Page 117 of In Her Eyes

“Shut up and listen.” I put the phone on speaker.

Ava gives me a pained smile. “Chief?”

“Did Knox just tell me to shut up?”

“Chief, is there a shed, garage, or something like that on the property?”

A moment of silence before he responds. “Yes, there’s a detached garage.”

“Lynn is in there.”

“We searched it. It’s empty. The only things inside are a bicycle, tools, lawnmower, and a refrigerator filled with beer.”

“There’s an underground bunker, and the trapdoor is under the refrigerator.”

“Hold on.” The sound of steps and a door opening. “Okay, I'm back in the garage. Hey, you men, move the refrigerator out.”

We wait.

“You have to be fucking kidding me.”

I squeeze Ava’s shaky hand in mine. “Chief? Chief?”

“There’s a trapdoor. It has a lock. We’re cutting it right now and I have a man going inside.”

I hold Ava to my chest. Being careful not to touch her head. There’s so much blood, it runs in rivulets down the side of her face and soaks into her shirt and the vest. I’m coated in her blood.

“She’s alive. She’s okay. We got her.”

Ava explodes into tears with wracking sobs as her body goes limp in my arms. “I need to talk to her. Lynn? Lynn?”

“She’s alive, and she’s okay, no visible harm. But she’s drugged. We called for an ambulance. You can meet her at the Bay Center Hospital.”

I turn off the speaker mode. “Chief?”

“I don’t know how she did it—”

“Chief, listen. Jeff is here.”

“Here where?”

“Same place we found Alice’s body.”

“You arrested him?”

“He’s dead.”

“Self-defense?”

“The dog killed him.”

“What?”

“I’ll explain later. I have to go.”

He curses. “Secure the area and wait for me. I’ll send a team now and be there as soon as I wrap up things here.”

“Ava was shot. It looks like a graze wound, but she needs medical care. The medics are on their way, but I have to carry her out to meet them on access the road.”

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