Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80940 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 405(@200wpm)___ 324(@250wpm)___ 270(@300wpm)
“That’s not all, Randy.”
He dropped back in his seat. “There’s more?” he asked with a humorless laugh.
I glanced at Mallory, who seemed a bit more at ease. “When I found her, Mallory was wearing a necklace she said she’d found in the basement where she was being kept.”
Turning to wait for Mallory to speak, Randy raised his brows.
“There was a corner I would always huddle into, anytime that monster came in. I don’t know why. I guess I felt like it made me a smaller target, that I could disappear in it, and that corner was the farthest spot from the door. The second day I was there, I found a necklace buried in the dirt. I don’t know why I put it on. Maybe to feel closer to the woman who’d been wearing it.”
“There were other women in the room?” Randy asked.
“No, not at that time, but he said he’d kept other women there before. There was an old mattress on the floor, and it…it…” She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, tears spilled free.
“It’s okay,” Randy said softly. “Take a deep breath in and slowly let it out. Talk only when you’re ready.”
Mallory nodded and did as Randy said. “It had a lot of dried blood on it, not mine, and it smelled terrible.”
Randy ran his hand down his face. “Holy crap. A serial kidnapper?”
“Do you know how many women in the area have been reported missing?” I asked.
For a moment, Randy looked lost in thought before he replied, “Not a whole lot. I mean, like Mallory said, we’re a small community, and the last-known person to go missing was Emily. Bozeman has a larger amount of missing persons, as does Billings.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the necklace and set it on the table. “This is the necklace Mallory was wearing. It belonged to Emily.”
Randy stared at the necklace for what felt like forever. When he lifted his gaze to mine, he said, “Holy. Shit. We really need to report this, Liam.”
I shook my head. “I’m with Mallory on this. Whoever this is, Randy, we likely know them. They could very well work right alongside you.”
His face went white as a ghost.
“Do you think you can take Mallory’s DNA, and maybe run it or her fingerprints? See if anyone has reported her missing? We’re pretty sure her first name is actually Mallory.”
“How do you know that?” Randy directed his question to Mallory.
“Well,” she said, twisting her napkin in her hands. “He called me Mallory, and I had a brief memory of an older woman in a kitchen also calling me Mallory.”
Randy stood. “Do you have a notebook?”
“Yeah, let me go grab one,” I said as I quickly made my way to my office. When I got back, Mallory and Randy were clearing the table.
“Leave all of that,” I said, as I motioned for the two of them to come into the living room.
Randy took the notebook as he sat on a chair, opposite me and Mallory on the sofa. He opened it and started to jot some notes. As he wrote, he said, “This goes against everything I stand for, Liam. Everything inside of me is screaming to report this. I could lose my job for not following police procedure.”
“But…?” I asked, knowing there was one.
He exhaled. “But you’re right. Whoever this is, we probably know them. That is the only reason I’m going to keep this quiet. And obviously, I can’t make Mallory report it.”
I nodded and took Mallory’s hand in mine and gave it a light squeeze.
Randy looked up. “The average person can run about a mile and a half to two miles without stopping. Since we don’t know how physically active you were before you were kidnapped, I’m going to assume strictly by looking at you that you’re in pretty good shape.”
Mallory shrugged. “I know I ran for a long time without stopping. When the first storm hit, I hid under the trees in some overgrowth-type bushes. I drank the water coming off the leaves. Once the storm stopped, I started running again. I tried to pay attention to the sun when it was out, but couldn’t always tell what direction I was heading most of the time because it was so cloudy.”
“Do you know how long you were in that basement? You said it was a basement, right?”
“Yes, it was a basement. I could see light coming through one of the boards above me, so I knew when the sun set and rose. I know for sure I was there two days. I’m not sure how long I was there before I woke up on that mattress, and I had a terrible headache…still do, if I’m being honest. It’s not as bad, though, more of a dull ache.”
“She has a bump on her head still, and a gash that’s healing.”