“Exactly. He had a black coat and cap, but not like what the woman at the park described.”
Everything clicked into place, the image suddenly clear in his head.
A rush of excitement flowed through him and he leaned toward Sanford. “I’ve got it. It was a few weeks before I came home. I was walking toward the dorm when a car pulled up beside me, and a man offered me a ride.”
Sanford’s pen scratched his paper. “What’d he look like?”
“Exactly like you said. The knit hat and . . . peacoat?” Jake looked at Lilian, who nodded.
“Do you remember the kind of vehicle?” Sanford asked.
Jake searched his memory. It’d been dark, late at night. “Sedan. Four door. Not fancy. I don’t remember the make, but it wasn’t anything flashy. I notice nice cars, and I would have remembered if it’d been a Beemer or something.”
“Beat up? New?”
“Neither?” Jake rubbed at his chin. The car was a blur in his mind. He really hadn’t paid it any attention.
“What day was it?”
Jake took a deep breath. “I’m thinking . . . I was coming back from . . .” His brain raced. What had he been doing? Josh had been with him at first . . .
“Pizza. We’d gone out to pizza on a Monday night. Josh and I. He stayed later because another group of guys came in, but I had an early class the next morning, so I left.”
“You walked home alone? In the dark?” his mom asked.
Jake shrugged. “It’s safe. Everyone does it there. It’s not that far.” He looked away from the fear in his mom’s eyes. Would she have asked the question if Henley hadn’t been taken?
Everything was different now.
“What did he say?” Sanford grabbed his attention.
Jake thought. “He pulled alongside the curb, the car still running, rolled down the power window, and asked if I needed a lift.”
“Did that seem odd to you since you weren’t that far from your dorm?” Sanford asked.
Jake nodded. “A bit. Most people walking that stretch are headed to the dorms. They don’t need a lift for that short of a distance. I don’t know why he thought I might be going farther. I told him no thanks and that I was almost home.”
“And then?”
“He said something like, ‘Oh, do you live in the dorms?’ And I told him I did.”
Lucas shook his head as Robin gasped.
“I guess I shouldn’t be saying that sort of thing to people I don’t know. I see that now,” Jake said. Shit. How stupid was he?
“Things look different now,” stated Sanford, and Lilian nodded. “Did he say more?”
“Something like, ‘Have a good night’ and drove off,” said Jake.
“Do you remember looking at the plate? Was it North Carolina or maybe out of state?”
“I don’t remember looking,” said Jake. He had a mental image of taillights in his head but didn’t see the plate between them. “It creeped me out a bit. I just wanted to get back to my dorm room. I started jogging home after he left. Felt like a dork for running.”
Sanford nodded and made some more notes. “You said a Monday. How far back? Not this past Monday, right?”
“No, it’s been a few weeks.”
“More than a month?” Sanford asked.
“Noooo . . . I don’t think it’s been that long. Maybe three weeks? Two sounds too short.”
“Were you watching TV or sports at the pizza place? Do you remember if there was a game on?”
“No TV in there. That would have been a good way to figure it out, though.”
“How about tests or school projects? Were you eating out because you’d finished—”
“That’s it!” Jake leaned forward. “We’d both turned in a history paper that day. That had sucked big time. It was due on the fifth.” He smiled as he sat back in his chair, memories of the pizza night clear in his head.
“Good job,” Sanford said. “Any chance the man was in the pizza parlor before you left?”
Jake slowly shook his head. “I don’t know. It was packed, and I wasn’t looking at the people. You’d think an older guy would stand out, though. Most people in there are college kids.” Jake froze. “Holy cow. Do you think that guy tried to get me in the car to kidnap me? On the other side of the United States? That can’t be right!” Shock rocked through him. Had he been the kidnapper’s target?
“How many police are at Robin’s parents’ with the little girls?” Lucas asked. Robin paled.
“We’ve got two Clackamas County deputies at their home. One outside and one inside at all times.”
“Are they safe?” Robin asked. She rubbed her eyes in frustration. “I want to bring them home, but I don’t think they should be around this stress and agents and police coming in and out of the house constantly.”
“They’re just fine,” Lucas reassured her. “When I talked to them on the phone last night, they barely slowed down to say hi. They wanted to get back to baking cookies with your mom. They’re in the right place for now.”
“I know.” Robin wiped a tear. “They didn’t even blink when I got up to leave after visiting them this morning, but I miss them.”
“I think you made the right decision,” added Sanford. “Kids are perceptive. They’d know something was up. What are your thoughts on going to the vigil tonight?”
“I want to go,” said Robin, looking at Lucas and Lilian, who both nodded in agreement. “But maybe Jake should stay home.”
“Aww, Mom!” Jake wanted to be there for Henley. He looked at Sanford. “There will be police everywhere, right? I’m sure it’ll be safe. Who would try anything in plain view of the cops? And we don’t know that someone tried to get me, right? It could be a coincidence.”
The adults looked at Sanford, who shrugged. “He’s right. He’ll be protected whether he goes or stays. I’m sure Special Agent McLane would stay at his side the whole time. I’ll talk to her about it.”
Jake nodded and sat back in his chair. He knew McLane would support his decision. He wasn’t going to hide in his bedroom while the community prayed for his sister.
Mason stood in the center of his garage and waited for Detective Duff Morales to answer his phone.
Don’t think about it. Just say it.
Ava was in deep discussion with Wells. They’d immediately contacted Sanford to inform him of the missing bat and called the forensics team back to process the garage. Mason watched them carefully examining his cabinets.
Shit. The garage was going to take forever. And he needed to see if anything else was missing. In his gut, he knew the only missing item would be the metal bat.
“Morales,” he answered his phone.
“It’s Callahan. You got a minute?”
“Yep. What’s up?”
Mason heard the instant cooling in Morales’s tone and closed his eyes. I’m not the enemy.
“I know why my prints are on the bat that was used in Josie’s murder.”
“Why is that?” Morales’s voice perked up.
“Because it’s mine. The FBI and I discovered it missing from my garage twenty minutes ago. It’ll probably have my son’s prints on it, too. He handled it more than I ever did.”
“I’ve got the report on the bat right here,” Morales answered. “There’re no other prints except yours.”
“That’s impossible.” Mason was stunned. He remembered picking up the bat and putting it in the garage last spring. Jake had left all the bats, several mitts, and a number of balls in the backyard after he’d had some friends over. “It has to have more. Possibly even some of his friends’ prints.”
“Just yours.”
Someone wiped it down and placed my prints. Why?
Mason closed his eyes, mentally crossing his fingers that Ray would answer his phone. The two FBI agents were in his home with the forensics team. He’d escaped to the front yard, needing some air after reporting the missing bat.
Who? Who would do this?
“Mase? What’s up?” Ray finally answered just as Mason was about to give up.
Mason couldn’t speak. His mind was blank.
“Mason?” Loud background cheers came through the line.
“Ray,” Mason forced out. “I was about to hang up.”
“Sorry. We’re at my son’s soccer game. I didn’t hear my phone.”
“Shit, sorry. I’ll let you go.”
“No. It’s good. What’s going on?” Ray’s voice intensified, and the background noise faded a bit.
Mason paused. What did he want to say? Help me, Ray. My life is going down the shitter?
“Are you at the Fairbankses’?” Ray asked. His voice grew sharper, pressing for information.
This was why he’d called Ray. He needed someone who knew him. Someone who knew the right questions to ask, because he was lousy when it came to expressing how he felt. Ray knew him better than any wife ever could.
“No. I’m at home. Someone was here. Looks like Henley’s kidnapper may have left a note under my dog’s dish.”
“What?”
“And someone was in my garage. One of Jake’s bats is missing. And it’s the bat that was used on Josie. The one with my fingerprints.” It all spilled out. He took a deep breath, his emotional load suddenly lighter.