Page 70 of Bring Them Home

“I told you why. To take a break from my life. That’s all, I swear.”

“Well, we’ll soon find out the truth about everything.” Amanda left the room, and once back at their cubicles, she set the folder down on her desk. “Were you able to see the text from CSI Blair I showed you in there?”

“I couldn’t read all of it.”

“Blair said they found hairs and fibers in Johnson’s van they’re going to test to see if they match any members of the Archer family.” They’d have all this on file from samples collected from the Archers’ house.

“At least that’s something. Do you think Johnson even believes his story about Peggy pairing up with another man and taking off with his van?”

“Who knows. But from the sound of the Johnsons’ relationship, unless they were involved in the abduction together, there shouldn’t be any reason for trace from Peggy to be in Bill’s van.” Amanda texted Blair and shared as much with Trent.

You could find prints and DNA that aren’t in the system. These might match the suspect’s ex, Peggy Johnson.

Emma’s response came fast.

I’ll keep you posted on everything I find.

“You don’t believe him, though?” Trent asked.

“Not for a second. And if he thinks he’s going to stop me from executing the search warrant on his mother’s property, he’s sorely mistaken. Let’s go bring them home.”

THIRTY-FOUR

Amanda and Trent conducted the search of Bill Johnson’s mother’s property before heading home. It turned up nada. No sign of the Archers or anything to suggest they had been there. It was frustrating to hit her pillow with them still out there. There also wasn’t any sign of Peggy Johnson. The only upside to last night was Amanda got to salvage some of the evening with Zoe and send her mother home.

Zoe had spent some of that time and this morning asking Amanda what she was doing to find her teacher’s family. Everything we can was Amanda’s reliable response. Meanwhile, in her head, she’d taken things further. She imagined strangling Bill Johnson for the Archers’ location. After all, he and Peggy had to be behind this. To consider otherwise wasn’t a place she was willing to go yet. That would put her and Trent back to ground zero. No suspects. No leads to follow. But she and Trent weren’t giving into such negative thinking, and that was one reason they agreed to meet at Central despite it being Saturday.

Before any of that though, getting a coffee from Hannah’s Diner hit the top of her list. So after dropping Zoe off at her grandparents’, she lined up and waited fifteen minutes for one. As she parked herself behind her desk at Central and sipped the smooth brew, she had no regrets.

Trent came toward her cubicle a few minutes later. She knew he was around because she’d spotted his lightweight jacket on the back of his chair. But based on his frown, he knew something that she didn’t.

“Should I ask?”

“I take it you haven’t seen Blair’s email.”

“No.” Between juggling the morning with Zoe, she hadn’t had more than five minutes to herself. And she’d used those to get herself ready for work. She’d even stayed offline while she waited for her coffee. “Don’t tell me…”

“None of the hairs or fibers pulled from Johnson’s van were a match to any of the Archers. Blair also added there was no blood or other bodily fluids in the vehicle either.”

“Prints?”

“Only one set, which tied back to Bill Johnson.”

“Crap. So there goes Bill’s suggestion that Peggy took his van and orchestrated all of this.”

“Yep. Not that we believed that cockamamie story.”

“Oh, by the way, this is for you.” She extended a cup of Hannah’s coffee toward him.

“You didn’t need to…”

“Hey, I figured I was already waiting in line forever, so I might as well.” She smiled at him. “It might be a bit cool though.”

“As if that matters. Thanks.” He pushed back the tab on the lid and took a sip. “Still perfection.”

“At least something is. We’re going to need to release Johnson.”

“It still bothers me we never caught up with Peggy.”