Page 52 of Just Now

Firmly, she hung up. And then she started the car, driving unsteadily out of the lot, wishing she had more experience behind the wheel. She’d just have to go as fast as she could to the address, and hope that at some stage, her software picked up the phone.

But as she drove, she felt a sense of coldness.

So far he’d held the victims for at least a day. But her phone call might have changed that.

Vera had clearly been on the phone while she opened her front door. The killer might have overheard her, and he might have picked up, from what she said, that someone was trying to warn her.

If he had, then Cami knew with a chill that all bets were off. He wouldn’t take her and hold her. He might change his pattern, decide to cut his losses, and kill her immediately, to prevent the police from finding him.

Biting her lip, she mashed her foot on the gas pedal, driving as fast as she dared, hoping that she’d be in time to prevent a disaster.

CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

Cami gripped the wheel as she raced to Vera’s house, driving the red Honda as fast as she dared, glancing at her phone every time she got the chance and thought she wouldn’t crash if she took her eyes off the road.

Where was the phone? Why wasn’t it moving? Why wasn’t her tracking software helping her, and what was playing out at Vera’s place?

She felt terrified she was too late.

Connor would be setting up his own tracking, and that might work better than her hack, but it would take time. It would probably take ten or fifteen minutes minimum, he’d said.

That was ten or fifteen minutes too long.

She had to get to Vera’s place as soon as possible. The thought of Vera being in danger made her sick to her stomach. She couldn’t forgive herself if something happened to her because she hadn’t warned her in time. She’d said the wrong things. If she’d said the right things, she might have been able to stop her from going inside the house.

She’d failed her and that was the harsh truth.

Now she needed to make up for it.

She turned onto Vera’s street, her heart pounding in her chest as she pulled up in front of the house. The front door was closed. The lights were off inside.

And, as she did so, her phone’s screen lit up.

“The tracking! It’s working!”

At last, she had a location for Vera’s phone, and it was on the move.

Cami didn’t hesitate.

If that phone was on the move, she needed to follow the signal. She couldn’t waste any more time here. She was certain that Vera had been taken. At any rate, she wasn’t home. The house was dark. If she’d been home, if she’d been okay, then lights would have been on. And she’d have called Cami back.

The killer had taken her, with her phone and her purse, just like he’d done with the others.

He hadn’t turned her phone off yet, and that was a huge stroke of luck for her. But he might do it at any moment. She had to hurry.

Cami sped away from the house, following the signal, glancing between the phone and the road, trying her best not to veer off the road and crash, as she navigated to where it was taking her.

It was late at night, and the signal seemed to be heading on a strange, diagonal trajectory, into town. There weren’t many other cars around. Where was he going? She’d assumed that he was holding the women in a more remote setting but now she guessed that a basement room in the middle of town might also be soundproof, and the traffic sounds around during the day might muffle any noises that did leak out.

The signal wasn’t moving now. It had stopped at a place ahead, and Cami drove cautiously up to it.

She stared in surprise. This was a building that looked to be in the process of construction. Scaffolding lined the walls. The place was very dark, and when Cami got out, she breathed in the smell of raw concrete.

She couldn’t see any cars anywhere. But the signal was definitely stationary here. It was no longer moving.

Climbing out of the car, Cami felt thoroughly spooked. This place was deserted.

She’d disobeyed Connor’s instructions to wait, but she knew he’d be racing to meet her, so she needed to tell him where she was now.

---