Chapter 162: Only Silence (1/2)

”Miss, is something happening here?” I heard. The crack of his voice was like any other older man's, but the smoothness of his tone was jarring. He was not curious in the least. Instead, he was fishing for information… talking to Evie to catch her attention.

I could hear Evie take pause. The slight shuffling of her feet as her sneakers scraped against the road. I imagined the wheels turning in her head as she put the dots together.

She recognized him.

”I don't know. I'm just standing around waiting to find out myself,” she said with a chuckle. It was strained but I could sense that she was not looking directly at him. This was probably when she sent out the text. She would try to keep him in that place until the officers came out.

Possibly take him in as a witness and get him to speak in an interrogation.

”Young lady, you shouldn't stand in abandoned places like this. There are lots of dangerous people walking around the streets these days.”

There was silence for a second. ”Sir, do you live around here? I saw the police people asking around, too.” Her voice was lower, almost conspiratorial.

”Why? Do you want to ask me questions?” he asked, sounding amused.

”I'm an amateur writer. I heard some weird things on the police radio and followed them. Do you know who lives here?”

Three seconds ticked by. ”The guy who lives here… he was a plumber. Quite famous in the area too. Don't know what happened to him but he moved away a couple of days ago,” he said truthfully.

”He lived alone?” Evie asked. ”What's his name?”

The man started to laugh. ”Missy, you don't need to pretend anymore,” he barked.

And then everything went silent.

I couldn't even hear the sound of struggle. Mostly, black boxes picked up on such sounds. Even if there were three people trying to overpower her, she would at least make some noise, right?

I pressed pause and turned to Nash. ”Get this to the forensics team and augment the sound, will you?” I asked.

I eyed the officer who was still standing and beckoned him forward. ”How is the house positioned?” I enquired.

”Dr. Butler, the house is positioned in the corner. So, Miss Lewis might not have seen someone creepy up from the side alley and ambush her,” he mentioned.

I nodded. ”By the lack of noise, they used some very strong sedative to knock her out. Do you have an ID on the person who owns the house?”

The officer shook his head. ”Not yet, but we are looking into it.”

I hummed in acknowledgment. ”Run a search on all the properties owned by the perpetrator and his family, alongside any recent workplaces or storage units that they have visited in the recent past.” I clicked on the other tab and looked at the exposed wall. ”The exposed white brick wall can also be a wallpaper used to replicate the pattern from before. So, don't just look for what you think the building looks like, okay?”

I scrubbed my face with my hands.

Nash spoke up from beside me. ”I'll call the cyber-crime department and ask them to search through the website and the dark web to see if any footage of Evie's has been uploaded as of yet.”

I glanced at him and saw him push himself off the floor and go to his desk.

Within seconds, several calls were made.

”There will be no footage posted,” I said calmly. Nash lifted his head to look at me. ”He doesn't want to give Evie away and he will not share any part of Evie with the world.”

”The accomplice?” Nash asked, his voice quivering.

”He's allowing this serial rapist duo to take Evie because he has plans to help her remain unscathed. He will use the other kidnapped girls and test Evie.” And that was what I was scared of.

”That also means that there is no way he would allow them to stay at a place owned by the family, right?” Nash concluded.

I was unsure about that. ”It would be hard for him to acquire a space of his own and sponsor the duo, don't you think? It is likely that the location of this building she is being held at is close to the house.”

”Or they used a car.”

”Which would mean it was meticulously planned. And how would he be able to meticulously plan this?” I thought. ”Very few people know the details of the BTS case. Even if he did see the folders, there might not have been enough time for him to go into the details and get everything in place to send to us.” I was thinking out loud.

”The ID he sent… how does one slip out evidence from cold cases dating back to thirty years? They should be in the police headquarters, right? And very few people have access to it.” Nash knew the procedure better than me.