Hide & Seek - Nicole Edwards Page 0,54

beside him.

“Do you agree? Think we should keep the scope on Jody?” he asked Brantley when they got into the SUV.

“I do. According to Collins, these are crimes of opportunity, but I don’t think so. If I’m right, it means Jody came into contact with her kidnapper at some point, somewhere. We backtrack through her last few days, we might just get a hit on something.”

Reese liked the way Brantley’s mind worked. They were similar in their thought processes, although he got the feeling he was able to take a further step back than Brantley was. Brantley’s intensity was the reason he needed a team of people, not just one person to assist. With all their heads together, they had a much better chance of resolving this.

He only hoped like hell they could do it in time.

Fifteen minutes later, they were at the lake, walking the winding hard-packed dirt trail that circumvented it.

“This is where they found one of the other cell phones,” Brantley said when he stopped near a towering tree, its branches bare, the leaves that had once adorned it littering the ground.

“How do you know?” Trey asked.

“Picture had that mile marker in it.”

Reese remembered seeing it. He was impressed Brantley had been able to pick it out considering they’d been following the path for a half hour while crime scene techs continued to search the area for clues. There were a handful of gawkers standing in the parking lot, staring out at the scene, wondering what had happened, piecing together the puzzle in their mind based on things they’d seen on television or maybe even firsthand. If only one of them could know which direction Jody went, or a description of who she was with. Unfortunately, according to the two officers stationed at the entrance to the trail, no one had seen anything.

“Tell me what you see,” Brantley urged Reese.

He took a deep breath. “Jody’s out gettin’ her mornin’ exercise. Has her headphones in, lost in her own head because it’s not only about exercise but about the escape. Six kids at home, this is her time alone.”

“Good point,” Baz noted. “That means she’s comfortable here, uses it as her personal track. Probably doesn’t pay much attention to those around her because she’s interested in the independence and freedom. The few people she does see, she recognizes them. They’re regulars out here.”

“Keep goin’,” Brantley encouraged them.

Reese turned, studied the wide-open space around them. “He didn’t take her here. He would’ve taken her somewhere more private, which means he lured her away, likely talked her toward a more private spot, then knocked her out or whatever bastards like him do.”

“So we’re goin’ with the assumption she knew him?” Trey asked, hands on his hips as he cast a skeptical glance at their surroundings.

“If so, she only recently met him,” Brantley mused. “Probably pleasantly surprised to see him here, doesn’t mind takin’ a minute out of her day to say hello.”

“Keep in mind, she’s married. Six kids,” Baz inserted. “Who would she be pleasantly surprised to see? She’s not in the market for dates. Her youngest is four months.”

“Doesn’t necessarily mean she’s happily married,” Trey remarked. “But we’ll go with your assumption.”

Reese was curious as to what had jaded Trey, but he refrained from asking. Not the time or the place. Nor was it any of his business.

“No, not a man she’s interested in datin’,” Reese agreed. “But he has somethin’ to offer. We need to talk to the husband, her friends, find out if there’s somewhere she frequents. Her usual routine. Or maybe a place she recently discovered.”

“So, he knows her, but we don’t know how,” Trey said aloud. “She recognizes him, considers him friendly. He lures her somewhere private, renders her unable to get away, and then what? Where—”

“We’ve got something over here!”

Reese turned along with Brantley, peering over to where a tech was kneeling on the ground near a dense thicket of brush.

As they approached the tech stood, placed a numbered marker down and began taking pictures from various angles.

“The cell phone?” Reese asked, his voice low. “I thought you said—”

“There wasn’t one,” Brantley finished for him before stepping closer to the tech. “How long’ve y’all been lookin’ out here?”

“We started about an hour after the call came in.”

“And you didn’t go over this area yet?”

The woman glanced up at him. “We did, yes. This wasn’t here.”

Reese glanced around again, mentally taking note of anyone in the area. He only saw others wearing department issued uniforms