Page 18 of Run for Her Life
Lisa paused and frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Yesterday, I crossed a line in the woods. This is your jurisdiction and this case won’t be solved without you. I was just stressed.”
“Oh.” She blinked, surprised. “No, no, you don’t have to apologize. I get it. I just had a bad meeting with the mayor… nothing to do with you.”
Zoe didn’t press further despite her bubbling curiosity. “Do we have Annabelle’s phone and computer activity?”
“We pinged the carrier, and the cell tower triangulation puts her phone’s last known location fifty or so miles around her place of work.”
“We can’t narrow it down any further?”
“Not enough cell towers here, unlike big cities.” Lisa’s face was drawn. “I put out a hit on her credit cards. We’ll know if they’ve been used.”
As they waited for the main door to open, Lisa looked at her phone and sighed, her features tightening.
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just my husband, Jim.” She put her phone away. “Never mind.”
Lisa looked permanently exhausted. Her skin was dull and sagged under her chin. There were bags under her hollow eyes and her lips were shredded from being chewed on. Her gaze wasn’t alert and piercing—it was exasperated. The county didn’t have a high crime rate. So what was making Lisa look perpetually worn out?
“Sheriff Gray.” A slim man with bushy eyebrows and hair cropped along the sides opened the door. “What brings you here?”
“David.” Lisa nodded. “This is Agent Zoe Storm from the FBI.”
David’s lips parted. “FBI?” He offered his hand. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, we need to talk. May we come inside?” Zoe said.
“Of course, of course.” He led them into the vast foyer with a crystal chandelier hanging from an impossibly high ceiling. A sweeping staircase curved upward, paired with arched windows. Zoe grimaced at her muddy shoes leaving tracks on the polished marble. The house reminded her of the lavish houses in Texas she used to see when she lived there briefly as a child. She would walk back home on sweltering hot summer days through the neighborhood where lawns managed to look like glossy green carpets and people were dignified and careless with money. A little taste of the good life before she returned home to find Rachel struggling to prepare a meal.
“What’s g-going on?” David’s voice reeled her back from the memory.
“Do you know Annabelle Stevens?” Lisa asked.
David shoved his hands in his pockets. “Yes, yes. She works for us.”
“She was killed. The FBI is here to help us out.”
His eyes widened and he blinked repeatedly. “Jesus…killed? I-I-I don’t know what to think.”
“She never returned home from work two days ago,” Zoe said.
“I’m sorry to hear that but I don’t keep tabs on my employees in my position,” David scoffed and crossed his arms. “I don’t even know if she came into work. I only met her once a week for a meeting.”
“So you wouldn’t know if she had any problems with anyone at work or anything like that?” Zoe said. There was something about David that was off. Beads of sweat glistened atop his upper lip. His face twitched oddly. And he kept fidgeting. Either he was hiding something or he was nervous about talking to them.
“You should ask HR about that. I have no idea.”
“Her husband told me and my partn— colleague that Annabelle was stressed because of work. Some project she was on…”
David licked his lips. “Well, yes. She’s very talented, so she was one of the few minds on the project. This project could be big for the company. It’s taking a toll on everyone involved.”
“And what is the project?” Lisa asked.
“I can’t talk about it. We’ve all signed NDAs. It’s top-secret. But it has nothing to do with whatever happened to her.”
Zoe didn’t think it did. “We couldn’t find her laptop at home.”
