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“What charges did he get put away for?” Amanda asked.
“Drug possession. After his release from prison, he had to serve time in community service for three months. Now, I popped by and had a chat with Rodney’s aunt, Stokes’s sister, and she wouldn’t tell me where he is. In her words, ‘he’s a freakin’ adult.’ Of course, I am PG’ing that, but she said he left New York for a bit.”
“When was this?” Trent asked.
“After he finished his stint with community service, which was three months ago.”
Amanda turned to Trent. “We were told he started hanging around Lynnette about two months ago. It didn’t take him long to find a partner in crime.”
Trent nodded.
“What’s that?” Fitz asked.
Amanda filled him in and said, “Please, go on.”
“Going back to Stokes as a dad, he didn’t completely leave Rodney out to dry. He gave him money and bailed him out whenever he got himself into trouble. As I said, even as an adult.”
“But with Stokes in prison, his son was left to fend for himself,” Trent surmised.
“Yep. Hence, jailtime within months. Rodney’s not the smartest criminal out there.”
“Guess we figured out our motive,” she said to Trent.
Fitz was the one who replied. “Rodney holds Kat responsible for not only putting his father in prison, but for his own troubles.”
“It makes sense why he might want a payday out of this too,” Trent inserted.
Amanda had one thing running through her mind. “As long as he hasn’t killed her yet.”
SIXTY-FIVE
They had their shooter’s name but no clue where to find him or Katherine. Another call for ransom hadn’t been received yet and with every passing hour, it tightened the ball in Amanda’s gut. “Okay, let’s recap. Do we have anything that can help us find this son of a bitch?”
“Well, Rodney Mitchell lived in New York. Most likely he wasn’t familiar with this area.”
“But Lynnette was. He has been out here for a few months, according to his aunt.”
Trent nodded. “During which time he met Lynnette. Barry said he started coming around a couple of months ago. Then he found out where Katherine was.”
“Which brings up how he got here in the first place. He must have had gas money, but where did he get the van with the New York plates?”
“He could have borrowed it from a friend or relative.”
“We’ll have Fitz push the aunt on that. She could know.” Amanda would call him in a minute.
“All right, now circling back. A guy from New York teams up with a local who knows the area. She could have suggested a spot to hold Katherine.”
She snapped her fingers. “We need to look closer at her. Barry told us he suspected that Lynnette lived someplace rural before moving in with him.”
“Rural would fit with holding a hostage, but where to start looking?”
“Well, the Mercedes was dumped, with Lynnette’s body, north of Gainesville. The paperbacks among her things were bought from a store there.”
“But, as you pointed out before, there’s no address on record for her there.”
“Which is true. But Barry told us Lynnette had a rough life. Usually that implies abuse and possibly living below the poverty line. He took mercy on her by inviting her into his home, just as Davis Dunlap offered her a job. Did she live on the streets or squat somewhere?” She paused there, letting everything she had just said sink in. Penniless, jobless, homeless… “Chalk.”
“I need more than that.”
