Page 60 of Vanishing Point
Since Rosalie looked like she was about to start punching, Thomas intervened.
“Thanks for your cooperation.” Thomas took a card out of his pocket. “You think of anything else, even if it seems small, give me a call.”
Al took the card, eyed it. Then pocketed it. “Sure.”
Thomas doubted anything would come of it, but every little lead got them something else. Maybe he couldn’t prove Eric was with Dianne from this, but it was a step.
They walked back to his car, and he considered driving over to the hotel and see where Copeland was in interviewing people.He’d have to talk to the front desk and the housekeeping crew. Other residents. It was a big job, and he could help make it go faster.
But before he could even pull out of the parking lot, his phone rang again. The readout was Jack Hudson, the sheriff of Sunrise. His family also ran a cold case investigation business.
For a moment, Thomas was frozen with the gripping, terrible fear that if they didn’t find something soon, Vi could become a cold case herself.
“Well, are you going to answer it?” Rosalie demanded.
Thomas managed to snap himself out of it, cleared his throat. “Hart,” he answered, telling himself it would be good news. Good news only. Great news.
“Hart, Jack Hudson here. I got your email. I don’t know if I have a lead for you, but I talked to one of my deputies this morning and I think I might. We had a run-in with a rental car out here this weekend.”
Thomas tried not to get excited. He knew the postal inspector had been in Sunrise Saturday morning, because Vi had met with her at Coffee Klatsch.
Rosalie cleared her throat and gave him a pointed look. So he put the phone on speaker so they could both listen. “What kind of run-in?”
“We don’t get a lot of visitors out this way, so it’s notable to see a rental car at all. But we had one speeding around Saturday morning. One of my deputies pulled the driver over. She claimed not to know the speed limit. My deputy ended up letting her off with a warning. No big deal.”
“And I’m guessing this was Postal Inspector Dianne Kay?”
“That’s what her license said. Honestly, even with the information you sent me, I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but later that afternoon he got a call out at Fish ‘N’ Ammo. Some guy was arguing over ammo prices, and you know Vern. He’ddie poor and out of spite rather than take someone’s money he thought was disrespecting him. He refused to sell to the guy after that. The guy put up a stink. Vern called us. The same deputy who pulled over the inspector answered the call, but by that time, the guy had already left. When Vern gave a description of the car and a partial plate, though, it was the same car from the speeding woman.”
Which connected Eric Carter and Dianne Kay. “Do me a favor, Jack, forward all reports and any information you’ve got on both calls to me, Laurel and Vicky in admin at Bent County.”
“Sure thing. I’ll get right on it, and I’ll let you know if we see the car again, or any of the people in your email.”
“Thanks, Jack. Appreciate it.” Thomas hit End on the phone, everything inside of him humming with possibility. This wasn’t going to be a cold case. They had a lead.
Laurel and Vicky would work on the search warrant for Eric’s phone. But it was clear, if Eric and Dianne were sharing a rental car they hadbothbeen in Sunrise on Saturday. Which led him to believe, Eric wasn’t in Fairmont anymore. Or at least, he had somewhere to hide near Sunrise.
Thomas turned to Rosalie. “I think we should go to Sunrise.”
“GET UP,”ERIC YELLED.
Vi inched forward, pretending she was trying to push up, but what she was really doing was inching her hand closer to the gap, to the nail. Once she was close enough, she pushed back onto her feet, then in a quick move, blocked by her body, swept her hand over the crack and managed to pick up the nail and palm it before standing.
It felt like nothing considering the pain she was in, butpositive thinking. Itcouldbe something, in the right moment.
Once on her feet, she carefully did a shuffle turn to face Eric. Her entire head throbbed. Her shoulder was a dull ache. Her throat still hurt from where he’d choked her.
Part of her wanted to say something snarky. To just keep fighting back. But she knew eventually he would snap, and she’d be dead. For every day this dragged out, it was another day Thomas might find her.
Maybe he didn’t know Eric was here, but he knew the postal inspector was the last person to see her. He had to know that. Between him and Laurel and Copeland, and Rosalie no doubt, they were going to find her.
So she had to stay alive, but that didn’t mean she’d cower. She met Eric’s dark, empty eyes, chin up, no matter how everything ached.
“Now that you ruined sitting for yourself, you can just stand.” He turned to Dianne. “Clean that mess up. Then bring me a sandwich.” He stalked out of the room, into a hallway that must have led to a bedroom and a bathroom.
Dianne scurried over to pick up the pieces of broken chair. Vi pretended to move out of the way, when what she was really doing was trying to hide a piece of debris that might help her.
She shuffled back, taking a small splinter or two with her, and Dianne was apparently worried enough about making that sandwich that she didn’t see them. Once Dianne was in the kitchen, pulling food out of bags and a cooler, Vi just kept shuffling back until she reached the wall. She leaned against it.
