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“It’s not us. It’s Evie. She…she went to the store, but she didn’t come back. Your dad went looking for her after two hours because we were worried. He…oh God, Matt!”
“Mom, it’s okay. Just tell me. Whatever it is, we’ll figure it out,” I tried to soothe her, even though all of my instincts were screaming at me that whatever had happened had to be bad for my mom to be so worked up.
“Her car was in the parking lot,” she went on tearfully. “Your dad said the back door was ajar and her cell was inside but she wasn’t. Her purse was on the floor beside the car…just lying there. She’s gone…she’s been taken.”
“We don’t know that yet. Did dad go into the store and ask the staff there? Do they have cameras?” I asked, trying to keep calm when inside I was already freaking, my mind flashing back to the day years before when Livy had been taken from us.
“Yes. They have cameras but they won’t show him the footage. He called the police but he wants Kyle and Kade there too.”
“Okay. We’ll head over now. Send me the details of the store. We’ll handle this. We’ll find Evie,” I tried to assure her.
“Th-there was blood Matt, on the ground beside the car….a small pool of blood. What if it…if we’re already too late?” she whimpered.
“Don’t mom. This is Evie. She’s tough. Whatever happened, she’ll be fighting to get back home. I know she will.”
“Yeah,” Mom sniffled again. “You’re right.”
“I need to tell the others so we can get over there. Are you going to be okay?” I didn’t want to hang up when she was so distraught, but I was also desperate to find out what the hell was going on.
“I’m fine son. Just get the others to your dad. He needs some help.”
I agreed and hung up as I sped through the house, bursting into our open plan family room where Livy and my brothers were already sat with the kids at the dining table.
“Matt? What’s wrong?” Livy asked the moment her eyes met mine.
“That was mom,” I began as I looked from her to my brothers. “Evie...she didn’t come back from the store. Dad went to look for her and...”
“And what, Matt? Just tell us,” Kade pushed when I hesitated for too long.
“Her car was still in the lot outside the store and her purse was lying on the ground beside it. There was blood too. They....they think Evie was taken.”
“Taken?” Cole repeated.
“She’s been gone hours, and her cell and purse were left with the unlocked car. What else could have happened?” I asked, desperately hoping one of them would have a theory other than she had been snatched in broad daylight.
Kade and Kyle exchanged a look between them before they turned to me.
“Did dad say if anything else had been left in her car?”
“Like what?” I asked, hating the panic I saw on both of their faces.
“We have a new case at work….a serial killer. Cops think he’s operating in this area,” Kyle explained, and my heart started to pound even harder, the thud of it reverberating in my ears.
“A serial killer has Aunt Evie?” Tom cried as he looked to Livy with panic.
“What?” Liza looked to Livy with horror too.
“Okay, let’s all just calm down,” Livy said as she looked from the kids to me. “We don’t know anything yet. Maybe Aunt Evie had an accident and got picked up by EMTs, or maybe her car broke down so she just left it. We shouldn’t start panicking when we simply don’t know anything.”
“Mom’s right,” Cole agreed as he stood and moved over to Liza’s side to soothe her.
Kade, Kyle, and Livy all got to their feet and came to stand with me. We were all freaking out, but we needed to do a better job of hiding that fact from our kids. They loved Evie and losing her would destroy them all as much as it would all of us. We couldn’t allow that to happen.
“Where’s the car?” Kade asked. “We need to get over there.”
“This killer. Is it the one on the news? The Number Killer?” I asked.
“Yeah. He dumped three bodies near the highway yesterday, and if he follows the pattern, that means he’ll take his next three victims from here too, before moving on,” Kyle explained.
