed herself to her hands once more. Her brain rolled through a thick fog of deja vu and pain. Her joints ached, her throat was dry, and this time she was hungry. Her anger fueled her to lift her head and get to her feet.

The sky beyond the window was dark. Probably it was later in the same night, though Seline admitted to the possibility that she was missing days. She took two steps toward the window before freezing in her tracks. Luckily, the floor had not creaked. The cold floor made her think that the place might be too old to have a raised foundation.

Slowly and carefully, she made her way to the window, though this time she didn't step directly to it. The only light in the room came through the window, as best she could tell without looking, it was from the moon. If it was a streetlight, she was in a different place than she thought. But she stayed tucked to one side and didn’t step to the glass to look.

She was afraid that, if Sanders was out there, he would see her.

No sounds came except for the sounds of her own breathing and as she grew brave, she peeked around the window frame.

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