“Well, come on,” Linc said.
In her vehicle, with Hank in his area, she pulled out of the parking lot. The drive to the hospital only took her about fifteen minutes, then she was following the two men inside while Hank stayed in the vehicle.
The tension radiated from Blake, and Chloe found herself wishing she could do something to ease it. But she had a feeling that only finding Rachel would do that.
They found the security office and Monique was waiting for them. Her dark brown eyes glinted when they walked in. “Glad you could make it on such short notice.”
“Thanks for calling,” Linc said.
“This won’t take long.” She motioned them toward the display of monitors and clicked on the mouse. A video Chloe thought they’d seen before jumped onto the nearest screen. Monique pointed. “This was the side view of the truck. I really wanted to see what was inside the back of the vehicle, so I started going through each and every camera, trying to find the right angle. I think I did.” She clicked through another series and finally got a shot of the back of the Suburban. The window was down, as they’d noted before. “I just thought it was really weird that he’d have the window down in November. It’s not freezing during the day, but still . . .”
“So, what did you find?” Blake asked.
“Here. In the back. What does that look like to you?” Monique zoomed closer.
Chloe squinted. “Looks like some kind of rack or something. Like a super large dish rack?”
“Good description. And in that super large dish rack are paintings.”
Blake blinked. “Paintings? As in pictures? And stuff?”
“Yes,” Monique said. “My guess is the oil still had a strong odor, so he left the window down.”
“And Rachel just helped herself,” Blake muttered.
“Rachel mentioned the girls were going to be sold at an auction,” Chloe said. “Let’s see if there are any auctions scheduled soon.”
“Rachel wasn’t talking about an art auction.”
“Maybe not, but wouldn’t hurt to check, would it? The fact is, she heard the word ‘auction.’ The guy she hitched a ride with had oil paintings in the back of his vehicle. I’m thinking there could be a connection.”
“I agree,” Blake said.
“So, we need to check art supply stores around here too,” Chloe said. “Track down the driver of the Suburban. If he paints, he’s got to purchase his supplies from somewhere.”
Linc nodded. “I’d say that’s our best bet.” He blew out a breath. “You have a picture of this guy, Monique?”
A few more clicks on the keyboard and she brought up a close-up of the young man who looked to be in his late twenties or midthirties. “This is the best one I could get. It’s not bad if I do say so myself.”
“I think that’ll work just fine.”
Monique moved back to her keyboard. “All right,” she said and looked at Linc. “I have your number so I’m going to send this picture to you. Feel free to share it with whoever you need to.”
“Thanks.”
Within seconds, the three of them had the man’s picture on their devices. “Anyone want to try again with the facial recognition software?” Chloe asked.
Linc shot her a tight smile. “I’m already on it.” He tapped the screen. “The bureau’s resources are faster.”
Blake snorted and Chloe rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
“As long as it gets results, I don’t care which agency does it,” Blake said.
Linc tucked his phone into its clip and stood. “Thanks, Monique.”
“Hold on, not so fast. I’ve got one more thing.”
Linc raised a brow and settled back into his chair. “What’s that?”
“In finding that segment, I also found this one.” She clicked a few keys and the footage rolled.
Their man had just come out of the stairwell and walked toward a car that had stopped. “What’s he doing?”
“They talk for forty-five seconds, then the driver leaves. I figured you might want the license plate on that nice Mercedes S550.”
“Yes,” Blake said. “That would be awesome.”
She tapped another few keys and everyone’s phone buzzed. Chloe looked at hers. “Well, well. Linc, guess you’d better send that off as well.”
Linc worked the screen. “Done.” He tucked his phone back into the clip. “Those are some seriously good investigative skills you’ve got there. Thank you.”
Monique batted her long lashes at him. “Any time.”
Chloe raised a brow when her brother’s cheeks turned an interesting shade of pink. She locked her gaze on his and he scowled at her, daring her to say one word. She bit her lip on a smile, but filed away the information for use later. When she needed it. She so rarely had anything on Linc that she could use as leverage for . . . whatever. But she knew he knew this would come up again.
And probably soon.
When she turned her attention back to Blake, all thoughts of teasing her brother dissipated. The mixture of raw grief and fear in his eyes sent shafts of compassion through her. Her heart actually hurt for him and for Rachel. He was studying the picture of the man who owned the Suburban. “We need to find this guy like yesterday.”
“Agreed,” Chloe said, “but this is going to take some manpower.”
“We’ll round up volunteers to hit the pavement with this guy’s face,” Linc said. “Surely someone’s seen him. Even if Rachel just hitched a ride with him due to the convenience of the open window, I want to know where he went.”
“Exactly. The more stops he made, the more chance that someone spotted Rachel.”
Linc’s phone rang. “St. John.” He listened, his eyes snagging hers and Blake’s. “I see. Thanks for the update. Email me everything.” He hung up. “Fingerprints came back on our courthouse shooter. Noah Hampton. He’s in the system. In fact, he was just released from prison about four weeks ago.”
“Let me guess,” Chloe said. “The judge put him away.”
“Excellent guess. Ten years behind bars for being in a bar fight that resulted in a broken bottle hitting a young man in the face. He lost an eye.”
“Ouch,” Blake said. “That’s serious, but ten years?”
“Maximum sentence and Judge Worthington gave it to him.”
“That could make someone mad. Ten years’ worth of rage and planning to kill the man who put him in prison?”
“It’s possible,” Linc said.
“Then it could really be over?” Chloe said.
Linc shook his head. “Not until we have hard evidence that he’s the one who sent the threatening letters and kidnapped Rachel.”
“Well, he sure fired the bullets.”
“That he did. We’ve got a team over at his place. He was staying at his mother’s house. She’s in a retirement home now, but the house was sitting empty. When Hampton was released, that’s where he went. We’re checking to see who he’s had contact with since his release.”
Chloe rubbed her eyes and fought off the weariness that pressed in on her. “Okay, let us know what you find. If anything. And if you get a name on the Suburban driver.” She tapped her phone that held the mystery man’s picture. “In the meantime, Blake and I are going to get to work as soon as businesses open in the morning.”
“Let me go!”
Rachel jerked fully awake at the shout. She pushed the blanket off and hurried to look out the cracked door. Even though it let in the cold air, keeping it shut didn’t make it much warmer in the barn. And this way she could hear better when something was going on outside.
“I said let me go!” The scream that followed was high-pitched and ear-shattering. Rachel flinched.
“Shut her up,” a harsh voice said.
“You heard him,” Carson said. “Shut up.”
A twin scream to the first one ripped through the night air. A sharp smack sounded and the pained cry that followed made Rachel wince again.
Then silence.