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Cade’s father walked over with Cade beside him. He shifted back and forth anxiously. “Agent Fox, Detective Reeves, this may be nothing, but I thought you should know everything,” Mr. Hammerstein said.
The young boy’s chest rose and fell as he drew a breath for courage. Then he indicated the iPad in his hand. “We heard about that body in the lake and those bones you found. I looked it up online and saw that picture of a man you were looking for.”
He handed the tablet to Ellie. She checked the photo. “Yes, we did post that. His name is Frank Wahlburg. He’s wanted for questioning.”
“I know,” Cade said. “Me and Lorna Bea like mysteries and since she was at the shed, I figured she’d want to see the story about the bones you found there. I showed her the picture of this man you’re looking for…” He dug the toes of his sneakers into the floor.
“Go ahead, Cade,” Mr. Hammerstein encouraged.
“He kind of looks like Lorna Bea’s father.”
Ellie’s lungs tightened.
Derrick patted the boy’s shoulder. “Thank you for telling us this, Cade. Like I said, you’re a brave young man.”
Ellie angled her head toward Mr. Hammerstein, “Do you know how to reach Lorna Bea’s father?”
Mr. Hammerstein shook his head. “We didn’t exchange numbers. He said his name was Dwight Jones, but he wasn’t exactly friendly. The grandma looked kind of afraid of him. We should have known something was off then.”
“What does he look like?” Ellie asked.
“He’s about six feet, short brown hair, brown eyes,” Mr. Hammerstein said. “Probably early thirties, give or take a couple of years.”
“He has scars on his arms,” Cade added.
Ellie offered Cade a warm smile. “Thanks for your help, bud. You might be a detective in the making.”
Cade relaxed for the first time since she’d arrived, and his father gave him a hug.
“Do you think that man will come back for Betsy?” Mr. Hammerstein asked.
Derrick cleared his throat. “I don’t know. But we’ll have a detail guard your house until we figure it all out.”
Ellie nodded. “For now, stay inside and lock up. We’re headed next door.”
“Don’t worry, we won’t be letting the kids out of our sight,” Mr. Hammerstein assured them.
She and Derrick left the family and joined Cord who was staring out over the lake. Muggy air swarmed around as rain clouds gathered.
Cord crossed his arms, his body rigid. “What can I do?”
“Organize a team to search the area for Lorna Bea and her abductor. He’s probably long gone but…” She let the sentence trail off. She knew they probably feared the same thing she did—that the man had killed the girl and dumped her body in the lake or woods.
Cord agreed with a grim expression.
“Look for tracks and see if anyone else in the area might have seen something,” Ellie told Cord. “We’ll get a crime team here ASAP.”
Cord nodded and headed in the direction Cade had pointed.
“What the hell’s going on?” Ellie asked as they pulled their guns and walked toward the cabin next door. The dog days of summer had been bad before but nothing like this insanity.
“This kidnapping, Sarah Turner’s disappearance, the break-in at Beverly Hooper’s, Amy Dean and Reuben Waycross’s murders, Radcliff’s escape… They must be connected.”
“According to Cade, Lorna Bea’s father covered her windows so no one could see in,” Derrick said. “He warned her there were bad people out there.”
Ellie’s skin prickled. “If he thought she was in danger, why didn’t he come to the police?”
The obvious answer hit her. Because he’d done something illegal himself. Was he the killer they’d been hunting?
