Page 63 of Hunting the Truth
As Blake continued to lean forward, the air-conditioning kicked on, pushing air toward Maya. She caught a whiff of Blake’s aftershave. The smell triggered another memory.
She sat back in her chair thinking about a night about a week before her mother died when a man came over to their house.
Her mother had told her to go play in her room and stay there, but Maya didn’t like to be stuck in her room when the adults were allowed to go anywhere they wanted. She’d snuck out and down the hallway. When she was certain that her mom hadn’t seen her and was distracted, Maya slipped behind the couch and listened in. She hadn’t understood the conversation at the time, but she had smelled the same aftershave.
It was strong, whatever it was.
The man was upsetting her mother, Maya could tell that much. They had argued and then the man had left.
Her mother had turned around and said, “I know you’re there, Maya.”
Maya was bummed that she’d been caught, but she knew there was no getting out of this.
“Come here,” her mother said.
Maya obeyed. She didn’t want a time-out.
“Did you understand anything that you heard?”
She shrugged. “Not really.”
“We can’t talk about this man being here, especially to Nana and Pops, okay?”
“Okay,” Maya had said.
A slight headache hit as the memory ended. Maya picked up a piece of paper and jotted down the main points. She stared across at Blake. What did he look like twenty-four years ago? Was he at their house too? Based on what Denise had told her, Blake would be very interested in the missing evidence and her mother.
Blake stared back at Maya, his eyes both haunted and piercing.
She looked away. If only she could remember more. Dr. Meyers had told her fragmented memories were normal for the age she was when the traumatic event happened, but Maya desperately wanted to recall the events of that night. She was the one and only witness. Why couldn’t she do better and get justice for her mother and Nana?
Another thought started going through Maya’s mind. If Blake was at their house before the murder, then could Eric Torres be telling the truth? Had he been framed for the murders and only there to warn her mother? Maya would give anything to talk with Torres again. Dangerous or not.
“We’ll regroup in the morning,” Josh said. “I’ll get all the information together from Miranda, Lucas and Doc Clark and put together a report. Then we’ll figure out how to find Eric Torres and end this.”
Maya had a bad feeling that even if they found Eric Torres, the investigation might be far from over. She had to figure out if her mother’s evidence was still out there and locate it.
Chapter Thirty-One
Eric parked his truck near another logging road and studied the map. He couldn’t go back to his campsite, and it wasn’t like he could stay at the local hotel. He’d probably sleep in his truck tonight or maybe find somewhere that provided shelter in the wilderness, like a cave. Wherever he slept, he was certain that with the events of this morning, his time was limited.
They would go through all of his things and try to figure out his next move. The problem was, Eric was out of next moves and money and everything else, but that had never stopped him in the past. It shouldn’t stop him now.
The previous week, he’d stolen some cash from the cab of a Forest Service vehicle and had rationed it out, but what he had left was at the tent along with his food and other supplies. He couldn’t go back now.
He had two things in the truck that could be of help—a granola bar and a burner phone.
The granola bar would be dinner. He’d be a little hungry, but it wasn’t anything he hadn’t done before. How many night shifts had he worked where he didn’t even have time to eat dinner?
The burner phone was his one chance to maybe connect with Maya. He’d managed to figure out her phone number. But the big question was, had he established enough trust with her to get her to meet with him?
There was only one way to find out.
Maya followed Josh to his home. Juniper stirred in the back and then popped her head up.
“You feel rested, girly?” Maya asked her. Juniper stuck her head through the door into the cab. Maya scratched behind her ears and Juniper gave her a few licks on the face. “So, here’s the deal. We might be staying here a few nights or maybe even longer. Who knows, but you have to be on your best behavior. Okay? No shredding the couch. No pulling branches off trees. No bed stuffing all over the floor. None of that, got it?”
Juniper gave a whine and stuck her head back inside her compartment.
