Page 31 of Chasing the Past

“I’ve got some bad news,” he said and paused. Eli’s heart rate went ballistic as he waited. “The DNA on the hairbrush from Sashi was too far degraded to test.”

The disappointment was physical. “That’s not what I wanted to hear.”

Gavin glanced past him to Asal. “I’m afraid there’s more bad news. The numbers on the thumb drive haven’t panned out yet. My people are still working. Hopefully, something will come of it.”

“So, we have no idea if the drive contained information about the Panther or something else entirely.” Although Eli believed whatever Tahir had hidden on the drive was all about the Panther.

“No, but I’m guessing it’s connected to the Panther somehow.” Gavin swiped a hand across his eyes. “There has to be something connecting the drive to what’s happening now, and I can’t help but believe there’s something in the works. Something dangerous.”

Eli felt the same way. He tried Fatima’s number again. It went straight to voicemail.

“I don’t think we should wait any longer. Fatima sounded worried and if it was Omar following her, she could be in danger.”

Asal nodded. “You’re right. If he killed Sashi, he could be trying to silence anyone connected to her.”

The words settled around Eli uncomfortably.

“We can take my vehicle,” Gavin assured them. “It should be safe enough and I wasn’t followed to the island.”

“Good.” Eli filled his team in on what they were doing.

“I’m coming with you,” JT said once he’d finished. “I’ll fill Rachel in on what’s happening when we’re on the road. You could be heading into a dangerous situation. You’ll need all the manpower you can get.”

“Of course,” Gavin said and retrieved his laptop.

“We’ll keep working the case,” Janine assured them. “Before you leave, Asal, can we get that DNA swab?”

Asal agreed and Janine retrieved a swab that was part of the team’s surveillance kit after there had been several occasions that the need for DNA collection had come up.

Janine administered the swab quickly.

“I can take it to the lab,” Will told her. “I need to get back to check on the investigation.” Janine handed him the container holding the swab.

“We’ll leave with you,” Eli told his friend.

Together, they stepped out into a dreary day.

Eli ushered Asal into the back seat before claiming the front seat beside Gavin.

“We should be there in a little more than three hours,” Gavin said as they left the peninsula before Will.

Eli nodded and kept his attention on the side mirror. Three hours felt like a lifetime right now when there were so many unknowns hanging over their heads.

“I’ll keep trying Fatima.” Eli pulled out his phone and redialed her number. “Straight to voicemail. I’m worried.”

“Should we call the police?” Asal leaned forward and asked.

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Gavin interjected. “We don’t know if anything is wrong, and we’ve had a sighting of Omar here on the island recently. As far as we know, he’s looking for Asal.”

Asal winced and sat back against her seat.

“Sorry, that came out wrong.” Gavin smiled at her in the rearview mirror. “Let’s just get there and see what’s going on.”

Eli turned his head to Asal. “He’s right. We don’t want to send out an alert to Omar if he’s involved. He could go underground, and we might not find him again.”

Still, with each unanswered attempt to reach Fatima, Eli’s fear for what they’d find when they reached her apartment grew.

“This should be it,” Gavin said and slipped into an empty parking spot a little way from the building.

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