“N
one of these looks like his car,” Whip said. He had been waiting when Louise arrived back at the hotel. They drove slowly through the strip mall’s lot, the fourth one they had inspected.
“I don’t think he would pull into a parking lot just off the main road to commit suicide,” Louise said.
“Doesn’t make sense to me either. He’s out in the swamps.”
The thought made Louise shiver, but she agreed with him. “If he knows the area, there are a million places.” She didn’t finish her thought.
“We had that guy shoot himself in the middle of a field last month. Only found him because of all the buzzards.”
“Why did he take West? If he’s going to end it all, why bother with anyone else?”
“You that close to him?” Whip asked.
“Not really, but I feel like he was my responsibility.”
Whip studied her, and Louise guessed he knew that her comment was only half true. They had worked together long enough for Whip to read her.
“Well, I thought the guy was a jerk. Thought he could do our investigation better than we could,” he said.
She also knew Whip too well to let his remarks get to her anymore. Usually, it was his blatant disregard for a victim. He had no empathy for anyone.
“No, he didn’t want to be involved in this. We pushed him as did his friends. Now, it may have gotten him killed.”
“Maybe he’ll luck out. Maybe he wants West to hear his confession, so someone can explain to the world why he was forced to do what he did.” Whip stressed the word forced to make sure Louise knew he was being sarcastic.
“Let’s hope you’re right.”
“Yeah, the whole department will be scrutinized if West gets killed. Most of that scrutiny will be on you and Nichols, you know.”
“I’m not worried about that at the moment. Let’s find him first.”
“Rat’s chance in hell, you know,” Whip said before steering them out of the lot and down toward the next one.
“I wonder if we should start looking further away from the road.”
“You mean out in the farmland, or maybe the swampy areas. Not a bad idea. It’s probably where Streelman is taking him, but where?”
“He must want to get to where he is going fairly quickly. I can’t believe he wants to drive all night,” Louise said.
“How do you think West will let this play out? He knows Streelman has a gun and has killed someone already. Will he jump him and try to get the gun?”
“Who knows. I guess it depends how urgent the situation gets.”
“I’d jump him,” Whip said. “Focus on the gun hand and start breaking fingers.”
Louise kept her comments to herself. She hoped Whip’s fantasy world never had to face reality. They drove around for another twenty minutes before a call came in from Nichols.
“We finally got a fix on West’s phone. I’m sending you the coordinates. They’re off the main roads, and you two are the closest. The county boys are tied up at a nasty domestic, but a state car is in the area, and will be there shortly after you.”
“Got it,” Louise said. Using her phone, she hit directions and selected the quickest route. “Let’s go, we’re only twelve minutes away.”
Whip hit the gas and turned on the flashers. “Siren, too,” he asked, grinning.
“No, let’s not spook him.”
“It’s out in the boonies. Good choice,” Whip said.
They turned off onto a narrow, paved road used primarily by residents. Most of the residents had small farms or lived on property that had originally been farm land. After about five miles, they took a left on what looked like an abandoned road. A layer of asphalt had cracked and worn thin over the years.
“Must be a road to what was an old plantation. Not many places to turn off.” Whip slowed as they approached a dirt road leading off to the left.
“The coordinates take us straight ahead for another mile.”
“Okay,” Whip said and drove on.
“Turn off the flashers.”
“If you’re worried about his seeing us, the headlights will give us away.”
“I know, but the flashers grab people’s attention and the lights might not unless we hit them head on,” Louise said.
“It looks like the road dead ends up ahead,” Whip said.
Louise double checked the coordinates. Everything seemed right, but where was the car?
“Maybe he made him toss his phone out the window up here. When we get there, we’ll look around for it. Maybe call it again,” Whip said.
“It goes directly to voice mail so it’s either off or on silent mode, but it’s worth a try.”
“You know, it makes no sense to drive all the way out here to just have West get rid of his phone and then, what, drive back?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Louise said.
“You think they’re out here somewhere? Or maybe only West is?”
They stopped the car, leaving the headlights on. The pitch-black night made seeing anything difficult. With flashlights in hand, they stepped out of the car. A humid, cool breeze rustled through the leaves of the surrounding trees and bushes. Louise heard what sounded like a small animal run through some leaves on the ground. She aimed her flashlight at the sound but only saw a thick area of wild bushes.
“If he had him toss it out the window, it would be on the ground on or near the road,” Whip said. He started walking slowly around the edge of the road, shining his light along the ground.
Louise started looking along the side of the road opposite Whip. She saw a number of beer cans in one spot but nothing else. She took a step deeper into the weeds to cover more ground and immediately saw something slithering away from her. She stepped back onto the pavement.
“Whip, just saw a snake over here. Be careful.”
“I’m not getting off the pavement. Might if I saw a body, but not for a phone. We should call this in.”
“Let me do one more check on the GPS coordinates. Maybe I can narrow it down more,” Louise said.
“Be my guest, I’m getting back in the car. This reminds me of those tales we heard as teenagers about the crazy man in the swamp. He would wait for dumb people to come out alone or in couples, and then he would kill them in all sorts of terrible ways.”
“I remember those, too. How about we don’t tell any right now. It’s spooky enough as it is.”
“I see some headlights coming at us. It’s way back there still, but I hope it’s the state boys,” Whip said, still standing by the open door of the car.
“And not your crazy guy coming out to get us?”
“You know, Louise, some of the locals are just as crazy. They may be looking at us as trespassers.”
“The GPS says we are still some forty yards away from the phone.” Louise looked around and again saw nothing.
Whip leaned into the vehicle and turned on the flashers. He walked over next to Louise. The flashers on the car behind came on, too.
“Not the crazies,” he said.
Louise sent a text to Nichols saying they were at the location, and so far, they hadn’t found anyone or the phone. She added the state troopers were arriving. The headlights of the arriving car lit up more of the underbrush in front of them. She used this extra light to search for any sign that West might have been here. As the state car angled slightly to the right and stopped, she noticed something.
“Whip, look at that,” she walked away from the car and pointed.