was out of gas.”
That meant that Trinity had not only been sitting in the car with the keys in the ignition, but she’d turned the car on. She’d probably been about to put the car in drive and pull away when something stopped her. Another vehicle pulling into the driveway, blocking her way? Josie worked through the scenario in her mind. Trinity would have stayed in the car, waiting to see who emerged from the other vehicle. Wouldn’t she? Was she curious? She hadn’t been expecting anyone, since she was leaving. Only a handful of people even knew she was at the cabin. Had she recognized the vehicle? Probably not, Josie thought. Was she afraid? Surely she would have at least been apprehensive when a strange vehicle pulled unexpectedly into the long drive to cabin number six. She was there alone with no one even in shouting distance should the person pulling in mean to harm her. She would have watched the person—or persons—getting out of their car, approaching hers. But she couldn’t have flung open the door to confront them. Otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to leave Josie the message. Once she was out of the car, she didn’t get back in. Josie was certain of that. Had she been able to get back into the car, she would have taken off, tried to get away, or she would have used her phone. Josie had seen Trinity send off lengthy texts to her assistant in a matter of seconds.
To Hummel, Josie said, “Did you check the phone yet?”
Hummel shook his head. “We got a warrant for its contents, but it will take a few days for us to get into it.”
“Technically, I’m her next of kin. I can give you permission.”
Gretchen said, “Her parents are next of kin, boss.”
“They can give you permission,” Josie said.
Hummel said, “I figured that. Charged it up. Tried to get into it. It’s password-protected.”
“Shit.”
But if Trinity had sent a text to anyone she knew with a cryptic or alarming message, Josie would surely have been notified by now. The message inside the door was for Josie, so it stood to reason that if Trinity had had time to send a text, she would have sent it to Josie. Through the windshield Josie could only see the back wall of the evidence room, which was painted white cinderblock.
In her mind, she visualized the driveway to the cabin again. It sloped slightly downward and the way Trinity’s car was positioned when she found it, there would be little room to maneuver around another vehicle. The person in the other vehicle must have gotten out and approached Trinity. Josie assumed the person who took Trinity had arrived in a vehicle and not on foot—otherwise it would have been far too difficult to control Trinity and also take two document boxes from the scene. He or she would have come to the driver’s side door first. Did Trinity recognize him or her—or them? Was there more than one person? Or did the driver have a gun in his hand? Josie’s mind tried to work through the scenarios. There were no signs that Trinity had fought or tried to run.
Yet, she had known she was in trouble. Once she saw the driver, she knew she had only seconds to do something—anything. She used her fingertip to write the name Vanessa on the inside of the door. “Hummel,” Josie called. “Can you stand in front of the car?”
He nodded and walked over toward the hood of the Fiat, moving back toward the garage door. Josie pulled the door closed and let her own fingertips linger over the fluorescent letters, tracing the letters in the air. She watched Hummel’s face as he slowly walked toward the door. Josie opened it when he reached her. “Could you see what I was doing?”
“Not really. I mean this car is low to the ground and I’m six foot so I could see you were doing something but mostly it looked like you were fumbling to find the handle or something. Of course, we’re on level ground here, not at an angle like at the cabin, but I think on the angle the car was positioned there, it would have been even more difficult for me to see what you were doing—if I could see it at all.”
Trinity’s phone was in the console. She could have reached for it, but she didn’t. Josie wondered what time of day Trinity had tried to leave. “Hummel,