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Fortunately, the staircase didn’t make a sound underneath her weight.
The air was a bit thick and a little musty, which was a huge indicator that the Wilkins hadn’t been fans of using their basement in any living space capacity. Considering that she hadn’t seen a washer or dryer on the main level, there was a good chance that she would discover the appliances on the lower level.
By the time Brook reached the floor of the basement, she could already make out the metallic grey washer and dryer. There were empty shelves to the left, while the water heater, furnace, and an air conditioning unit were located to the right. The walls had been painted in a light grey color, and there were no windows to be found.
She still didn’t bother to turn on the lights, though.
There was no sign that anyone had been down in the basement. With the way that Lorena had lived inside Erin Smith’s residence, Brook wasn’t expecting the woman to change her ways.
Theo had almost certainly uploaded his own photographs to the software program, but Brook had managed to view the ones taken through Detective Beeson’s police department. Lorena liked to leave her mark.
Brook quietly made her way up the basement stairs before closing the door firmly behind her. It wouldn’t take her long to search the upper level, and then she would drive back to Graham’s estate. She shouldn’t push her luck with the weather. The gusts were practically making the windows rattle. Besides, she was eager to hear what Theo had discovered in the southern area of the neighborhood. She hadn’t turned on the burner phone for fear even the vibrations would make too much noise inside an empty house and give her away.
Considering that she could still hear a pin drop should one fall to the floor, she silently began to make her way up the staircase to the upper level. There was nothing on the hardwood steps to indicate that someone had walked up or down them recently.
As soundlessly as possible, Brook walked through the four bedrooms, two bathrooms, and several closets. There was no sign that Lorena had been inside this particular vacant house.
Another dead end.
Brook would spend the evening creating a new grid pattern for the northern portion of the neighborhood, but she had made progress today. With every property taken out of the equation, the closer they came to locating Lorena Dobbs.
Brook exited the largest bedroom at the end of the hall. She scanned both sides of the hallway, searching for any scuff marks on the wall that might be out of place. The owners had made sure the house was immaculate, so any obvious scratches might indicate someone else had been inside the home. As Brook shifted the penlight in her hand, she noticed a small rope dangling from a squared-off section overhead.
The house had an attic.
Brook studied the small white portion of wood. If the homeowners had removed all the furniture from the house, chances were that they had done the same with the boxes in the attic. She still needed to see for herself that the area was clear before she could leave the premises.
Reaching up on her tiptoes, Brook cautiously took ahold of the rope and pulled on it hard enough so that a wooden ladder slowly descended from the ceiling. She already had the penlight aimed upward, but nothing was visible from her position.
Brook carefully climbed the ladder, using the penlight to scour the dark opening. There was nothing but dust floating in the faint beam. She maneuvered herself so that she could rest her hip against one of the wooden rungs, giving her the ability to raise her weapon and perform a proper sweep of the attic. That proved somewhat difficult with the scattered boxes on the back end and to the left of the wide space.
It appeared the Wilkins hadn’t taken everything with them.
Brook shifted once again so that she was more comfortable on the ladder, slowly bringing the penlight and her weapon around to the front of the house near a window that had short curtains covering the windowpane. The fabric was thick enough not to let in any light from the street lamps. She scanned the floor of the attic with the dim beam until she was brought up short by a crumpled food bag.
Brook’s heart rate accelerated at the discovery. Sure enough, the left corner held empty food containers, used napkins, and even empty water bottles.
Lorena Dobbs’ current hideout had finally been discovered.
The team would be able to surveil the property from afar and wait for Lorena to return before taking her into custody. An easy apprehension without any casualties.
Brook decided to wait until she reached the Land Rover before using the burner phone to call Theo. He could take the lead on the surveillance, making sure that everything was in place so that nothing went wrong during the arrest.
Just as she was about to descend the ladder, a ripple of movement shifted the air. A chill ran down her spine as she made the split-second decision to swing the penlight and weapon once more in the direction of the boxes, but she was too late.
A sharp blow to the side of her head sent her crashing into the darkness.
Chapter Twenty
Theo Neville
February 2024
Sunday — 9:36 pm
The dim glow of the streetlights was becoming harder to make out with each passing hour. Swirling gusts of wind enmeshed the heavy snowflakes, obscuring visibility to the point that it was dangerous to be outside. To make matters worse, the storm hadn’t even reached its peak.
It was time to call it a night.
