Page 43 of Guess Again
He walked into the dark space, shined his flashlight around to make sure it was empty, and then turned his attention to the southeast corner where he saw a loft high in the rafters. He hurried over, looking up at the landing twenty feet above him. A ladder hung down from a metal grate, the bottom rung at Ethan’s eye level. He pulled on the ladder to test its strength, and when he was convinced that the old, rickety thing would support his two-hundred-pound frame, he pulled himself up and climbed the rungs to the loft above.
When he made it up to the landing of the loft, he shined his flashlight around to see a metal footlocker set in the corner. He climbed the rest of the way onto the jetty and crawled to the box. He examined it for signs of a booby-trap or any other indication that opening the top would bring him bodily harm—something he’d never put past Francis Bernard. Finally, Ethan lifted the lid and shined his light inside. He saw two items resting at the bottom of the footlocker.
The first was an 8x10 photo. Ethan squinted in the darkness. The photo was of a young woman standing in a room and handcuffed to a door. She was holding a copy of theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel, the front page of which held yesterday’s date.
Ethan examined the photo for another moment before retrieving the second item from the footlocker. It was a copy of theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel, opened to an article covering the details of a local Milwaukee woman who had gone missing weeks earlier in June. Her name was Portia Vail. Ethan looked back at the 8×10 and knew he was looking at the missing woman. And that somehow, from the confines of solitary confinement at a maximum-security prison, Francis Bernard was responsible for her abduction.
When Ethan lifted the article to read the details, an index card fell from the pages of the newspaper. It slipped through the metal grating and floated to the warehouse floor below. With the photo of the missing woman in hand, Ethan scampered down the ladder, jumped the final few feet, and landed hard. He found the index card and shined his light onto it to read the message written in steady block lettering.
Hurry, Special Agent Hall. Callie Jones is dead and buried, but the clock is tic tic ticking on this one . . .
PART V
The Other Girl
CHAPTER 39
Cherryview, Wisconsin Sunday, July 27, 2025
ETHAN ORGANIZED HIMSELF AT HIS KITCHEN TABLE. HE HAD PLACEDboth the photo of the girl and the newspaper into Ziploc bags to preserve whatever evidence might remain on them. He opened his laptop and typed the namePortia Vailinto the search engine. The first result was theMilwaukee Journal Sentinelarticle, the same one that was now sealed in a makeshift evidence bag on his counter. He opened the link and read.
Milwaukee, WI, July 26, 2025
Portia Vail was reported missing by her fiancé on Friday, July 4. She had been absent from her job at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, where she works as a research assistant, for the week. The twenty-seven-year-old was last seen Saturday, June 28. A cell phone belonging to the victim was found at her apartment, along with her purse and other personal items, suggesting that her disappearance was not linked to a robbery. According to sources, the victim’s apartment showed no signs of forced entry.
The Missing Persons Division of the Milwaukee Police Department is handling the case, but has not returned theSentinel’s calls for comment.
This is an active investigation. If anyone has information about Portia Vail they are asked to call the hotline number below.
Ethan shifted his gaze from the computer to the photo of Portia Vail handcuffed to a bathroom door. He grabbed the Ziplocs containing the newspaper article and the photo and hurried out the door. He climbed into his Wrangler and headed east toward Milwaukee. He called Maddie on the way.
CHAPTER 40
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Sunday, July 27, 2025
ETHAN PULLED INTO THE PARKING LOT OF THEDISTRICT2 HEADQUARTERSof the Milwaukee Police Department. Maddie met him at the front entrance of the white stone building. She walked him through the office until they arrived at her desk, which was located in a cubicle set amongst the other detectives’ workspaces.
“Portia Vail,” Ethan said. “You know anything about her?”
Maddie nodded. “Yeah. She’s missing. We’ve got two detectives on her case now. Four weeks gone, no breaks. Why?”
“I went to see Francis again. He offered more information on Callie Jones in exchange for my help with something.”
“With what?”
“We didn’t get that far. I told him to piss off. That’s when he sent me back to the warehouse in Menomonee Valley, which is where I found these.”
Ethan dropped the Ziploc bags onto Maddie’s desk. Maddie lifted the one that held the 8×10 photo.
“What the hell is this?”
“Somehow, the son of a bitch knows where Portia Vail is being held.”
Maddie examined the photo of the woman handcuffed to a door and holding a newspaper to display the date. “How is that possible?”
“Someone has to be helping him. I called Pete Kramer and told him everything. He put the warehouse under surveillance. If that’s Francis’s drop site and someone is working with him, we’ll know about it soon enough. But right now, I need everything the Milwaukee PD has on Portia Vail.”
“Let me make some calls.”
