Page 39 of Seeking Evil

“I’m going after it.” Drake raced back toward his cruiser.

Zeke went after him. “I’m going with you.” Once they reached it, the two jumped inside.

Drake fired the engine and took off. The cruiser screamed down the road.

“Where is he?” Zeke leaned forward as if to see better.

They almost reached the city limits when the truth became apparent. The driver had given them the slip.

“He probably veered off on one of the old back roads. He could be anywhere.” Drake returned to the doctor’s place, where the others had gathered around front.

“Drake, why don’t you stay with the tow truck?” Jack asked the deputy. “We need to have forensics here to search for prints and DNA.”

Drake drove his cruiser back to the tow truck.

“Let’s return to the station.” Jack climbed behind the wheel, calling Patrick to dispatch the forensics team.

Zeke reluctantly got into the back of the SUV. He stared out at the afternoon sun slipping slowly in the sky, worry dogging him. Dawn had been missing for more than a week. Sierra for almost two days now.

Was she still alive? It was like a knife to his heart to think about something happening to her.

“Don’t go there,” Cooper leaned over and whispered. “We’ll find her.”

He nodded without looking at his friend. Everyone on the team wanted to bring Sierra home safely, but the truth was, they had no idea who took her.

“What about Dr. Flannigan? Do we still think he’s the one who stole the tow truck?” From everything Zeke knew about the doctor, his gut screamed no, but it was found on the doctor’s property. At the very least, they needed him to come in for an interview.

“While we can’t rule him out, we can’t rule out the possibility that someone else may have stashed it back there.” Jack got out with the rest of the team.

At the station, Deb met them at the door. “Doc’s on his way in. Claims he’s been staying at the office while Irv’s doing renovations.”

“Why wasn’t he there when we stopped by?” Zeke didn’t buy the doctor’s story.

“He said he was at the hospital taking care of a patient. We’ll check it out,” Deb assured him.

A convenient alibi that Zeke wasn’t so sure he believed.

He and the rest of the team listened to Irv’s interview. With what happened back at the doctor’s house, Zeke didn’t believe Irv was involved.

“Your wife told us about the things you’ve stolen from Dr. Flannigan. You’re going to jail, Irv. You can help yourself by cooperating.” Patrick claimed a chair across from Irv. “What do you know about Dawn Collins’s and Sierra Parker’s disappearances?” Patrick brought up photos of both women.

As Irv looked at the two women, the truth became clear. “Wait, you’re trying to blame me for their disappearances? I didn’t have anything to do with that. I might be a thief, but I ain’t no kidnapper.”

After another half hour of trying to get answers out of Irv, Patrick left the interview room. He came into the room where they waited.

“I’m going to take a run at Florence and see if she will cave. She’s the one who told us about the items they’d taken.”

“Why don’t I sit in with you?” Hannah volunteered. “Sometimes having a woman interview another woman helps.”

Patrick agreed. Irv was taken away to his cell. Deb brought in Florence.

The woman was clearly nervous.

Zeke watched as the interview began innocently enough. Hannah had a way of making a connection to anyone, whether it be a suspect or a victim. Patrick seemed to take a back seat while she asked the hard questions.

“Right now, I don’t care about the things you and Irv stole. I need you to be honest with me, Florence. What do you know about the two women who disappeared?”

Florence’s eyes widened. “Nothing, I swear. Only what I found out at the diner. They’d been climbers. Like the last ones.”

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