Page 81 of Tough as Steele

Two blocks from Mimi’s place, Nate parked on the side of the road.

He grabbed the mic. “We’re staying back a few blocks, Clarice, so if the kidnapper is watching the house, he doesn’t see us.”

Nate let out a long breath and glanced at Londyn. “Clarice is safe at Mimi’s place.”

Londyn gripped his free hand and squeezed. His skin had warmed some but was still cold. He could hopefully relax more, and the blood flow would return.

He turned his attention back to the mic. “I want to come see you, but it’s too dangerous. You stay put and call me the second you hear from the kidnapper.”

Nate released his mic.

Londyn didn’t even wait a beat of a second. “Where are we headed?”

“SWAT didn’t find Wigg’s pickup at his place, but they did find Jessica’s car. There’s a large volume of blood in the trunk and a trail of blood going away from it. And they also found her belongings in the back seat and an AR-15 in the trunk. No sign of Mimi.”

Londyn didn’t know what to make of the news. “What about Jessica’s phone?”

“He didn’t say.”

“You think we’re too late to help her?”

Nate swallowed hard. “Sounded like it when Helen called her, but we don’t know if it’s her blood.”

“If any bullets are found, we’ll want to get them to firearms to examine and get the gun over to them too.”

“I’m sure Easton is already on scene and will take care of that,” Nate said.

“But he doesn’t have the same sense of urgency as we do. So I’m going to ask if he’s okay with us checking in with the firearms examiner or maybe even dropping the rifle off if he hasn’t already sent it and any bullets to them.”

Nate nodded. “We’ll have to tread lightly, but yeah, we should try to get his agreement.”

“I wish I knew how all of this relates to Mimi. If it even does. What if we’re heading down a rabbit hole?”

“We won’t know until we get there, and maybe not even then.”

Nate’s statement rolled around in Londyn’s head as they made the drive to Wigg’s house. She prepared her mind for seeing another crime scene. Maybe another loss of life. How horrible. So horrible. But she couldn’t focus on it and let it get her down. And she especially wouldn’t think it was Mimi’s blood.

Londyn lifted her shoulders. Took deep breaths. Firmed her resolve.

Nate glanced at her. “Everything okay?”

“Just trying to set my mind for what we might see.”

“You’re thinking the blood means someone died.”

“Don’t you?” She watched him for nonverbal clues.

He shrugged. “I’ve been to scenes where there’s plenty of blood and the victim survives.”

“But in this case there doesn’t appear to be a victim,” she said. “So we don’t know who the blood belongs to. Could even be Mimi.”

He sucked in a sharp breath and turned into the driveway.

“Sorry for being so blunt,” Londyn said. “But it’s a possibility.”

“One we need to recognize.” Nate slowed the vehicle.

Londyn looked ahead, seeing three patrol cars and Easton’s drab blue sedan. He stood near a green Civic hatchback.