With his phone still firmly pressed against his ear, and to Mrs. Foster and Troy’s total surprise, Hunter dashed through their living room and out of their front door as if a fire had broken out. Mrs. Foster’s house sat right at the corner of Dronfield Avenue and Herron Street in Sylmar. The killer had sent the message from just outside her home.
‘Shannon,’ Hunter said into his phone once he was outside, his eyes searching left then right. ‘How precise is that pinpoint?’
‘Pretty accurate, Robert. No more than five yards, if that.’
It was just past two in the afternoon, but being residential roads, traffic on both Dronfield Avenue and Herron Street was minimal. Hunter’s eyes searched everywhere. Though there were several cars parked up and down both roads, he could see no black pickup truck and no one was standing on the sidewalk, observing the house. In fact, as far as Hunter could see, there were very few pedestrians out and about – a woman across the street, carrying a couple of bags of groceries, two kids riding their bikes and another two on skateboards. That was it. No one else.
Directly across from where Hunter was standing, on Dronfield Avenue, there was a gated parking lot to a private condo.
He quickly crossed the road in its direction.
‘Robert, are you OK?’ Shannon asked, clearly picking up the anxiety coming from Hunter.
‘I’m here, Shannon.’
‘Here where?’
‘At the location you just gave me. I’m right at the corner of Dronfield Avenue and Herron Street in Sylmar.’
‘What? How did you get there so fast?’
‘I didn’t. I was already here when I called you.’
Shannon had questions, but she clearly chose not to ask them. ‘I’ve set up a twenty-four-hour scan on the phone. We’ll get an alert if it ever goes live again, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.’
The gate to the private parking lot was shut. Access would come only through remote control, or by entering a number code onto the metal keypad on the wall, but it was a simple metal-bar gate, which allowed Hunter to see inside. At that time in the afternoon, there were only eight cars parked in the lot – none of them was a black pickup truck and there was no one sitting inside any of the other cars.
Hunter crossed the road back to Mrs. Foster’s house.
‘Shannon, are you still there?’
‘I’m here, Robert. How can I help?’
‘Can you track my cellphone and compare my location to the result you got? Tell me how close to the sender’s actual position I am right now.’
‘No problem. Give me just a minute.’
Hunter heard the clack of keyboard strokes as he waited. His eyes never stopped searching both roads.
‘OK, I’ve got you on my screen, Robert,’ Shannon finally said. ‘The message was sent from across the road from where you are and a little to the right… maybe three yards. Pretty close to the northwest corner of the road.’
Hunter ran a hand over his mouth and breathed out frustration. The killer was looking directly at Mrs. Foster’s house when he sent that message. He was right there, just a few yards away. He could’ve even have crossed the road and tried looking into the house through one of the windows because… why not? He was definitely bold – much more than what Hunter had initially thought.