Her Last Day (Jessie Cole #1)(21)
Did she really want a stranger’s help?
Yes, she wanted answers. Yes, she wanted to know where her sister was. But the idea of having her family’s story dragged through the mud and left wide-open for public scrutiny when Olivia was starting high school didn’t sit well with her.
Damn. She never should have agreed to meet with the man.
She thought about calling him back, then changed her mind. If Ben Morrison knew anything about her sister’s disappearance—anything at all—then she needed to know what it was. Not a day went by that she didn’t wonder whether her sister was dead or alive.
TWELVE
Colin stood on the side of a frontage road that ran parallel to Highway 80. This morning’s briefing concerning the Heartless Killer case had been short. A career criminal apprehension team (CCAT) would continue to work surveillance and talk to witnesses from past crime scenes connected to the killer in hopes of coming across a new lead.
Unlike mass murderers, whose rage often erupted in one catastrophic act of vengeance, serial killers did whatever they could to escape detection. Even with the advancement of investigative techniques, there was only so much forensics could accomplish. Unless the killer was betrayed by an accomplice, identified by a relative, or grew overly confident and, in turn, increasingly careless, he could go on killing for years to come. It had been documented that about 20 percent of all serial killers were never brought to justice for their crimes.
It was times like this that Colin felt for every detective who’d worked the case and would never get back time missed with loved ones.
Six years. Thirteen victims—that they knew of—and one frustrating dead end after another. He’d known what he was getting into when he’d become a police officer and then an investigator. He knew about the potential dangers, the long and irregular hours, and the stress that came with such a position. But chasing after a killer who’d been plucking victims from the street for years on end made him feel powerless.
Shortly after the briefing, Colin had gotten word of a missing girl from Elk Grove, a city in Sacramento County south of the state capital. As he stood there now, he watched the tow truck drive off with Erin Hayes’s Subaru attached to the flatbed. The girl had been missing for forty-eight hours. Her car would be taken to the lab, where they would check for fingerprints, traces of blood, and hair and fibers.
There wasn’t much traffic in the area. No witnesses so far. Footprints outside the driver’s door appeared to belong to Erin. They would know more later.
Levi Hooper with the forensics unit finished talking to the photographer, then headed Colin’s way. “No trace evidence as far as I can see with the naked eye.”
“If those are Erin’s footprints,” Colin said, following the path with a pointed finger, “which is likely, she never walked to the back of the car to check out the flat tire, and she didn’t walk along the side of the road, either.” He pointed at the distinct prints in the dirt. “The shoe prints disappear onto pavement, which tells me someone showed up and gave her a ride immediately after she got the flat.”
“Agreed. Nothing here has been disturbed. No signs of a struggle. No personal belongings left behind.”
“The question we need answered,” Colin said, “was someone following her, or was it happenstance?”
For a moment the two men stood there quietly.
Colin’s stomach turned at the thought of a young girl being out there somewhere needing their help.
“I better get to the lab,” Levi said after a while.
“I’m going to head over to Elk Grove to talk to the girl’s family,” Colin said. “I’ll catch up with you later.”
First thing the next morning, Jessie headed for the offices of Roche and Koontz. It was easier for her to walk than drive. As she passed by the rose garden in Capitol Park, every muscle tensed. Feeling weirdly out of breath, she stopped and looked around. Her heart pounded inside her chest, and her breath caught in her throat as she was brought back to the moment she’d shot Parker Koontz.
What was wrong with her?
It wasn’t just the Koontz incident that was bothering her. It was everything, and it all hit her at once. She walked to a nearby bench and took a seat.
What was she doing with her life? Thirty-four years old, and yet she still didn’t have her shit together. After Mom left, she’d done everything she could to try to keep her family together. But Dad had been unable to bear living without the woman whose only excuse for leaving was that she couldn’t handle the pressure of raising two daughters. After Dad started drinking, Jessie found out her sixteen-year-old sister was pregnant. It had been up to Jessie to pull everyone together, but she’d failed at every turn. First her father. Then Sophie.
Jessie used a sleeve to wipe her eyes. Olivia didn’t stand a chance.
For most of her life, she’d felt as if she were riding a nonstop Ferris wheel that she couldn’t get off. A few years after her sister had disappeared, she’d decided to become a PI in hopes of helping other people find their loved ones as she continued her search for Sophie. But looking around now, at the city, the place she’d lived her entire life, she realized she couldn’t save the world.
Hell, she might not even be able to save herself.
Her foot bounced as she watched passersby and listened to the sound of birds between the honk of a horn and the roar of a car’s engine. She could sit there all day, she realized, doing nothing but simply being. But she didn’t have the luxury of time.