The Last Straw (The Jigsaw Files #4) - Sharon Sala Page 0,67

Millie felt like hers had come to a complete stop.

When her phone rang again, she raced to answer it.

“Hello?”

“This is Charlie. We found Rachel. She’s in bad shape and unconscious, but she’s alive. They’re taking her to Baylor Scott and White Hospital.”

Millie dropped into the nearest chair, trembling from the shock and the relief.

“Oh, my God, oh, my God! Where did you find her? Did they catch the man who did it?”

“In a hidden room off a tunnel beneath the building, and no, ma’am, they still don’t know who’s responsible. The rest of this case will fall back to the police department. Our job was to find Rachel.”

“Yes, yes, and I’m so grateful. There aren’t enough words to—”

Wyrick interrupted.

“This is Wyrick. There are things I can do to help the police find him, and I give you my word I’ll stay with the case until it’s over.”

“Thank you,” Millie said. “You are both angels on earth. I can’t thank you enough.”

“You’re welcome, ma’am. Drive safe. Dallas traffic is pretty bad,” Charlie said.

“I’m not letting a little traffic stop me from getting to Rachel,” Millie said. “I got this.”

Then she was gone.

Charlie glanced at Wyrick. Her eyes were closed.

“So we’re not done here?” he asked.

“We can’t quit yet,” Wyrick said, thinking of that vision she’d had in the passage after Charlie handed her the earring—of the small blonde woman slung over the killer’s back. “Someone has to find the other women who went missing.”

Charlie sighed. “Okay.”

* * *

Detective Floyd pulled up his contact info for Rachel Dean’s sister and made a quick call. Even though the family had hired Charlie Dodge, the Dallas PD was still on the case. Rachel had gone missing on their watch, and it was his duty to notify the next of kin, regardless.

He called Millie Chriss and waited for her to answer.

Millie was in traffic when her phone rang again, but she’d already switched to Bluetooth so she tapped it to answer.

“Hello, this is Millie.”

“Millie, this is Detective Floyd with Missing Persons. I wanted to let you know that, with the help and cooperation of Charlie Dodge and his assistant, Wyrick, we have found your sister, Rachel.”

“Yes, yes, Charlie just called me. I’m on my way to the hospital now. I am so appreciative of the way you coordinated and cooperated with me, wanting to hire private help, as well. Thank you. Thank all of you. Rachel means everything to us.”

“Yes, ma’am. I know she’s unconscious right now, but if she begins to wake up, please let us know. We need to talk to her. We still don’t have an identity on the man who took her.”

“Yes, sir, I will. I want him caught as much as you do. When her condition changes, I will let you know.”

“Yes, ma’am. Thank you,” Floyd said and then hung up.

He paused then, looking around the lobby at all the chaos. Residents were coming and going, carrying luggage to their cars, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He was unhappy that Carson had moved all of his suspects without notice, even though he could not have expected them all to stay put after what had happened. And then Allen Carson walked up and Floyd frowned at him.

“The least you could have done was run this mass exodus by me first,” Floyd said.

Allen’s disapproval at being reprimanded showed, both by the look on his face and the tone of his voice.

“Surely, you did not expect they would stay here. I’ve been inundated with people wanting to break their leases. Some of them were already packing up to leave anyway. I have to tear down that passage and tunnel, remove those access doors and rebuild the walls. You should thank me that I’ve kept them all in one place for you.”

“Okay, I’ll admit that foresight was wise, and it will help,” Floyd said.

Allen shrugged. “We just need to both pray that Rachel Dean wakes up and names the bastard. Oh...just so you know. This will be your only notice. Get all of the pictures and evidence you need from this property, and whatever else you want to take to make your case, because in two days we’re tearing into this place like a Texas tornado. I’m sick that this passage was never revealed to me when I bought it. And I can’t believe it wasn’t discovered during remodeling. If it had been, none of these women would have been fair game for a madman. Do we understand each other?” Allen