Aly had to be the other woman in the sketches.
“Do you know him?” I asked.
“Who?” Her brows raised in confusion.
“Wade,” I answered, showing her the sketch. “He owns a gas station in town and is the one who took Sandy and Hank.”
“He’s the same man?” She pressed her hand against her chest. “Yes, I know him. I didn’t think . . . I never thought . . . Are you sure it’s the same man?”
“Positive.”
“Oh,” she sat down in the nearest chair.
“He’s started to draw you,” I said.
Sylvia grabbed the book and flipped through. “What does this all mean?”
“Jack and I aren’t sure, but there is a name in the book that continues throughout. The sketches morph from one woman to the other.” I showed her Nhung’s drawing. “I think this is Nhung. She’s the original.”
“Nhung?” Aly asked. “I recognize that name.”
“You do?”
“Yes. When it was a slow day for him at the station, he’d come out and fill customer’s tanks. We got to chatting one day. He told me he is a veteran, had to leave his wife behind.”
“And he mentioned Nhung?”
“Not that day. It was several months later. I saw him doodling and peeked at it. He snapped the book shut so I didn’t ask any questions, but I did see the name Nhung.”
“Was there a necklace in the picture?” I asked.
Aly nodded. “Yes. It was unique. I had never seen the design before.”
I showed her a picture of the necklace he drew.
“Yes, that’s it.”
“Has he done anything inappropriate toward you?” I asked.
“No, nothing.” She contemplated. “However, there was one day that he made me a little nervous. He had this odd look in his eyes as he stared at me. He took a step forward, but as soon as I stepped back, he stopped. Then he turned and walked into the station. At the time I felt intimidated, but I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me. The next time I saw him, he acted normal.”
Mrs. Janowski and Edna returned then, interrupting the conversation.
“We came back to regroup,” Mrs. Janowski said. “We were driving in circles. Any luck for you two?”
“We have a lead,” Jack said. “It’s not much, but it might help.”
Mrs. Janowski pushed forward. “What kind of a lead?”
I showed her the book and the pictures I had pieced together. “It’s Aly,” she said right away.
“Aly knows Wade,” I said. “She was just telling us that he is a veteran and had to leave his wife behind.”
“Well, this is definitely a new development,” Mrs. Janowski said. “These drawings are confusing, but I can certainly see Aly in one and Sandy in another.”
I held up the third. “And we think this is Nhung, his wife.”
“You said he was a veteran,” Mrs. Janowski pondered. “Vietnam, perhaps.”
“I’m not sure,” Aly replied. “He never went into detail. Just that he had to leave his wife behind.”
Mrs. Janowski studied each sketch. “Something is terribly wrong with him. Is he trying to re-create his wife?”
“Maybe the necklace originally belonged to her,” I said. “It could explain why he’s obsessed with it.”
“Not really,” Mrs. Janowski said. “My husband wore the same watch every day for fifty years. I kept it because it reminds me of him and he loved the damn thing. It’s in a drawer somewhere. If it went missing, I wouldn’t attack anyone. I certainly wouldn’t abduct anyone either. This guy has a screw loose.”
I nodded. She had a point, yet there was something else wrong. Something that I wasn’t seeing in the pictures.
“Wade is obviously transferring his thoughts to Aly,” Sylvia said. “There is a pattern here. I think we came just in time. He might have attacked her next.”
Aly’s mouth swung open.
“Now, we just have to find him,” Mrs. Janowski said, looking to Jack and me. “Are you sure there were no other paths that connected to the main trail?”
“I didn’t see any,” Jack said.
“The only other path leads to Aly’s house,” I said. My mouth swung open to mirror Aly’s. “Do you think he took them to her house?”
Mrs. Janowski looked at Aly. “Does he know where you live?”
“Yes, he came over one time because I couldn’t get my car to start.”
“We should call the police,” Edna said.
“Yes,” Mrs. Janowski agreed. “But we need to send a rescue party over there too. We have no idea how long it’ll take the police to respond in this rinky-dink town. Where are our security guards?”
“I don’t know,” I said, wondering the same thing.
“We’ll have to proceed without them,” she said. “Sylvia, call the police again and then find Ida. Tell her to stay put. It wouldn’t be good to have Ida come with us. She was already on the hook for his murder. We don’t want them in the same room together.”
“And you really think he’s at my house?” Aly asked, her mouth still gaping.
“I would wager ol’ Bessie on it.”
Aly was confused by the reference but took Mrs. Janowski at her word.
“Jack, you’re injured so maybe you should stay here too,” Mrs. Janowski said.
“No, I’m going.”
Mrs. Janowski eyed him then shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
“Should I stay here too?” Edna asked hopefully.
“No, we might need your lock-picking skills.”
“Aly would have keys to her house,” Edna said. “I’m sure she would let you use them.”
Aly nodded and pulled keys from her pocket.
“I wasn’t thinking of the front door,” Mrs. Janowski said. “There are other kinds of locks that we might need to break through. Handcuffs, for instance.”
Edna’s face fell, but she squared her shoulders and nodded.
“Load up, troops,” Mrs. Janowski said, taking Aly’s keys. “We’re on a rescue mission.”
“Do you think he has a gun?” Edna asked on our way out.
“I don’t think so,” Jack said. “At least not when I saw him. He surprised us and got the jump on us before we could react.”
“Perfect,” Mrs. Janowski said. “Then we’ll do the same. We can park down the road so he doesn’t see us.”
“We could take the trail,” Jack said.
I did not want to hike up more trails. Wade would only have to poke me in the arm and I’d fall over.
Thankfully, Mrs. Janowski shook her head. “I’d feel better with a car at our disposal. You never know; we might need a quick getaway.”
“Sylvia, call the police now,” Mrs. Janowski said on our way out. “Make sure they know that we’ll be there. I don’t want to be mistaken for a burglar.”
Mrs. Janowski took the driver’s seat with Edna at her side. Jack and I sat in back. He was pale in the sunlight.
“Your arm has to be killing you,” I said.
“I’ll be fine. It’s only temporary,” he said.
“I learned a few things about first aid,” Mrs. Janowski said. “I could try to pop your arm back in.”
He blanched further. “No, thank you. I’ll be fine.”
Mrs. Janowski shrugged and backed out of the parking spot. She drove up the road. “I sure hope this is the right way,” Mrs. Jankowski said. “I forgot to ask for directions, but there can’t be too much on this road. It’s getting narrow.”
The road tapered down into one lane then curved into a long driveway that led to a two-story house at the top of the hill.
“This has to be it,” Mrs. Janowski said. “I’ll park back here. The trees should provide cover so he can’t see the car.”
“You’re blocking the entire lane,” Edna said. “The police won’t be able to get through.”
“They can park behind me. It’s not that far of a walk. We can hug the tree line for a bit and then sprint the rest of the way.”
Sprint?
Both Edna and I frowned, knowing that none of us would sprint. Not even Jack in his current condition.
“What if Wade’s not here?” Edna asked. “Then what do we do?”
“Then we try to find out where he lives,” Mrs. Janowski said. “But something makes me think he’s here.”
I had the same feeling. With all his drawings, it was apparent that Aly was on his mind.
When Mrs. Janowski parked the car and killed the engine, we quietly crept out of the car and closed the doors. She motioned to follow her along the trees until we were closer to the front door.
She then attempted to run to the house, but it was more of a hurried shuffle. At least it was something I could keep up with. We huddled at the door as she fiddled with the keys. I was sure the door would whip open at any moment and Wade would jump out at us.
“Got it,” she whispered as the deadbolt slid open. Slowly she pushed the door open, widening it just enough so that she could peek in.
“Anything?” I whispered.
“It’s quiet,” she said. She opened the door wider, revealing a living room that had been ransacked. “He was definitely here.”
A noise from upstairs caught our attention.
“He’s still here,” Edna squeaked.