Connor opened a drawer at the tech desk. “This is full of granola bars.”
“I’ll be done with those in a day.” Joel laughed, taking a bite of the bar. The team joked that he ate a lot. But hell, he liked to snack.
Ryan grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. “Get whatever you need, Joel.”
“Any luck with Ferris?” Joel asked, even though he was pretty sure he knew the answer.
Ryan scowled. “No. He’s still saying there isn’t enough evidence to link the old cases to the new ones.”
Joel’s fingers tightened around the bar.
Eight missing or dead women in the last twenty-five years, three of which occurred in the last twelve months. All of them went missing in the woods outside of town, but only three were ever found—all three dead in the water with drugs in their system.
Thatlinked them. And it also showed a recent escalation that the town needed to be aware of.
“At least the town knows about the three most recent women,” Connor said, features grim.
Nikki Bishop. A tourist.
Zoe Ewin. Also a tourist.
And Priya Tan. A local. Body found in the water, drugged, according to blood work.
He only finished half the bar before throwing the rest in the trash. He’d lost his damn appetite. “We don’t have any leads,” Joel said, more to himself than anyone else.
“You’re right,” Ryan confirmed. “This person’s good at covering their tracks.”
“We’ve got a list of victims though,” Connor said, always the optimist in the group. “We’ll find out what links them.”
The question was—when? After another woman went missing? It felt like they were just waiting, always on the back foot.
Joel headed to the bathroom and took a shower. When he was dressed, he started a gear inspection of the ropes and climbing equipment.
His phone rang, and at the sight of his mother’s name, he flipped it face down to silence it.
Several minutes later, a text came through.
He turned the device over, expecting to see it was from his mother again, but the scowl dropped when he read the screen.
Polly: This isn’t me asking for help or anything but…has your team heard about any missing women outside of the three most recent ones? Like women who went missing a decade ago?
The hell?
Joel: Why do you ask?
Polly: Answer my question first.
Polly: Actually, don’t worry about it. Forget I asked.
Like hell he would. His finger hovered over her name to call her, but before he could, his cell rang, his mother’s name on the screen again.
Goddammit.
He hit answer. “Mom. You have to stop calling me.”
“If you answered, I wouldn’t need to keep calling.”
“I don’t answer because there’s no point. You don’t listen to me, and we have the same conversation again and again.”
