Page 50 of Vanishing Point
The inspector shoved the cabin door open and pulled Vi inside behind her. Immediately, Vi heard someone else. Someone already in the cabin. When her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw a figure sitting at the table.
“Hello, Vi.”
Vi didn’t say anything in response. She immediately turned and tried to escape.
Chapter Fourteen
Thomas figured the cold, empty feeling inside of him was good. It meant he wasn’t freaking out. If he was tethered to his body, he might start tearing his house apart piece by damn piece. Until he found a clue.
Right now, he stood in the side yard next to Laurel, studying his open window. Copeland hadn’t shown up yet, but Thomas had to believe it would be soon.
Had to.
“Look,” Laurel said. “We talked to your other neighbors, watched your doorbell cam footage from front and back doors, but we didn’t talk to anyone in the back. If no one facing the street saw them, if none of the cameras caught them, they had to go somewhere outside those things.” Laurel pointed behind him, where his backyard backed up to neighbor’s backyards.
“If she came out the side window, she could go that way, and the camera wouldn’t pick it up.”
Thomas was halfway across the yard before Laurel was even done talking. He talked to all his neighbors as a matter of course. A lot of the older ones had soughthimout, with their variety of “complaints” about the neighborhood and what he could do to solve them in a law enforcement capacity.
His backyard catty-corner neighbor was one of the people who loved to complain the most. If Vi had gone through her yard in any capacity, Mrs. Harolds would know.
He was at her front door in seconds flat and had to remind himself not to bang on the door like a man determined to break it down. Just three sharp knocks.
He counted in his head, trying to keep from kicking the door open. When it finally did, Mrs. Harolds stood on the other side of her storm door.
“Oh, hello, Thomas. Well, aren’t you dressed up nice? You know, I’m glad you stopped by.”
“Mrs. Harolds—”
But she kept talking, opening the storm door and stepping out onto the porch as Laurel came up behind him.
“That girlfriend of yours wasveryrude to me.”
Thomas thought his knees might give out. “Today? You saw Vi this morning?”
“Yes.” She pointed out toward her perfectly manicured lawn and beautiful gardens. “There was a car parked in front of my mailbox when I went out to check on my roses. Then her and her friend started to get in. Well, I told them not to park in front of my mailbox, because the mailman always gets a bit prickly about it and won’t deliver my mail, and I’m expecting a very important package.”
Thomas nodded, trying to absorb this information. A car parked in front of Mrs. Harolds’s house. There was no reason for that, except sneaking around.
“She didn’t even apologize. She told me to mind my own business. Can you believe it?”
“What kind of car? Can you describe the friend?”
Mrs. Harolds frowned. “It wasveryrude.”
“Yes, Mrs. Harolds,” Laurel said, before Thomas could explode on the older woman. “What kind of car?”
“I took a picture of it. I know you told me that the police can’t help me just because someone parks in front of my mailbox, butIwas going to report it anyway. Hold on.”
She disappeared inside and Thomas had to clench his hands into fists to keep from barging in after her.
Laurel put her hand on his shoulder. “It’s a lead. It’s a start. Any idea who the friend might be?”
“None. She was supposed to be meeting Franny and Mags at the park.”
Mrs. Harolds reappeared with her phone and held it out to him. “Her friend was driving. So, I suppose it was her friend’s car, but still. She could have said sorry.Sheknows me. The other woman doesn’t. And isn’t from around here, far as I can tell.”
Laurel peered over his shoulder at the photo of a navy blue sedan. He couldn’t make out anything going on inside the car.
