Page 39 of Outrun The Devil
As she answered, Nathan looked at her with furrowed eyebrows trying to read her expression.
“You need to get to the station,” Patel said urgently.
“Why?” Olivia asked.
“You just have to see,” came the cryptic reply before she hung up abruptly.
Olivia and Nathan exchanged a look before hurriedly making their way out of the dead-end alleyway, heartbeats pounding in their ears as they raced toward whatever new nightmare awaited them at the station.
Chapter Thirteen
When Olivia and Nathan arrived at the police station, there was an eerie silence that followed. Everyone looked surprised to see the two together, but Olivia gave them all a warning look. She was already blaming herself for allowing herself to get distracted from whatever mystery this was.
“What's so urgent I had to come in and see it?” she asked Detective Maya Patel, her voice wavering ever so slightly. Patel handed her a yellow manila envelope, filled with blurry pictures that stole the breath from Olivia's lungs.
Inside were images of a young woman tied up, though decidedly alive. She looked to be early twenties and the most devastating part was that she bore an uncanny resemblance to Olivia's daughter.
A quick flash, a feeling of fog and she could make out the victim being taken from behind in a bathroom.
Public bathroom. And then as quick as it came, it was gone. Olivia looked at everyone and no one even noticed she’d stood there in a daze for a moment.
Beside her, Nathan whispered in shock, “He's taunting you.” To which Alex Diaz replied gravely, “No fingerprints.”
Olivia looked around her hopelessly, feeling like she was losing whatever control she had left.
She turned away from everyone.
Pulling out her phone, she sent a quick text to her daughter.
“Do we have a name for the victim? Any missing persons report that fit that description?” she asked the moment she’d turned back around to face everyone.
“We checked,” Patel told her. “Nothing in the database.”
There's got to be something they are missing.
“We'll file a missing person,” added Diaz. “And put out an APB.”
They made calls and filled out forms, holding out hope that they'd be able to find anything about the victim. And anything that would put Xavier Knight as the suspect without a shadow of a doubt.
But everything was too clean.
The night was dark, and the rain began to fall in sheets. Nathan grabbed his jacket and headed out, but Olivia stayed behind, determined to figure it all out. She sat at her desk, pouring over the notes she had taken and the reports they'd filled out.
She took a deep breath and then pulled a piece of paper from the folder. It was the picture of the young woman that reminded her of her daughter.
Realization hit Olivia, she'd never checked her phone to see if her daughter had texted back.
She looked down at the glowing screen, there were no text messages. Her heart sank and she knew she needed to go home.
It was the only way to be certain that her daughter was safe. She opened up the app on her phone to check her security system, it was set. Thumbing through, Olivia made sure of the time it was last set.
5:42 pm
That was the time that Jessica often got home from her last class of the day. It still didn't quell the need to physically check on her daughter. She grabbed her keys and left.
“Where are we on identifying the victim?” Olivia's voice broke the silence, carrying a tinge of curiosity and uncertainty.
“Nowhere, the images are too low quality to make out anything distinct about the woman. And she doesn’t match any current missing persons.” Nathan's unspoken truth hung heavy in the air, a silent acknowledgment that their options had run dry and the fate of the woman's life rested solely on Olivia's shoulders. The weight of responsibility bore down on her, the thought of failure haunting her every step.