AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER SEVEN
“I ASKED THEM to put you with me,” Reed said to Sierra. “That way we can talk and search at the same time. Come on.” He beckoned her toward his police car. She gave him a startled look, then turned and waved in the direction of an older couple—they might be the next-door-neighbors she’d mentioned the other day—then, with high-vis vest in hand, almost had to run to keep up with his long-legged strides. Reed had spoken quickly to the Sarge, given him all the information he’d gathered so far, and asked permission to take Sierra with him. Things were not looking good; it’d been over four hours since the girl first went missing and he was itching to get back and start searching.
He jumped into the driver’s side of the Land Cruiser as she hopped into the passenger seat.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“We’re going back to the rental property where the girl was staying with her family. It’s called Lofty Rest, right on the edge of Penneshaw, backing onto the bushland. I want to see if I can find some kind of clue as to which way she might’ve gone.” Reed scowled at the road through the windshield. He was driving too fast, taking corners at speed, but he couldn’t seem to slow down. Sierra hung onto the safety bar above her head but only nodded in quiet acknowledgment. “The SES will organize everyone else into teams, and they’ll start combing the bush and coastline around the town.”
“Good. That’s good,” she replied. “Oh.” Sierra covered her mouth as an idea seemed to strike her. “I never even considered, there are cliffs down to the left along the coast. You don’t think she could’ve…” She trailed off and he could tell she was imagining the little girl’s body lying crumpled and still at the bottom of one of these cliff-faces. He knew, because he’d imagined the very same scenario.
“Anything’s possible. We have to cover all avenues,” he said, a little more brusquely than he intended.
She stared at him, face pale, hands clenched together in a tight fist in her lap. Her beautiful lips were pulled down into a serious line, eyes dark and thoughtful. Then she sucked in a deep breath. “I have to tell you something. I wanted to tell you before you hear it from someone else and get the wrong idea.”
He had a pretty good idea of what she was going to say, but he let her continue.
“So, you know I used to work as an investigative journalist back in Adelaide. I told you when I got that letter from the stalker.” She kept her eyes trained out the front window, not looking at him. “But we didn’t get to the part about the articles themselves and why the stalker has been harassing me.” He remembered he’d wanted to ask her at the time, but she’d said she had a headache coming on, and she’d looked so frail and sick he’d let it go. Should he let on that he’d already looked up her articles?
She continued before he could open his mouth to interrupt. “I reported on a couple of cases of missing children. Abductions. And I ran a series of articles about them. So, when I heard about the missing girl this morning, I was shocked, of course. But I also felt sick to my stomach. I know firsthand there are evil people out there, who commit evil deeds.” She glanced at him and for the first time he could see the fear and revulsion leaking out of her. “I guess what I’m saying is that I have direct experience with this kind of thing. And if you think…” She stopped and swallowed hard before continuing. “Do you think there’s any chance this could be more than just a girl who wandered off and got lost? I mean, I know this is a small island, a backwater, if you like, and nothing like that ever happens here. But…”
“I think it’s too early to speculate at the moment, but like I said, we have to keep every option open.”
She returned her gaze to the front, her body tense and rigid in the seat. “I can’t explain it, Reed. But for some reason…I don’t know why…this feels like it’s more. I can’t tell you anymore than it’s a hunch, a gut feeling. Something’s not right about this. And I felt I had to tell you. Ask you if you thought there could possibly be a connection?”
What was she talking about? Why would she think there was a connection? Sure, she had experience with these kinds of things before, but it was way too early to start making assumptions. Like the girl had been abducted, not just wandered away. Wasn’t it? So then why had he taken all the precautions, preserved the crime scene as if that was indeed exactly what happened? Because it was protocol, he reminded himself. And because he’d had the same feeling of foreboding she was talking about. Maybe the foreboding was completely misplaced, he was thinking the worst because he’d only just finished reading her articles and they had him contemplating child abductions and pedophiles and all the kinds of things that could go wrong in a hurry on a case like this.
Reed pursed his lips. “Thanks for telling me, Sierra. But I have a confession to make, too. I’ve already read your articles, I looked them up the day after your break-in.” He gave her a sheepish glance. “I thought it might be important to know more of the story, as I was trying to analyze the letter,” he added. Although why he said that, he wasn’t entirely sure; he didn’t need to justify himself to her. “It’s one of the reasons I brought you along. Like you said, you might have experience with this kind of thing. Possibly more experience than I do. And I need every little bit of help I can get right now. We need the help,” he qualified.
Don had disagreed with Reed when he’d asked him earlier, if he could take Sierra with him. “She’s just a civilian, Reed. I don’t think we should involve her,” Don had said, lowering his eyebrows. “And more than that she’s a journalist.” Don didn’t elaborate, but Reed knew what he meant. That Sierra might try and use her position here, on the island and in this search team, to her advantage. If she wanted, this story could be a huge scoop for her. Perhaps even kick-start her career again. She was the first journalist on the scene, and she had a hotline directly to himself and the Sarge.
“Ever heard of the saying, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer?” Reed had asked.
“Humph,” Don had grunted. “Well, just make bloody sure you keep an eagle eye on her.” And then he’d turned back to answer a question from Tom Hubbard. Reed hoped he wasn’t severely misjudging Sierra’s character, but she didn’t strike him as that kind of person. For now, he needed to trust her and take any help she offered.
In one of her articles she’d mentioned that she was bound by truth to get all the facts out there, so the public could make up their own minds. He was struck by the words. And struck by the sentiment behind them.
If only he wasn’t so distracted by her all the time. Even with everything going on, with him driving at break-neck speed, part of his subconscious was still acutely aware of her as she sat only a couple of feet away. Aware of the tiny frown that marred her forehead. Aware of her long, sensual fingers clasped in a fist. Aware of how good she smelled, warm and slightly tangy. Tempting.
He came to an intersection and dragged his mind back to the here and now. “I was also hoping you could do us a huge favor. Word of this missing girl will get out soon, I know we won’t be able to stop that. But I was wondering if you could possibly be a liaison between us and them? The media, I mean. Perhaps stop them hounding us mercilessly so we can get our jobs done?”
“Keep them off your back?” She gave a hint of a smile, the first he’d seen all day. “I think that might be an impossible task.”
“If anyone can do it, you can.” And he meant that with all due respect. She had a certain tenacity about her.
“Okay, I’ll try, but you can’t avoid the media completely. The best way to keep them from hounding you day and night is to give them the information they crave. I can help you organize press conferences, that kind of thing. Let’s just hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Reed nodded. It was the best he could hope for right now. He’d been involved in other cases before where the media had gotten in the way, hindered the investigation. He just hoped that wouldn’t happen here.
“Are you bringing in help from the mainland?”
“Yes. Another two police units will arrive tonight, they’re coming over on the evening ferry. And a dog unit will be arriving on a chartered flight in a few hours’ time. But we’re on our own till then. Olivia and Don will canvass the neighborhood before they get here. See if anyone saw the girl this morning. Eric is guarding the house, keeping the family calm.”
He turned a corner and slowed the car. Up ahead was the rental house where the missing girl’s family were staying. Four or five cars were clustered in the road next to it, and a small group of people was milling around in the front yard. Reed shook his head in disbelief. Damn, he thought he’d made it clear to Eric the house needed to be kept sterile, that he wasn’t to let anyone near it. Reed wanted to get out and yell at the other man, tell him that this case needed to run like clockwork. Just because they lived in a small, hick town, didn’t mean they needed to run it like a small, hick investigation. But he knew he wasn’t going to yell at a colleague he’d only been working with for less than a week.
Reed clenched his teeth as he stopped the car well up the street from the house.
“Are you okay?” Sierra asked.
