Page 40 of Shattered Sanctuary

“I know. I feel the same way.”

Adrian sighed. “Go ahead and start sending the photo out to bars and restaurants in the area. If you get any nibbles, send Lonzine and Dale out to talk to them. We’ve got to have more information. Check for video surveillance. I’d like to see who she was with, although I have a feeling he’s too smart to get caught on camera.”

“Sure, boss. I’ll get right on it.”

Lisa had only been gone a few minutes when she swungthe door open again. “Boss, Erin Delaney and Kaely Hunter are here to see you.”

“Thanks, Lisa. Send them in.”

Adrian stood to his feet and waited. When they entered his office, he waved them toward the chairs facing his desk.

“Good to see you,” he said.

“You too, Adrian,” Erin said. “Anything new on your end?”

After they were seated, he sat down too. “Yeah, the autopsy results. Something interesting there.”

“Care to share?” Kaely asked.

“Chloe had been given flunitrazepam prior to her death,” he said. “With alcohol. It would have rendered her unconscious.”

Kaely frowned. “So, he took her to that event... what was it called?”

“Grits and Grains?” He shook his head. “I doubt it. There wasn’t any food in her stomach. Oh, and we found her car. One of its back tires had been slashed. It went flat, and she pulled it off on the side of the road between the resort and Townsend.”

“I don’t understand,” Erin said.

“My officers found tire tracks behind her car. It looks like someone pulled up behind her. My guess is that it was the killer.”

“This isn’t the first abandoned car connected to these deaths,” Erin said.

Adrian nodded. “Terri Rupp’s car was also found abandoned. However, further checking reveals that there was a problem with the engine. There wasn’t any sign that it had been tampered with. Not sure we can connect the two cars.”

“Back to Chloe,” Kaely said. “So, was the killer the person she dressed up to meet?” Kaely asked.

“Possibly. Whoever it was, she must have gotten in his car,” Adrian said. “So she had some level of trust in him. And it seems she was comfortable enough to get a drink with him. Somewhere.”

Erin looked at him like he had three heads. “None of that makes sense. She was dressed to the nines. She wasn’t planning onhaving a drinkwith this guy. She was going to that festival. Probably planned to meet him there. And if there wasn’t any food in her stomach, then she was prepared to eat. So, even if it was her date and he justhappenedto find her on the road, why didn’t they call a tow truck and then go on to the festival?”

“And if he didn’t pick her up, I’d guess that he lived close to the event,” Kaely said slowly. “Otherwise, wouldn’t he have offered to drive?”

“I’d think so,” Adrian replied, “but that’s a lot of speculation. Maybe she wanted to go somewhere afterward. Or maybe she didn’t feel she knew him well enough to let him drive her there and back.”

“You could be right,” Erin said. “But it appears she went somewhere with him to get a drink. Odd that there wasn’t any food in her stomach. Bars always have some kind of food to snack on.”

Adrian sighed loudly. “It’s frustrating. I agree that it doesn’t seem to make sense, but there might be an explanation we haven’t thought of.”

“You need to look at bars near the place where they found her car,” Erin said. She looked at Adrian. “Could you ask the detectives if there was a spare tire in her car?”

He nodded and picked up his phone. Lisa answered. “Lisa, either Lonzine or Dale here?”

“Dale’s out, but Lonzine is still here.”

“Have her come to my office, will you?” he said.

“Sure, boss.”

He hung up the phone. “I think I know where you’re going with this,” he said, directing his comment to Erin.

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