AllFreeNovel
Share Us
34
Alex stared at the files on the table. Should they go through them again? Had they missed something? As she considered their options, SSA Ortiz came into the room.
“I’ve got a call for you, Agent Donovan,” she said. “A Randall Burkhart? He says he has some information for you.”
“That’s the cousin,” Logan said.
Alex nodded. “This would be a good time to pray, Preacher.”
“I’m way ahead of you.”
Alex followed Ortiz to her desk. She pointed to her phone. “Line three,” she said.
Ortiz walked away, so Alex sat down in her chair. She picked up the phone and pressed the line Ortiz had indicated.
“This is Supervisory Special Agent Donovan,” she said.
“I was told I needed to talk to you,” a man’s voice said. “I’m Randall Burkhart. My cousin is Adam Walker?”
“Yes, Mr. Burkhart. I know who you are. What can I do for you?”
“The police questioned me about Adam, but I couldn’t help them. I only met him once when we were kids, and I had no idea where he might be.”
“Yes, they told us they’d talked to you.”
Burkhart paused. “I don’t know why law enforcement is interested in Adam, but I assume it’s important. So after talking to the police, I looked in the attic and found my mother’s papers. I went through them, hoping to find some kind of information that might help. I’m not sure, but I ... I may have found something.”
Alex could feel her heart beating in her chest. “Tell me about it,” she said.
“It seems there’s a cabin. Our family owned it once, I believe. I found a note about it. It reminded me of a conversation my parents had when I was a kid. More of an argument, I guess. My dad was against giving away a cabin—one that my grandfather built—but my mom insisted. It didn’t mean anything to me at the time. But now I wonder if they were arguing about giving the cabin to Adam’s mother.” He paused for a moment. “This may not pan out. I hope I’m not wasting your time. I just thought...”
“You’re not wasting our time, Mr. Burkhart,” Alex said. “This may be a big help. What did the note say?”
“It’s like ... well, like my mother was documenting a transaction. It basically declares that she’d transferred ownership of a cabin to my aunt Agnes. There’s no deed. Nothing legal. Just a statement. I can’t explain it except that my grandfather may have built the cabin on someone else’s property. Not illegally or anything. Someone may have allowed him to rent the land so he could build a cabin. I understand that used to happen a lot.”
Alex’s hope began to fade. “You don’t know the location of this cabin?”
“Not exactly, but my mother’s note mentions the south side of Lake Lotawana. A lot of nice homes are in other areas around that lake. A friend of mine has a house there, and he told me some of the old cabins have been abandoned. The county is tearing them down to make room for new construction. That means this cabin might not even exist anymore. Sorry I can’t be more encouraging, but I’m fairly sure Adam’s family lived there at some point. Maybe that’s where he is now.”
Alex tried to control her excitement. After asking Burkhart if he could tell her anything else, she thanked him and hung up. Then she hurried back to the table where Logan and Monty waited and brought them up to speed.
“Shoot,” Logan said. “I was hoping he could tell us something more solid. But if there really is a cabin, Walker could be there. Maybe his family too.”
“Could be,” Monty said. “But without a clue of some kind, it would be hard to find.”
Alex stepped over to the map on the corkboard and drew a circle. “Burkhart said it was near Lake Lotawana. In the woods. Probably on the south side.” But even that left a large search area. Alex stared at the map, looking for anything that would put them closer to finding Walker. Then she walked over to the door and gazed around the larger room in the CP. Except for Ortiz, some analysts, and them, the building was deserted. She’d never seen a CP with so few agents working. She realized even the people from the CDC were gone.
“I’d rather be out helping find Walker or his sixth target instead of sitting here, doing nothing,” she said firmly. She turned around to stare at Logan and Monty. She could see the frustration in their expressions.
“Well, we’re not doing much good here,” Logan said. “I can’t keep looking at this stuff. I think I’ve memorized most of it.”
“Look, this is the only lead we have. A cabin on the south side of Lake Lotawana. We need to get someone out there.” She selected a number from her directory and tapped it.
“Are you calling Harrison?” Monty asked. “Isn’t he helping the police contact area churches? I’m not sure—”
Alex held up her hand to stop Monty from talking. She didn’t need his permission to call Harrison. This was important.
They may have found the Train Man.
