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I squeeze his shoulder and back out of the house, leaving my brother to deal with his goodbyes. The moment I reach the cool air, I bend over, placing my hands on my knees, trying to compose myself. The realization of what I just did hits me square in the face. Everyone expects me to have the answers, but I'm clueless. I’m as pissed off as they are. I’m as determined as they are to find this fucker. I just don’t want to let anyone down. I don’t think I’m strong enough to deal with all this.
"You okay?" Chris asks.
I straighten my back and walk towards the car. I can't speak right now. If I do, someone will get the worst words out of my mouth.
I drive the short distance to my parents’ house and get out. I'm as well getting all the hard tasks out of the way right now, and I could do with a big hug from my mom. My mom always knows when I need her.
My mom and dad are in the garden. They wave to us the minute they see us. My phone rings, breaking my attention away from Chris.
"I need to get this."
I walk away from earshot and answer. "What you got?"
"I'm sending you a location. Get out here ASAP."
The line goes dead, and moments later, a location hits my screen. I run back to the car and Chris follows me. "Sorry, we need to take this. Mom, I'll call you tonight."
I didn't hang around to hear what she said. I type the location into the GPS and speed out of the street.
It's enough to get Al’s feathers ruffled, so God knows what we're going to walk in on.
Please let us have some leads to work with. One tiny lead is all I’m begging for.
***
I pull up behind a police car in the middle of nowhere. We're stuck in the middle of an old forest area. There aren’t any trails or attractions here. There isn't anything for miles. No one would even know how to get here. If I had no navigation, I wouldn't have found this area.
I have a bad feeling about this. The hairs on the back of my neck rise and I take a step farther into the forest. Police officers are taping off the area. The surrounding area has an eerie feel to it. Birds are chirping away happily. If only the creatures of the night could talk, we’d have all the answers we need.
"Caleb."
Up ahead, Al and a few other officers are standing in a huddle. When Al nods, the police officers let Chris and me enter their crime scene.
"Thanks for coming."
I shake his hand. "What do you have?"
We follow Al farther into the trees. "Not a good sight. If you’re squeamish, it might be best to stay here." He addresses Chris.
Chris sniggers. "I've seen it all. Lead the way."
Now I’m worried. Al and I have seen some crazy shit, so what the fuck are we walking into?
"No easy way to say this. Police patrolmen found this site while out searching the area. This is approximately seven miles from where we found Aria. The poor girl had some strength and determination to get out of here."
Seven miles. Fuck me.
"How do you know this is where Aria was kept?"
"We found a dead body inside matching the description of Sophia. Forensics are going to comb the entire cabin for anything we can work with. The coroner is going to do an autopsy, but he reckons she's been dead for three days. We also found a trail of blood out back. We reckon it was from Aria’s cut feet."
I shake my head. "Aria did say he would take his anger out on Sophia. I guess she was right. She knows this bastard better than us."
I take the protective footwear from Al and place them over my boots. This is just to protect any possible evidence. We won’t contaminate anything by wearing protective clothing and gloves.
We walk into the cabin. It’s a hive of activity with all different officers and detectives. The smell hits me instantly. The smell of death is something I can't even begin to describe. It’s there, and it gets under your nose. It doesn’t matter how many showers you have after it, it lingers, making you remember everything.
"It's not pretty through there."
