Page 24 of The Catcher
“Did you look inside?”
“No, it was locked.”
“How big was the container?”
“Roughly the size of an ammo box.”
“And so you just threw it out without thinking? Something valuable might have been inside.”
“The couple said they usually contain trinkets and a logbook. Nothing of value. They even showed me a snapshot of one they’d found earlier that day. It looked trivial. Look, I was doing my job. Am I in trouble?”
“No. Thanks for getting back to me.”
Noah hung up and exhaled loudly.
“No luck?”
Noah stabbed at a fry, lingering before he placed it in his mouth. “He never looked inside. Unless those troopers they sent to the landfill can find it, it’s as good as gone.”
“Ah, who knows, maybe our perp was screwing with us. You know, purposely leading us on. The fact is, how many sickos want us to find their victims alive? You and I know that the chances of that Matthews girl being alive two days after she went missing are almost zero.”
“Yeah, yeah, 88.5 percent of cases, the missing person is dead within 24 hours.”
“And 76 percent within three hours of the abduction.”
“That wasn’t the case with Payton’s daughter, though.”
“Hence the reason it’s not 100 percent,” McKenzie said.
They continued eating. Noah chewed over the situation in his mind, trying to make connections and sense of it all.
“Then, of course, there is the other alternative: that ourperp didn’t change Sam’s geocache. The lock of hair might be the only thing left behind,” McKenzie said.
Noah nodded. It was possible. Anything was possible when they had next to nothing to go on.
“What did you ask Sam back at Whiteface Castle?” McKenzie inquired, breaking the silence that had settled between them.
Noah glanced up from his thoughts, his mind lingering on the conversation with Barry Carlise. “Who else knew about him being out there,” he replied, his voice distant.
“You think our perp knew he was heading out there?” McKenzie pressed, his brow furrowing in concern.
Noah stared outside the window, following a sleek black Aston Martin as it pulled into the parking lot. Recognition flickered in his eyes as he realized it belonged to Natalie Ashford. The Ashfords were a prominent and affluent family with their fingers in many aspects of business in High Peaks. Some in the area considered their presence beneficial, singing their praises, but him not so much. Those who worked for them, like Gabriel Ironwood, had already threatened his brother over non-payment of a debt that he was now actively paying off to Noah since Noah had stepped in to cover it. And, of course, who could forget his father’s dealings with them? That had offered no end of arguments and trouble in their relationship.
“Earth to Noah?” McKenzie’s voice brought him back to the present.
“What?” Noah blinked, refocusing his attention on McKenzie.
“Do you think our perp knew Sam was heading out there?” McKenzie repeated.
“Um. I don’t know. It’s just a hunch," Noah replied vaguely, his mind still preoccupied with thoughts of the investigation. “If our perp is the one responsible for the lock of hair and the note, there is a chance he wanted that body to be found. Maybe he wants us to find the next one.”
“That’s quite the leap, Noah,” McKenzie remarked, sounding skeptical.
“Yeah. Like I said, it’s just a hunch,” Noah reiterated.
“So what did Sam say?” McKenzie pressed.
Noah watched as Natalie exited her car, his attention momentarily diverted by her presence. With her long black hair cascading down her shoulders and striking appearance, she exuded an air of confidence as she entered the restaurant, her gaze fixed on her phone as she approached the counter.
