Page 108 of Race to Save Her

She smiled. “Maybe you’re right… but just the same I’m going in closer to make sure.” She turned to Chris and smiled. “Due diligence.”

“Due diligence it is.”

Katie stood up and made her way across to the yard. There was an old chain-link fence around the property. She put her hands on it to feel where the weaknesses were and found a spot where she could slide through. Knowing Chris was watching, she turned and waved to let him know everything was fine.

Once on the other side, she paused and looked around. The piles of steel from buildings, manufacturing businesses, and other construction projects were in separate areas. Some piles were old and rusting, and showed definite signs of deterioration from being out in the elements. She glanced back from where she had entered. There was no movement or sound. It felt as if she had gone deaf. She took a deep breath just to hear herself inhale.

She moved down a row that weeds had overtaken. There was nothing to indicate anyone had been there for a very long time—and there were no notes directed at Katie. She almost breathed a sigh of relief.

She wanted to see the newer barn, so headed in that direction. When she walked around the corner she stopped and immediately retreated. She’d almost run directly into a black truck. She stopped cold. Was it real or her imagination? After taking a few breaths, she leaned around to check. There was a black truck. It was what Arson Investigator Ames had described seeing speeding away when he was on his run at Heritage Road.

Katie was almost cemented to the ground. Had Ames been telling her the truth?

She wanted to get the license plate, so she took a couple of steps, trying not to make any noise. There was almost a static in the air—she was potentially close to the killer.

As she turned to check the truck one more time before returning to Chris, she gathered her energy to get the plate. She took a step and then felt a burning in her body. She was paralyzed; her nervous system overwhelmed.

She fell to the ground as the powerful hot shock of incapacitation turned painful.

Becoming disoriented, Katie passed out.

SIXTY-FOUR

Tuesday 1610 hours

McGaven came to an area where there were yellow tarps covering hand-dug holes. They were approximately the size of graves. There were three of them.

He stopped. Instinctively, he looked in every direction before he investigated any further. Then he slowly moved forward.

He searched for anything he could use to lift the tarps. He found a broken piece of farm fencing; the wood slat would do the trick. He carefully used it to move the yellow tarp on the first hole and underneath saw large drainage rocks had been installed in what appeared to be a holding place. It was the same under the other two tarps.

He was relieved the holes were empty, but he also realized the rocks’ significance: the graves were waiting for occupants.

McGaven stood straight up, his head on a swivel, expecting someone to fire at him at any moment, to kick him into one of the graves. He felt as if he were on a horror-movie set.

He took a moment to figure out what to do. Pulling his cell phone out of his pocket, he called Katie. It rang and then went to voicemail. He tried a couple more times, leaving messages about what he had found.

“Call me back,” he said on the second message and ended the call. He then called Chris, but his phone kept ringing, no answer, and was never picked up by his voicemail.

Frustrated, McGaven thought he’d better document his finds the best he could and then come back with more help. There could be more graves on the property.

“Where are those guys?” he said to himself. He looked at his boots, thought he was probably standing on someone’s grave.

His cell phone pinged, indicating the construction license search had ended. Out of curiosity, he began scrolling through names, but didn’t see any he recognized as a person of interest or a connection to their investigation. Since the report was in a spreadsheet type of format, he went to the photos instead. After about ten minutes he stopped on a photo that turned his blood cold…

McGaven stared at the man they had been chasing through the hotel. After seeing him on that balcony, he knew this was their man. He was a general contractor. And his name… Cole Dillon.

SIXTY-FIVE

Tuesday 1610 hours

Katie was groggy and couldn’t seem to wake up. She remembered the taser hit to her torso, but it seemed more than that. She felt drugged. The points had been removed, but the small penetration holes still hurt. Her limbs felt heavy, as if they were being held down. She tried to speak, but barely a whisper came out. She couldn’t sit up or roll over. She tried to open her eyes but all she saw were dark shadows. She couldn’t tell if she was experiencing blindness or was just in a dark area.

That’s when she heard it.

“Katie, we finally meet on my terms. I knew you would come, just not this early,” said the voice. It had a sibilant quality to it, making the dark seem more frightening.

Katie knew whose voice that was. He had been ahead of the investigation the entire time. Her instincts had been true about the type of killer he was, but she hadn’t been fast enough to catch him, or avoid getting caught. She should’ve waited for backup and SWAT, but that didn’t matter now. She knew Chris would do the right thing.