“What does that mean?”
“If they don’t have GPS, we can see where their phone last bounced off a cell tower and triangulate the signals. It will give us an indication of where they might be located, but if there isn’t any cell coverage or their batteries are dead, it won’t help us. We’ll still get an idea of where they might’ve been recently.”
“That’s good,” I said, starting to feel hopeful they’d find them soon. I glanced over at Dallas. She gave me a small smile.
“We’ll pull their text messages, but that might take a couple of days to get from the phone company. Their description and vehicle will be entered on CPIC, the Canadian Police Information Centre. We’ll also notify other detachments.”
“When will you talk to Brian and Gavin?” I said.
“As soon as possible. We still need to go through the process. I understand your concern about the men, but we can’t pigeonhole our investigation because of your bad history with them. If we put all our focus on them and they don’t have the girls, we’ll have wasted a lot of time and the girls could still be in trouble.”
“Will it be on the news?” I said.
“We probably won’t release it to the media right away. We’ll start our investigation and see what we discover by canvassing. If the men do have them, we don’t want them to react in a dangerous manner.”
“You’re worried they might kill them,” I said, a stab of fear thrusting deep into my guts. I stared hard at his face, trying to find some hope, reassurance.
“We just want to proceed with caution at this point,” he said.
“You need to find that warehouse,” I said, frustrated by all these delays. I knew who had the girls. I just needed him to find them.
“There are too many in the area, so that’s just not practical use of our manpower. We need to canvass, talk to people, and see what other leads turn up.”
“So you’re just going to walk around?” Dallas said, her tone making it clear she was not impressed. “That’s going to take too long.” I loved her for her bluntness, her ability to say exactly what we were both thinking.
“We’re going to do everything we can to find them quickly. If you hear anything, let us know, and we’ll keep you posted. I’ll give you my cell number.”
“What should we be doing?” I said.
“Call their friends, see if anyone has heard from them. If you decide at a later date that you want to press charges against the men for the assault, we can pursue that matter. Right now let’s focus on finding your daughter and sister.”
*
I walked out of the station with Dallas on shaky legs, the heat coming up off the pavement making me feel sick. When we got to the car, Dallas opened the doors.
“We should let it cool off for a minute.”
We leaned against the side, the metal hot against my back even through my shirt. Dallas’s hair was damp at her forehead, her eyes red-rimmed. She lit a cigarette, taking long inhales, her fingers pinching the cigarette like it was a joint.
“You okay?” she said, her shoulder bumping against mine.
“Yeah. What about you?”
She nodded, took another drag of her cigarette. It was so familiar, the way she held it, the tilt of her head. I felt like a kid again, watching my big sister.
“Give me one of those,” I said. Dallas passed me a cigarette and the lighter. I hadn’t smoked since I’d found out I was pregnant. I felt the smoke burn down my throat, my head instantly light from the rush of nicotine. I blew the smoke out, studying the police station, still trying to get a grip on my emotions. I felt busted open, scraped raw, dirty, like I wanted to take a long shower.
“I wonder what they’ll think after they start talking to Crystal’s friends and coworkers,” I said. We both knew the cops might find out Crystal was always taking off and getting into trouble.
“I don’t know, but they still have to see it through.”
“I’m pissed they can’t just search the ranch.”
“Hopefully the men will screw up on something when they talk,” Dallas said. “That’s all it takes sometimes. Then they can get a search warrant.”
I wanted to think positive, but I couldn’t shake the terrible feeling that we had just exposed ourselves and put Skylar in even more danger.
“What if he’s right? What if the guys do flip out and they kill the girls?” I put my head in my hands, took some deep breaths, trying to get a grip.
“You can’t think like that,” Dallas said, resting her hand on my shoulder. “The cops will find them. We’ll find them.”
I looked up, met her eyes, and gave her hand a squeeze, grateful again that she was there with me, then took a hard drag of my cigarette. “I still can’t believe Crystal came to this hellhole again.”
“I can.”
I turned to her. “You’ve thought about killing them?”
“Haven’t you?”
I remembered the rifle jamming in my hands, Brian down on the floor.
“Yeah. I’ve thought about it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX