He nodded and perched on the edge of the table. "Look, what do we know that all of these girls have in common? Their vehicles were found along Route 73 over the course of many years. Cops find abandoned vehicles all the time. People ditch them after drinking. Usually it's because they run out of gas. Whatever. Often the driver returns the next day and collects the car, or if it's impounded they show up with some story about someone stealing it. It's not unusual." He set his coffee down. "Now we know they didn't run out of gas because all of them had full tanks. Some had receipts in the car from stopping at the gas station. Which brings us to the gas station itself. You said their surveillance wasn't operational."
“I know. Convenient," Callie said. "You know, this whole thing reminds me of that case up in Canada."
"The Highway of Tears?"
"Yeah. That occurred over forty-odd years."
"Similar," Noah agreed. "Same kind of stretch. Remote. Limited witnesses. Vulnerable women in transit."
"So our perp is placing a rag in the exhaust while the girl goes in to pay for gas. But if the connection is related to modeling or the deli, that means these girls are known. Their schedules are known." Callie folded her arms again. "Hailey wasn't heading to work or a photoshoot."
"That we know," Noah added.
"So how did our perp know she would be at that station? How does he know that station has no surveillance?"
"These are all good questions and ones to follow up on."
"And even if we ran a test on one of the victims' cars with the rag in the exhaust, wouldn't all of the vehicles stall at roughly the same area? Going back over the case files, their vehicles were found in various places."
"Every car is different. Every driver drives differently. The rag could be stuffed further in on some than others. Different diameter exhaust pipe. Different engine. I'm not sure there's an exact science to it." He picked up his coffee again. "We're spitting theories right now."
"So our perp follows from a distance, sees them break down, and pulls up offering a ride." Callie looked at the wall of faces. "Why get in?"
"Why does anyone get into a vehicle? It's an isolated stretch. Fear of staying out there alone. No cell signal. A long way to walk. Maybe a sense of safety with the person offering."
"Reminds me of some of Ted Bundy's cases." She shook her head. "If I was twenty, I don't think I would take a ride from a man. No matter what."
"We all did a lot of dumb things at twenty," Noah said.
Neither of them spoke for a moment. The board stared at them. Six faces. Six girls who had gotten into a vehicle and never returned. Callie drank her coffee. Noah watched the morninglight shift across the photographs and thought about how every one of those girls had been somebody's version of Mia. Somebody's daughter heading out into the world believing the worst thing that could happen was a flat tire or a dead battery.
Right then a door slammed somewhere down the hall. The sound carried through the station the way bad news always does, arriving before the words that explain it. Raised voices from the direction of Ray's office. Noah and Callie both turned.
The door to Ray's office opened and McKenzie came out first, walking fast, his face tight. Ray was right behind him, and Ray looked like he wanted to tear the building apart. His jaw was tight and his hands were at his sides and his shoulders were up around his ears.
"What happened?" Noah asked.
McKenzie reached them and stopped. He glanced at Callie, then back at Noah. "Hailey Benton bounced."
"What?"
"She's gone. Walked out of the hospital. No idea where."
"Well don't they have cameras?"
"Not everywhere, it seems." McKenzie ran a hand over his face. "There's coverage in the main corridors and the lobby. Not in the basement level. Not in the stairwells on the east wing."
Ray stopped a few feet behind McKenzie. "Our only witness," he said, and the words came out like each one cost him something. "Find her. Get out there and find her."
He turned and walked back toward his office. The door closed behind him hard enough to rattle the frame.
"How?" Noah asked, looking at McKenzie.
"The cop posted outside her room went to take a leak. Two, three minutes. When he came back the room was empty."
"But she was seen leaving the room?"
"Hallway camera caught her exiting and heading toward the east stairwell. After that we lose her. The cameras in the basement didn't pick her up."
