“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 and coats.
“We’ll get this processed,” an officer said when he neared.
Brantley nodded, then stepped back to stand with Reese. Baz and Trey had moved closer.
“No way to deny it’s related now,” Baz said.
Reese turned away from the area. “If he leaves this here, how did he get her away from here?”
“Only way would be to knock her out,” Baz mused. “Six o’clock in the mornin’ on a popular jogging trail… Gonna be a few runners out.”
Reese nodded. “Agree.”
“Okay. She’s unconscious,” Brantley decided. “Deadweight. So he has to carry her. Can’t let anyone see him.”
The four of them pivoted, scanning the area.
“He had to have a vehicle,” Reese said.
“Yep. Somethin’ to transport her in.” Brantley pulled out his phone, dialed. “Hey, JJ. I need you to do a search of traffic cams in this area. See if we can get plate numbers for anyone who came and left the lake or the surrounding areas between five thirty and roughly seven thirty. We can track them down, see if they saw anything.”
Reese wondered if that would be more difficult than it seemed. From what he could see, the lake was surrounded by neighborhoods and they weren’t too far away from downtown. Probably a lot of morning traffic, people heading off to work within that time frame.
Reese continued to look around while Brantley rattled off the information they had so far on Jody Henderson. Whether or not JJ would find something, Reese knew it was a good starting point. After all, it had been through cameras that JJ had ultimately identified the woman who took Kate from the capitol.
“Yeah, that’s the plan,” Brantley was saying. “I’m gonna have Baz and Trey go talk to him. Reese and I will start knockin’ on doors around here. A few houses back up to this area. Maybe someone saw somethin’.”
After directing Baz and Trey, Reese followed Brantley to the SUV. They drove around to the row of houses that backed to the lake. He figured it was a long shot, but it had to be done. Perhaps someone had noticed a man and woman chatting. Or maybe even two women. He could’ve used someone as a lure. Or maybe their suspect was female. Although he wasn’t leaning that direction considering the amount of effort it required to move a body.
However, it was too early to rule anything out.
***“How long were you on the force?”
Baz peered over at his passenger. He didn’t know Trey all that well, but he had to admit, what little he’d been around him, he liked the guy. Like Brantley, Trey seemed the sort to go with the flow. Not led by ego. Unlike Brantley, he seemed to lack that intensity. Where Brantley had storm clouds in his eyes because of the hell he’d lived through during his career in the Navy, Trey’s were likely more personal. It was in the way he assessed people, as though he wasn’t exactly sure who to trust.
“I got two years of college right out of high school, then went to the academy. Spent a few years workin’ the streets, then fast-tracked it to detective because of a task force I’d been selected for.”
“You think you’ll end up missin’ it?”
“Doubtful. I don’t see much of a difference between this and that.”
“You work any homicides before?”
“No.” And he wasn’t sure how he felt about that now.
Granted, at the moment, he wasn’t thinking about Jody Henderson as deceased. He was leaning on the positive, hoping she was alive and well and they were going to find her in time for dinner tonight.
