“Not by yourself, you’re not,” Olivia said. “Stay where you are until I get there, and we’ll check it out together.”
“Yeah, sure.”
“Bel…”
“I promise, okay.” She laughed. Her partner was worried about her. Had their friendship finally risen from the dead? “And I’ll update Griffin.”
“Sounds good. I’m leaving now, so I’ll be there soon. Wait for me.” Olivia hung up before she could protest, and while she’d promised not to investigate alone, Bel had said nothing about a stakeout. So, she increased her speed until she arrived at the looming decay. It was even worse up close, somehow more terrifying than the Reale Estate had been when Eamon purchased the property. The rusted metal fence sagged. Weeds poked through the cracked pavement. Mud replaced what should’ve been immaculate landscaping. The building looked apocalyptic in its shattered overgrowth, a cross between the end of the world and a horror movie. Her skin flushed cold despite the summer sun beating down on her car. Was she right? Wasthis where over a dozen women had spent their last terrified months?
Bel parked in the security camera’s line of sight and then texted her boss before calling Eamon. “I’m at the aquarium,” she said when he answered her. “Can you just monitor my location? Olivia and I are following a lead. This place is abandoned, so I don’t expect to run into trouble, but it’s probably smart if you watch me.”
“You say that as if I don’t already do that,” her boyfriend said. “I always know where you are.”
“When do I get to stalk you?” she teased.
“You have my phone’s location. That’s adequate since I’m not the one who’s always getting kidnapped.”
“I’d like to see someone try to kidnap you.”
“You could manage it.”
“Yup, throw you over my shoulder and shove you in the trunk. Good thing I have an SUV. You’d never fit otherwise.”
His deep chuckle flooded her with warmth. “But you’re okay? You don’t need me to come?”
“No, I just want you to watch me. I’ll text if I think we need backup, though.”
“You’re not doing anything stupid, are you?”
“I’m just watching a fence.”
“Isobel…”
“Seriously, I’m in a parked car.” She settled into a more comfortable position to wait for her partner. “Olivia won’t be here for a bit. Are you free to stay on the phone and keep me company?”
“Sorry, no.” His voice pitched lower, and Bel could tell by those two words that he genuinely hated having to hang up on her. “I’m on the other line with a client. I put them on hold when you called, but since this isn’t an emergency, I need to get back.”
“No, don’t be sorry. I have nothing important to talk about anyway. I’m just killing time.”
“Trust me, Detective. I would prefer to hear your voice speak of nothing rather than finish my meeting.”
“I love you too.”
“See you at home, Isobel.” The smile in his voice was brighter than the summer sunshine.
“See you at home.” Bel hung up and settled in to wait for Olivia. And wait and wait and wait.
“What’s taking her?” she moaned, getting out of the car to stretch her legs. She scanned the cheap fence that stretched endlessly through the overgrowth to surround this apocalyptic setting, and an intrusive thought slipped into her mind. How dangerous could walking the perimeter be? She’d been sitting at the gate for almost half an hour. The abandoned building had been silent the entire time. No one was there, and there was no harm in just looking around…
Until she found the opening. A few minutes from the main road, a dirt trail emerged from the woods and ended abruptly before the fence, its metal severed, and not by age. Someone had cut this section’s chain-link, lining up the snapped sections to appear whole, but Bel had been searching for anomalies. Not even the most careful reset could hide the fact that the fence offered a human-sized entrance onto this off-limits private property. Someone had used this makeshift road to reach this forgotten time capsule without ever appearing on the aquarium security footage, and before Bel could stop herself, she obeyed the siren’s call and stepped through the damaged section.
Silence sounded different when it was empty, and Bel felt it in the stillness brushing her skin. She was alone. No one else disturbed this peace. Not even the birds disrupted the air. It was as if all life save vegetation had abandoned this cursed ground, and gooseflesh raced over her arms. Not because she was afraidof being caught trespassing, but because it reminded her of space. No one would hear her scream. It was as if she’d stepped out of time to exist in her own solitary world.
Armed with both a Glock and her panic button, she didn’t see the harm in venturing inside the overgrown building. The massive glass doors that should’ve been an inviting entrance were shattered, and she entered a place that hadn’t seen human life in a decade. Sunlight streamed in through the myriad of broken windows, and Bel felt like she’d stepped into another world. The pooled rainwater. The moss. The vines. It was a reminder that man was not the master of this world. Nature was.
It was also a harsh confirmation that she’d been wrong about the killer using this forgotten location. She listened as she moved, one hand hovering over her sidearm, the other readying to grab her necklace, but she was alone. No serial killers. No kidnapped girls. No animals or humming insects. Every inch of this place proved empty.
“This is stupid,” she laughed at herself. She’d promised not to explore by herself, and she’d risked her safety yet again for nothing. This was another dead end in an aggravatingly long line of dead ends. She’d been certain that this was the discovery eluding them, but maybe Eamon was right. Maybe this would be her first cold case in Bajka… a cold case with over a dozen unavenged victims. Their restless souls a heavy burden to bear.
