Page 49 of Twin Threats In Austin
“I’ll drink it this way once I’m finished eating.” She pulled another slice out of the box. He noted neither raced toward filling their plate the rest of the way with salad. “Cold coffee never bothered me.”
“Same here,” he said.
“What about the truck?” she asked, so he filled her in while they finished eating and then ate a few obligatory bites of salad. Then, it was back to the case. “I wish there was a way to notify Kage about his twin.”
“He wasn’t lying all this time about the doppelgänger,” Camden said, his thoughts cycling back to the unexpected twist. “What did we decide about going to Asher’s?”
Rochelle glanced toward the window. “It’s dark outside. I could put on a baseball cap and keep my head down, so he won’t immediately recognize me. It’s probably a good time to make the drive.”
“Okay then,” he said. “Let’s roll.”
The trailer was situated on a couple acres outside the tiny little town of Buda, Texas, about twenty minutes north of Austin. Twenty minutes with no traffic. However, day or night, there was always traffic in Austin. Vehicles filled the roads.
Gravel crunched underneath tires on the dirt road leading toward the single-wide trailer, which had been blocked on the map feature of the internet.
Camden had slipped his shoulder holster back on before leaving his town house, same as Rochelle had done. He’d given her a baseball cap with the wordsGone Fishingembossed on it, a leftover from ages ago on some fishing trip he’d taken. Hecouldn’t remember if it belonged to his brother or his cousin, but the black cap with white lettering did little to hide Rochelle’s beauty. Her long fire-red hair was pulled back in a ponytail, off her face and mostly out of sight. They might get away with the disguise if she kept her chin to her chest.
Halfway down the lane, Camden had flipped on his parking lights and cut down his headlights.
It was black as pitch outside.
Rochelle had been quiet on the ride over. Without a word, she exited the passenger side half a second after he cut off the engine, parking where the trees opened into a yard and the small trailer sat.
Camden wasn’t sure what he expected to find when he got out of the Bronco. The stench of a dead body? A shed next to the trailer with female voices begging for help? But it occurred to him this was exactly the kind of place a serial killer might bring someone they’d kidnapped.
The thought was not lost on Rochelle based on the look she just gave him. Despite the fact they’d only known each other for a few days, he felt like she’d been his best friend for most of his life. As much as he didn’t worry about whether or not he’d lived a past life or if he had more cycles of birth and death to endure in the future, his soul had recognized hers from some place deep. Some place that knew more about the world than him. Some place that knew more about love that him.
And some place that drew him toward her on a cellular level.
Camden shook off the thought, refocused on the task at hand.
Rochelle was a damn fine detective. But she didn’t need to be one to figure out what he’d just thought about this hellhole.
Making almost no sound, Rochelle eased her service weapon out of her shoulder holster as he did the same. There was no helping the echo of the Bronco doors closing in the night, no matter how quiet they wanted them to be. Other than acacophony of insect sounds, they were the only ones making noise. This place was out in the boonies. No cars. No highway. No strip shopping centers. If Asher had taken dating Sabrina seriously, he had to realize they wouldn’t be together long if he brought her to a place like this—a place that gave off serial-killer vibes.
Camden and Rochelle walked almost side by side as they moved toward the trailer.
Neither spoke.
Camden’s eyes had not quite adjusted to the blackness. There hadn’t been enough time yet. He could make out general shapes once his parking lights turned off and not much else. Anyone who knew the terrain would have an upper hand.Asher.
As they approached the trailer, he noted the windows were blacked out. Getting close, he could see the details a little more clearly.
Before knocking on the door, they needed to clear the perimeter and investigate to see if there was an outdoor building in case his suspicions turned out to be true.
Rochelle stepped onsomething that made her withdraw her foot in a heartbeat. Something—a snake?—slithered away, completely freaking her out.
She suppressed a gasp by clamping her lips shut. There was literally no time to panic right now. She couldn’t afford to make a noise no matter how much she wanted to scream.
Rochelle hated snakes.
She hated pretty much every other creepy-crawly thing that went slithering around in the dark. But if she thought too much about it, she would freak herself right out. Taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly and regained her composure.
After circling the building, she took note of the fact there was no shed or outbuilding or anything else that might be used to store equipment anywhere in the yard area on the property. Then again, that didn’t mean there wasn’t some type of building stashed out there in the woods.
Her body involuntarily shivered as icy fingers gripped her spine at the thought Justina Worth might have been brought here, mightstillbe trapped here somewhere.
Without a warrant, Rochelle had no right to search the property. She didn’t have probable cause to trespass.
