Haunted by the Past (Original)

Chapter 72

Breaking into an abandoned building was a cinch for Eli. He operated so quickly that you would have thought he had a key, not a set of lockpicks. We headed straight for the offices on the second floor and set up Eli's laptop by the window overlooking the ominous tree line. Eli left me with his laptop on a set of CCTV cameras in the area that had views of the tree line with the police scanner on over the speakers. The only activity on the radio was the officers checking in with the dispatcher as they moved from one region to the next. Listening to the way the officers referred to each region by letter and number, it sounded like the police had drawn a grid over a topographical map of the area. I wished I had a copy of the map though, so I knew where they were.

While I was left on watch, Eli went to 'borrow' power from the neighboring warehouse, which had to be done swiftly as the employees began showing up to start their shifts. A bit of commotion occurred outside while Eli briefly cut their power to connect us to their board, but it ceased when he turned the power back on. Thankfully Eli managed to get it done before anyone went to inspect the board and none of the employees were trained enough to notice an extra power cord. Eli truly missed his calling as an electrician.

Several layers of dust blanketed everything in the warehouse. Anytime one of us went to use something, we had to cover our noses and mouths while we brushed away the dust. At times I even had to shut my eyes until the dust clouds settled. Eli managed to find a couple of broken office chairs with ripped faux leather covers and while I found them repulsive, they were still better than sitting on the filthy, tiled floor. Or at least that's what I convinced myself.

When Eli finally settled down, he wheeled his chair beside mine and kicked his feet up on the desk beside his laptop. Out of his backpack on the ground he pulled out a couple of granola bars and ripped open one to give to me.

"Ah, you shouldn't have," I mocked.

He pulled away the bar, "Ok, more for me then."

Rolling my eyes, I snatched the bar from him and bit into the bar. It didn't taste much better than the dust we had been brushing away, but I rested my head against his shoulder and ate it anyway.

"This is almost romantic," I teased. "If we weren't trying to find my dead best friend's brother."

"Different couples have different hobbies," he joked. "Some like to play couples tennis. Others like to hunt serial killers."

I had to chuckle, "If only we were any good at it."

"We identified the bastard, didn't we?" he countered.

I sighed, "Yet he still walks."

"We just need to have the police catch him red handed," he stated so plainly as if it was that simple.

After checking my phone to confirm that it was only a few minutes past ten o'clock, I kicked my feet up onto the other side of the desk, "Why do the police have to be so dedicated to the search now?"

"Oh they were always dedicated. It was efficiency they lacked," Eli tilted his head to lean against mine.

My hands pulled at the sleeves of my hoodie idly, "What if they don't call off the search?"

"They're not going to go indefinitely," he assured me.

"But what if it's too long," I stressed.

Eli reached over and took my hand, slipping his fingers between mine, "They want him alive, remember? To torture you. They won't let him die until they're ready."

"Right," I mumbled.

Suddenly my phone began to ring, causing me to nearly jump out of my chair. To my surprise, it was Sheriff Parkinson.

"Hello?" I said nervously.

"Now we could discuss you leaving hospital early, or we can skip the formalities and agree you're with your technologically advanced friend right now," Parkinson spoke gruffly. Spending the night looking for Cameron had tested his patience. I casually put the phone onto speakerphone. "We're about to recanvas these woods on the premise that Meredith saw Cameron being attacked, but if it turns out Cameron decided to run from bankruptcy and you all helped him, I am charging her with filing a false police report."

Eli unlocked his phone and spoke through it to distort his voice, "Her arm was dislocated, sheriff."

"I could dislocate my own arm right now with one of these trees," Parkinson argued. "You are wasting precious police resources!"

Eli and I exchanged long glances while we silently debated what we should tell him. Eventually Eli sighed and gestured for me to go ahead.

"Um, we think that Meredith may have been threatened," I tried my hardest to keep it simple for the sheriff. "The victim, Jorge Molina, was also led away by an unknown woman."

Parkinson was quiet for so long, I worried that we had been disconnected, "So he could be anywhere right now."

"We don't believe that he will be far from where you encountered Meredith," Eli stepped in.

"No, you're assuming Meredith didn't circle around," the sheriff argued. "Fucking hell, this throws out the entire timeline of events!"

"Sheriff, I was tracking them before I called you," Eli countered. "It wasn't a lot of time between them entering the forest to Meredith's screams."

"Look, you stick to hacking devices, I'll stick to investigating humans. I'm calling off this search," Parkinson then abruptly hung up on us.

We sat in stunned silence until I eventually spoke up, "Wait, is he still charging Meredith?"

Eli shook his head as he put his phone back down, "No, Meredith's in the clear as she was under duress."

"Good," I leant back in my chair again. "Well, this is a good thing, right? The police leave, Henry and the apprentice can go to Cameron. We have a chance of catching them in the act!"

Eli folded his arms and tapped his finger on his arm while he contemplated the situation, "Parkinson seems to think they could have already left the forest."

"But as you pointed out, moving a heavily drugged Cameron would be difficult," I reminded him.

"And they should've found vehicle tracks nearby if one was used," Eli said unconvincingly.

"It sounds like you're doubting the situation now," I placed a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.

"You're right, I shouldn't doubt my theory. Let Parkinson follow his. All that matters is finding Cameron, not who's correct," he declared suddenly.

Suddenly the police scanner went crazy as dispatch issued new orders to the various units and they responded accordingly. A number of units headed back to base to finish their shifts. Slowly we watched, both out the window and on the cameras, at least a dozen different officers exiting the woods and returning to their vehicles. There would have been more off camera as well as the coverage wasn't perfect. It was heartbreaking to see them go even though I believed it was for the better. Even if Cameron wasn't still in the woods, at least the police's efforts wouldn't be going to waste, right?