Page 74 of Seeking Evil

Zeke jumped to his feet. “Did she mention Sierra or Dawn?”

Deb shook her head. “She’s waiting to speak to you all.”

Zeke and his teammates followed the couple out to the waiting area where the very alive version of Lindsey Newton stood near the door as if ready to run.

“Hang back,” Deb told them all and went over to Lindsey. “Honey, it’s okay. You can trust these people.” She swept her hand over to where they waited. “And we’re going to catch this man who did this to you, I promise.”

“Men. There were two,” Lindsey whispered in a broken voice. “The man who brought me here was nice. He didn’t try to hurt me. He actually tried to protect me.”

Deb put her arm around the young woman’s shoulders. “Let’s get you something to drink and maybe eat?” She waited for Lindsey to confirm she was hungry. “Megan and Hannah.” She waved the two women over. “Lindsey, these two women are FBI agents. They came here to help locate you and two other missing women. One of those is an FBI agent too. Why don’t we all go into the conference room and let’s just talk? You can tell us everything that happened from the moment you were taken until he dropped you off.”

Before Deb had the chance to get the food, a call came in and Deb answered it. It didn’t take long before Zeke realized something had happened. “We’re rolling fire and emergency services now.” Deb ended the call and announced the address for Lindsey to confirm.

“That’s where he held me. I noticed the address on the mailbox. I saw the fire start. There could be others inside the house.”

“Wait, isn’t that Colleen’s old place??” Zeke asked.

Deb’s eyes widened. “It is.”

Megan’s troubled gaze went to Zeke’s “He set the place on fire to destroy evidence.”

“I could smell the gasoline inside,” Lindsey told them.

“Why don’t we talk in the conference room?” Megan led her into the room and pulled out a chair, careful not to touch Lindsey.

They had no idea what she’d gone through. Until they did, Lindsey’s clothes and body represented a crime scene.

Zeke and the rest of the team hung back, letting Megan and Hannah take the lead.

“I was taken from outside my cabin,” Lindsey said. “I was getting ready to go to the diner for something to eat. It was late—I don’t remember the exact time, but maybe nine or nine-thirty.”

Hannah opened her notebook and wrote down Lindsey’s answers.

“Anyway, he came out of nowhere and grabbed me from behind. Before I had the chance to fight back, he jabbed something in my neck.”

The attacker had drugged her. That made sense. Zeke couldn’t understand how he’d managed to subdue Sierra otherwise.

“There are others.” She stopped and started sobbing. “Oh, God, it was awful. He kept them in barrels.”

Zeke froze. His mind tried to untangle what she’d said, but all he could come up with was something unthinkable.

He must have made some noise because Hannah glanced his way before asking how many women were there.

“Eight. Their names had been written on the side of the barrels and . . . they were clear so that you could see them.” She shuddered. “It was awful.”

Zeke sank down to the closest chair. Someone put their hand on his shoulder. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe right.

“Do you remember their names?” Megan asked.

“I do. I memorized them.” Starting with the first victim from twenty-five years earlier, she recited all their names.

Zeke’s head jerked up as he willed her not to say Sierra’s name. Please don’t. Please, God no.

“The last two names were Dawn and then Sierra.”

He covered his head with his hands and tried not to fall apart.

“Only there was something different about those two.”

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