CHAPTER FIVE

 

Ten minutes later, the police arrived. Detective Williams stormed through the house and into the kitchen, anger radiating off his body in waves. Rachel stood her ground. She’d seen bluster before, and it didn’t scare her.

"What part of you are not a police officer did you not understand?"

He took her by the arm, thought better of it, let go of her then jerked his head in the direction of the living room at the front of the house. "Let the EMTs take over that." He pointed at Sarah.

The front door banged open, and two EMTs carrying medical bags hustled down the hall. Sarah stepped aside but hovered nearby while they worked on Eric.

“They saved my life,” Eric said. He turned to Rachel. “Thank you so much for that.”

Rachel nodded then followed Detective Williams to the front room, plopping down on the sofa to wait for his lecture. He paced back and forth, shaking his head and mumbling something under his breath. Based on his level of anger, she probably didn't want to know what he was saying about her.

"I got the plate number of the car. And there are skid marks at the end of the road. I think you’ll find they match the car that took Stephanie."

He stopped pacing and fixed her with a neutral expression. After a deep breath he said, "That will help, but you need to stop sticking your nose in this. Let the police do their job. I don't want to arrest you and your friends for obstruction."

She crossed her fingers behind her back as she promised him they wouldn't interfere again.

“The only reason I’m not arresting you now is because Eric Stone said you three saved his life. Give your statement to the officer outside and then the three of you need to leave."

While she talked to Detective Williams, Becky blended into the background in the backyard to keep an eye on the crime scene officers. Rachel’s phone buzzed with a text message. She peered at the screen to see a message from Becky telling her they found clay-like dirt in the shed and dead leaves.

“We will tell them everything we saw.”

With nothing to do now that the EMTs had taken over Eric’s care, Sarah stood by the front door waiting for Rachel to finish. Becky came in through the back door and hurried to the front.

The detective’s phone rang. He glanced at the screen, turned away from her, and answered the call. She leaned a little closer and nodded at Becky who came closer.

“Where?” He held the phone with his ear to his shoulder as he pulled out his notebook and jotted something down.

Grim faced, he pocketed his phone and barely glanced at them. That lump in the pit of Rachel’s stomach got bigger.

“Something wrong, Detective?” Becky touched his hand and a slight burst of light transferred to him.

“They found Nathan Lamb’s body. The first kidnapping victim. By a body of water in Whitby, near the woods.”

She didn’t know where that was but they had to get there before Detective Williams did. Rachel pushed herself off the sofa. "Ladies! We are no longer required here."

"You weren't required here to begin with."

"True. But if we hadn't been here, you'd have another kidnapping victim instead of someone, four someones, who saw what they looked like."

His gaze turned interested. "How did you know he would be next?"

"Becky is very smart. She figured out a pattern."

"Have her talk to an officer about this pattern."

Knowing that was the closest she would get to a thank you, Rachel left the house with Sarah and Becky in tow. They stopped briefly at the cruiser closest to the house to give the officer all the information they had.

They needed all the clues they could get to help them find Stephanie and the other missing teachers. If the kidnappers had started killing them, she didn’t want to find out how long they would wait between getting rid of the witnesses. A horrible thought hit her. What if they’d killed him right away and waited to dump his body?

She pulled up a map on her phone as they walked away from the cruiser. Besides smart phones, knowing how to drive was something else they couldn’t do without while stuck on Earth. “I don’t think we’ll be able to cab it where we need to go ladies.” She showed them the picture. “Without traffic, it’s going to take at least forty-five minutes to get there. Who wants to do the driving?”

***

As they approached the crime scene, the scents of moss and wet, dead leaves permeated the air. A section right by the water had been taped off, and a few officers stood guard until detectives arrived. They would have to work quickly and tap into more magic then they had so far. There was no other way to get close to the body except a dash of forgetfulness.

Halfway to the body, Becky trudged on a stick, breaking it in two. The officers’ heads jerked in their direction.

“No choice, ladies. We need to concentrate enough to convince them to let us get close then forget we were ever here,” Rachel said.

They walked in a line, hands joined, until one of the officers saw them. He held out one hand, a stern look on his face, while his other hand hovered over his taser. Before he could admonish them for encroaching on a crime scene, they sent out a burst of angel light. Rachel swayed slightly, then righted herself.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. I didn't have a lot of power left and that hit a little hard."

"We can check later to see how much you have left," Sarah said.

The officer's grimace turned to a welcoming smile. "The body is right by the water's edge." He pointed over his shoulder.

"Thank you, officer," Rachel said.

"Let's be quick," Becky commented.

They ran over to the body. Rachel bent to inspect it without touching anything. As much as they needed information from the body, they didn't want to compromise the crime scene. Anything that made it harder for police to find the kidnappers would not help them get back home. She wanted to save the people too, of course. It wasn't all about her.

Contusions covered the man's face. His ankle sat at an odd angle, indicating it was broken. All of his fingers had followed the same fate.

"Torture," Sarah said. "I've been on call for prisoners of war enough times to recognize it."

"Tortured for what, though? He's a fucking teacher." Rachel stood, wiped her hands on her jeans, and turned back to find the officer. He still stood straight, on guard, waiting for Detective Williams and the crime scene unit to get there.

"No idea what the kidnappers could want but it's obvious they wanted something. Maybe he had information they wanted. Or an object," Becky suggested.

"We'll try to figure it out later. Let's get out of here before the magic wears off," Rachel said.

They ran past the officer, waving as they went, then piled into the car and sped off.

Rachel rolled down the window to let the afternoon air clear out the stuffiness of the car. "We need to talk to Gina again. She has to know more about Leyla."

"They were work friends," Becky agreed.

The drive back to the city didn't take as long as getting to the crime scene. Dump site. Had it been the place where they'd tortured him, someone would have seen the body sooner. Someone might have stumbled on the actual torture while walking through the woods. Or someone at the beach nearby would have spotted something.

Less than forty-five minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of Leyla's school. There was at least thirty minutes left in the school day, so they would have to sign in again.

They ran through the front doors, signed the log book, and booted down the hallway to Gina's room. She was alone in the room grading papers. Rachel knocked lightly on the door. Gina looked up, sadness washing over her face as she motioned them to come in.

"You didn’t say before, are you with the police? Why aren’t they asking me these questions?"

"We're consultants, helping them out. We wanted to know more about what Leyla might know or collect that someone else might want." Rachel sat in the first desk in the front row.

Becky and Sarah took the seats beside her. Gina sat up a little straighter, her forehead wrinkled in thought.

“Honestly, I can’t think of anything. She liked doing puzzles. Puzzle boxes. She collected old books. First editions. Why would anyone want to hurt someone like that?”

“Thanks. We’re doing everything we can to find her.” Rachel stood, went over to the desk, and touched the woman’s hand.

A smile crossed Gina’s face. “Thank you.”

Back in the car, ready to leave the lot, Rachel turned to Becky in the passenger seat. “Check the background on Nathan Lamb. See if you can find out what he collected.” She looked over her shoulder at Sarah in the backseat. “Call Eric and ask him the same.”

Not sure where else to go until they had more information, Rachel thought about waiting in the parking lot but knew that wouldn’t go over well with the school or parents. With no destination yet, she decided on The Rex. Home base might give them a second wind.

They parked on the street. Foregoing a drink and food in the bar, they used the hotel entrance. Once inside Rachel’s room, they took seats on a corner of the bed.

“Lamb was into word puzzles, riddles, as well as history.” Becky pulled Rachel’s laptop over and lifted the lid. “We need results back fast from Eric’s attempted abduction.” Her fingers glowed briefly as she typed.

“Eric is adamant he isn’t into anything that anyone would care about. Ancient history. Mostly Egypt but also Iran and Rome. Anything ancient, really.”

“Bingo!” Becky bounced off the bed to pace the small room as she talked. “I hacked into the lab results, speeding up the process a titch. The dirt and leaves are found only in wetlands and these leaves, along with the water isotomes, are only seen in the lake area in a place between Puslinch and Guelph.”

“Anything else there besides the lake?” Rachel asked.

Becky nodded. “An old warehouse. Abandoned for over a decade.”

“Looks like another road trip,” Sarah said. “I’ll drive this time.”

Rachel handed her the keys.