A First Love to Die For

Chapter Thirty-Nine- She's Gone Dark

(Lincoln's POV)

I hadn't met Lucy in person, however as soon as I saw the pretty brunette entering our observation room, the realization that something was really wrong ran through me.

If I was honest with myself, I knew had known when Josie was late for the interview, when she hadn't responded to my texts. As she stepped through the door and started talking, my stomach bottomed out.

She spoke quietly, almost as if saying it too loud would make it real. "Josie hasn't come back from her run this morning. Her tracker has gone black and her phone is going straight to voicemail."

Jesus.

"Where was her tracker last active?"

"Outside the brewery. It was live for the run to Hailey's, their entire route, back to Hailey's house and through town but then it goes dark at her apartment."

I had been struggling to remove my head from the clouds all morning long. Now last night felt like a shimmering memory as I plummeted into a hard dose of reality.

My hands found their way into my hair. Pulling. I thought about all the different times that I had considered the similarities between Josie and the other victims.

Fuck.

We should have seen this coming. We shouldn't have let her be alone. I should have known as soon as she didn't show up this morning.

The panic was creeping in, clouding my mind and I was doing everything I could to not let that happen. Josie needed me, needed us all to be at our very best right now.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

I tried to organize my wayward thoughts. "Have you called Charlie?"

She nodded, "We have to assume that we have an officer that has been taken. He wants you to call him and let him know exactly what we need."

She was wringing her hands, the worry evident on her face as she gazed at the interview happening on the other side of the window. "I had to come here as soon as possible. We either have the wrong man in custody or Harold has a partner."

I pointed at Harold through the glass. "I don't think that man is capable of being a part of this."

We both tuned in to the fury of Melissa as she advocated to give Harold a break. Her hands slapped down on the table with an angry snap. "Enough, can't you see what you are doing to him?"

His pallor was striking against the beige walls, serving to highlight how grey he was. It was impossible to miss the sympathy evident in Duncan and Sam's eyes.

Duncan stood up, "I'm sorry. We'll give you a minute to talk to your client."

He and Sam both stood and joined us a moment later. Duncan's face lit with surprise as he saw Lucy and nodded at her but didn't address her presence. Instead he looked at me and said, "I don't think he had a part of this at all."

I nodded and then chose not to waste any time. "Josie's missing and her tracker is dark."

Both men recoiled with surprise, but I didn't let that slow me down. We needed to act fast. "I need you both to start working with Harold and Melissa to see if you can find Harold's alibis for as many of our victims as you can. He's going to have some. He's not our man."

I turned to Lucy. "Can you get a hold of Trigg? See what Stephie has been up to for the last few hours?"

I found myself thankful for the fact that we had kept him on Stephie watch just in case. She nodded and pulled out her phone, moving out of the room.

I turned to Sam and Duncan. "You guys know how to proceed here?"

They both nodded and I left them to it. I needed to call Charlie and pull in as much support from my staff and his as we possibly could. Our window of time was going to be small, we would need to use every minute wisely.

My mind raced, as I clicked the number to connect to her boss. Charlie answered right away, and I found myself relieved to hear the urgency in his voice as well.

We were going to stop at nothing to find her because the alternative was quite frankly, not even an option. I flat out refused to consider it.