She hadn’t wanted to believe the man would hunt again, not so soon, but Kyle had convinced her. Now she was afraid of what the night would bring.
“Maybe he’s gonna start a pattern now,” Kyle said. “Fifteen years, it could be a cycle for him.”
That idea was the best one they had at the moment. But they needed to discover why the killer had seemingly come back full circle. She glanced at her watch. If the perp was going back to the beginning and starting his same hunting cycle again… “The second abduction happened in Tennessee, just over the border outside of a city called Maverick.”
“Then I think we need to take us a little road trip.”
Hitting the road, searching. It would be better than waiting in the darkness.
Shouts and laughter filled the bar. A little place on the edge of Maverick, the bar, with a glowing sign that simply said Dale’s, sat nestled off the main highway, surrounded by thick pines and not much else.
Shirley Wayne had gone into that bar nine years ago. Her boyfriend had broken up with her, left her alone…she’d run out of the bar, jumped in her vehicle, and had never been seen again.
Would the perp really come back here?
Maybe.
Cadence studied the busy bar scene, her gaze darting over the crowd. Wayne’s boyfriend had been the owner of the bar back then, and he still was.
Dale East was big and had a shaved head, with plenty of muscles stretching his shirt. He stood just behind the bar.
Cadence made her way toward him. Kyle was a few feet behind her. When the bartender looked up, Cadence flashed her ID. “FBI. I need to ask you a few questions.”
His gaze immediately slid toward the door marked “Staff.”
Great. The guy probably had plenty of less-than-legal activities going on. Right then, they didn’t concern her, unless those activities related to Shirley.
“It’s about Shirley,” Cadence added as Kyle closed in beside her.
Dale frowned, his gaze coming right back to her. “Who?”
“Shirley Wayne,” Kyle gritted. “Your ex-girlfriend. The one who went missing nine years ago.”
Dale’s forehead cleared. “Oh, her.” He shoved a beer toward a guy at the end of the bar. “She didn’t go missing. That girl couldn’t handle the breakup. She went running home to her mama.”
“Her mother died two weeks after Shirley was last seen in Maverick. No neighbors ever reported Shirley coming back to the area, and she wasn’t at her mother’s funeral.” Cadence had made a point of checking these details. She’d wondered why it took over six months for someone to file a missing-persons report on Shirley, and now she knew. With the mother’s death, there had simply been no one left to realize she was gone. A distant relative had eventually been notified that Shirley’s childhood home was being foreclosed upon, and it had only been then that someone finally noticed—
Shirley’s gone. The perp had taken a perfect victim. One that no one had seemed to miss. The thought made Cadence’s heart ache.
But she wasn’t about to show weakness or the grief that she felt for Shirley’s lost life. Cadence carefully put her ID away. “We have reason to believe Shirley fits a pattern of abductions.”
His bushy brows lowered. “You’re shitting me.”
“No,” Cadence said very clearly, “I am not shitting you.”
Dale grabbed a cloth, swiped over the bar top. “Shirley was crying when she left. Running for the door.” His fingers whitened around the cloth. “I called after her, told her not to drive like that—”
“But she did,” Kyle finished.
Dale nodded and stared down at the cloth. “Abducted.” He shook his head, as if he just couldn’t grasp it. “Shirley?” He swallowed. “We didn’t work. I liked to party—hell, still do. Shirley wanted me to settle down. To have a family.” He tossed the cloth away. “I always thought after all these years she was somewhere with the family she wanted so badly.”
It was possible Shirley was currently on the ME’s exam table. “Did anyone ever give Shirley any trouble?”
His jaw had hardened. “No, no, everybody liked Shirley. She was—fuck, she was one of those people that was always smilin’, you know? She just didn’t like me drinkin’ so much. Said it reminded her of her ex, that jerk Jake Landers.”
Cadence made a mental note to run down Jake Landers. “Did she have any contact with Mr. Landers?”
“He was in jail, so, no, she didn’t. She didn’t want anything to do with that loser.” His chin lifted. “Shirley was too good for him. Too good for me.” He swallowed. “Missing? All this time?”
Pain rumbled in his words.
“Do you remember anything else from that night?” Kyle asked Dale, his expression tight. “Was there anyone here who was paying too much attention to Shirley?”
A hoarse laugh came from him. “I don’t remember. She was pretty. Like you.” He jutted his chin toward Cadence. “Men always look at pretty women. Always want ’em.”
Cadence pushed her card toward him. How many cards had she given out over the years? Always the same routine. Always wondering if one witness would call her back with the break she needed. Only she never got the calls she needed. “If you remember anything, call me, okay?”
He swiped the card. “That why you’re here? You wanted to see what I remembered?”
“No,” Kyle said, his voice hard. “We’re here because the same perpetrator is hunting again, and we want to stop him.” He pointed to the news blaring on the TV right behind the bartender. “Maybe you should turn that up. You might f**king save a life.” Anger snarled in the words.
Frowning, Dale turned back to the screen where the reporter was detailing the abduction of Lily Adams and the manhunt currently underway for the man who’d taken her.
Dale turned up the volume. “Authorities are cautioning women who are traveling alone The perpetrator may be assuming the identity of a law enforcement officer. If you are approached…”
Cadence turned away from the TV. Her elbow bumped into the arm of a dark-haired waitress. A woman who was staring up at the screen. “Sorry,” Cadence murmured.
The woman—Christa, according to the slanting tag pinned on her shirt—kept staring at the TV. “Someone’s taking women?” Her hold on the tray tightened. “That’s—”