Page 90 of The Lost Bones
“Their ultimate goal is you,” he whispered. “They’re doing all this for you. If you don’t reciprocate, they’ll become a danger to you.”
“Reciprocate? How?” She was trying to stay conscious, but the painkiller was taking over.
“If you don’t express your gratitude or show interest, then they’ll turn against you and come after you.”
Mackenzie’s eyes shut of their own accord. The last thing she saw was Andrew’s face hovering above hers with a concerned look. The edges of his face began to swirl like he was underwater. And then everything went black once again.
FORTY-FIVE
APRIL 25
When Mackenzie stepped into the station, she was greeted by almost everyone who passed her by. Troy, who was speaking to someone in the waiting area, gave her a salute. “O Captain! My Captain!”
She flipped him off with a sweet smile. She had been discharged earlier that morning, after having to spend one more night at the hospital “just in case”. Fortunately, all her results had come back normal, and after taking a shower, she’d headed right back to work.
In the conference room, everyone was standing around the table in clusters, with drawn eyebrows, shaking heads, deep sighs, and tense shoulders. Mackenzie paused for a second. She barely remembered anything that had transpired in the hospital after she’d woken up from her strange dream. Spotting Nick frowning at Jenna and loosening his tie, she squared her shoulders and headed inside.
“Are there any updates? Any leads on Sterling?”
They all stopped talking and looked at her. Rivera’s eyes blared disapproval. Austin looked too drained to care. Sully was visibly uncomfortable at the sight of her. And that was when Mackenzie remembered Andrew telling her in the hospital how he believed she needed to stay away from the case. But he was nowhere to be seen.
“It’s pointless,” Nick explained to the rest of them.
Sully had already given up. “There were forty-three DVDs. Peterson was able to identify twenty-eight of them with missing persons reports filed in Washington and other states. And Jenna found an overlap of six women from the mass graves with the videos.”
“So we have confirmation that they’re all connected.” Mackenzie nodded encouragingly.
“Yeah, but we’ve still no idea how to track down where the videos were shot.” Nick sighed.
“I’ll look through them,” she offered. “Fresh pair of eyes.”
“Well, at least it will keep you away from the field.” Rivera gave her the green light.
Two hours later, Mackenzie had found a corner of the station where she could view the videos privately. She had reduced the speed and was watching every single frame from start to finish, focusing on details other than the two people in them.
Nick sat down next to her. “Which year are you at?”
“October 2010.” She glanced at him, noticing that he was growing a beard. “I hate it.”
“You saw me like a few hours ago. You only just realized?” He stroked his chin.
“I’ve been a bit out of it.” She grazed the bandage taped to the back of her head and turned back to the video. “Oh!”
“What?”
“He dropped the camera.” She played the frame again, slowing it down. The camera was on the floor, facing a window that looked out. She paused it and zoomed in on the view out the window. “That’s the clock tower!” She pointed at the pixelated snapshot. “So the building is northeast of the tower.”
Nick pulled up a map of Lakemore on his phone and zoomed in around the tower. “How far away do you think the building is?”
“My spatial awareness isn’t the best.”
“I know. It’s a wonder that you’re such a good shot,” he teased. He peered at the screen. “That’s definitely less than a mile, but I think more than half a mile.”
“If you’re right, it makes it one of these buildings.” She pointed at a cluster surrounded by trees.
“That’s a residential complex.” He looked at the paused video again. “I can’t pinpoint which building, but it looks like one of the higher floors.”
Mackenzie agreed. “Let me finish watching the rest. Maybe there’ll be some other clue.”
