Chapter 8 - Four Fingers
I stared at June’s raised hand.
Four fingers.
Collins said, “Could mean four people.”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she counts distance.”
I zoomed in.
Through the rear window, four streetlights were visible behind the car.
June’s eyes were angled left.
She was telling us direction.
Maybe.
Or I wanted her to be.
Collins sent the image to analysts.
I called Emily.
No answer.
Then June’s phone called me.
I answered immediately.
No voice.
Just road noise.
A turn signal.
A train horn.
Then June whispered, “Purple word.”
The line went dead.
Collins looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know the word.”
“Emily does.”
“She’s missing too.”
A train horn sounded again in my head.
Springfield had three crossings near four-lane roads.
Collins dispatched units.
Then Ruth said, “Wait.”
We turned.
“The purple word.”
“What about it?”
“Emily changed it because Sarah guessed the old one.”
Collins stared.
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
“Why?”
“Sarah joked that secret words were stupid. She said violet. Emily got upset.”
My stomach tightened.
“Sarah knew the old word.”
“Yes.”
“And took Caleb’s box yesterday.”
Ruth’s face crumpled.
“No. Sarah wouldn’t hurt June.”
“Maybe not.”
Collins asked, “Where does Sarah live?”
“Columbus.”
“Where does she work?”
Ruth hesitated.
“For an attorney.”
“What attorney?”
“Martin Keene.”
Collins went still.
I did too, even though I did not know the name.
She did.
“Keene represented Darren Pike during his probation violations.”
Ruth sat down hard.
“No.”
The web tightened.
Sarah.
Darren.
The box.
Fake alert.
Protected location compromised.
Collins’s phone rang.
One unit had found Emily.
She was unconscious in a stairwell two blocks from the motel.
Alive.
No June.
I closed my eyes.
Then another call.
Traffic camera hit.
Gray Buick.
Eastbound toward Route 40.
I said, “Train crossing.”
Collins nodded.
We ran.
Twenty-three minutes later, officers stopped the Buick outside South Vienna.
The driver was not Darren.
It was Sarah Carter.
Emily’s sister.
June was not in the car.
On the back seat was the purple paper star from my shop.
And Caleb’s box.
Sarah looked at me through the cruiser window and said:
“You don’t understand. Darren isn’t taking June.”
I stepped closer.
“Then who is?”
May you like
Sarah’s face went white.
“Caleb’s killer.”
