Page 29 of Nothing Hiding

She had the terrible feeling that the only progress they'd get now would be made when the worst happened, and another body was found.

At least it had cooled down now in their tiny office within the central London police station. The sun had set. Night had fallen on London—a Saturday night, with pubs and clubs and restaurants buzzing, theater shows on the go, tourists wandering the streets, out and about and enjoying themselves.

In this massive, complex city of millions, just two women pointed the way to this killer.

One was still missing.

"Her name's Sophie Elder," Juliette said, going over the information yet again. "She's nineteen as of a week ago, and she worked in central London in a shoe store."

At least they’d been able to pull the case information, thanks to Wyatt going to the front desk and very charmingly getting the passwords they needed to access the recent case records. If that hadn’t worked, Juliette had been ready to get Sierra to try another way.

But fortunately, the front desk officer wasn’t as obstructive as the Scotland Yard team.

Juliette stared at the photo of Sophie, seeing that there was one common factor—both the missing women were attractive. Sophie had a beautiful face, framed by rich, brunette hair, with a wide, laughing mouth and green eyes.

She lived with her boyfriend, but according to the detective’s report, the catch was that at the time of her disappearance, he was working on a research ship in the Antarctic.

"It says here that he’s flying back but hasn't yet landed. So, as of now, he’s in the air and can't be contacted. And he seems to have been away for months. That means, as a witness, he's not going to be helpful."

"She was reported missing by him when he tried to call her, and she didn't pick up on Thursday night," Sierra read out. "But she was at work on Thursday, so she could only have been abducted then."

"Her colleagues reported no problems at work. The shoe store was very busy with a late summer sale, and they didn't have time to sit around and chat," Wyatt read.

Juliette felt her heart sink. They had very little to go on, and it seemed like each lead they followed was a dead end. She rubbed her temples, feeling the beginnings of a headache setting in.

All they had were two young women who'd disappeared from locations in central London. One had been found; one hadn't.

She checked the time, seeing to her surprise that it was after ten p.m.

"I don't know what else we can do," she said. "We need to get some food, get some sleep, and start again tomorrow."

Wyatt frowned. "I disagree. Can't we go out, walk the streets, do something more than just go to bed? This isn't sitting well with me."

Juliette sighed. She wasn't going to argue. If Wyatt wanted to walk the streets and spend the whole night searching for a missing woman who could be anywhere, let him. It wasn't like they had better ideas at this stage.

Only then, Wyatt thought of another. He jumped up, decisively. "I know. I'm going to call the Scotland Yard team and do an evening update. After all, the ambassador requested a progress report."

Juliette raised an eyebrow. It was a good idea, and perhaps now that some time had passed, the two officers would be ready to share information. Feeling hopeful, she listened out while he made the call.

As Wyatt hunted for the business card, Juliette and Sierra sat in tired silence, their eyes scanning the case files on the missing women. They had gone through every detail they could find, but it was starting to seem like there was no thread to follow. No motive for the abductions, no clear connections between the victims.

"Hello?" Wyatt said. "Detective Harris. It's Wyatt Thompson here. I'm calling to do an evening update. I—" He paused, then spoke again, sounding annoyed. "Look, has that authorization come through yet?"

Another short pause. "We need to share information! What do you mean, you’ve already called the ambassador?"

Then Wyatt scowled, slamming his phone on the table.

"He hung up on me. Said there's no permission yet, and he's not willing to share what he has so far. They submitted a report to the ambassador an hour ago. They’re keeping us completely out of the loop. Unreal!"

Juliette stood up. "Come on," she said. "We’re banging our heads against a wall now. They clearly have nothing because right now, there’s nothing to be found. Let’s update Ebury on Sophie Elder’s possible link and call it a night. We need food and sleep. The most we can hope for is to be wide awake tomorrow morning. If there's a new development, we need to be able to give it all our energy."

She didn't want to say that the most likely development would be the news of another death, but she could see in her teammates' eyes that they knew the truth of it.

The three of them left the room and descended the stairs to the street, Juliette leading the way. The air outside was crisp and cool, a welcome relief after the stuffiness of the room they'd been confined to for hours. They walked in silence for a few blocks, Wyatt and Sierra both lost in thought, and Juliette taking in the sights and sounds of the city around them. The city where a killer was lurking.

And so far, they'd been unable to stop him. Juliette was dreading what tomorrow would bring.

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