Deadly Past (A serial killer novel) - FINISHED

Chapter 12

"You really shouldn't have shared all the details with her. You don't know who we can trust and who not," Peter says as they are driving to the warehouse. "I know, but that was the only way to get her to give in. She can't believe anything bad about him," Hugh says. "That seems to be the case with everyone. It almost makes me wonder if we have the right guy, but serial killers can blend into the world so easily. They are almost always the people you won't expect it to be," Peter says. They are almost at the warehouse site. "It makes it even scarier. You never know who to trust," Hugh says. "For all I know you are a serial killer," Peter says. It is the first joke he made since Hugh met him. It is strange to see Peter relaxed, especially with the case being at the point it is. "I see the gates," Hugh says. He notices a lady standing next to the gate. She looks like she is waiting for someone. They stop next to her. "Are you the detectives who wants to see the warehouse?" she asks. "Yes, we are. Who are you?" Peter asks. "I am Tina. I own the company," she says. "You can get in," he says. She walks towards the backdoor and gets into the car. "You know that you are wasting my time, right. You have the wrong man," she says. "If we are wasting your time you can stay here. We will go there on our own," Hugh suggests. "No, I don't want you tampering with his stuff. By going with you I can make sure that you don't touch anything you shouldn't," she says. "Whatever makes you happy," Peter says and waits for the guard to open the gate. When the gate Is open, he drives inside. "Which way should I go?" Peter asks. "Go left and follow the road to the last warehouse," she says. Peter follows her instructions until he gets to the last warehouse. He parks in front of the warehouse and gets out. He waits for Tina to get out before he asks her to unlock the door for them. She does it and starts to open the door. "We will take it from here," Peter says and grabs the door to prevent her from opening it. "We don't know what is waiting in there, and we don't want to put your life in danger," Peter adds. "I said that I had to come with you. That was the deal," she says. "Just wait outside until we made sure everything is fine," Peter says. She steps back, and Peter opens the door. He looks inside and sees that there is no-one inside. "The coast is clear," he says and walks into the warehouse. He sees that it is completely empty. Hugh and Tina enter the warehouse after him. "I told you that you wouldn't find anything here," Tina says. Hugh looks around the warehouse. He sees the chair in the corner of the warehouse. "There is a chair. That could be what he ties the victims to," Hugh says as he starts walking towards the chair. Peter approaches the chair as well. When Hugh reaches the chair, he sees that parts of the wood has been carved away. "This could be from a rope," he says and points to the carving marks. "I think we have the right guy," Peter says. Tina walks up towards them. "That is speculation," she says. "If you still can't see who he is, there is no help for you," Peter says and starts looking around the rest of the warehouse. He finds the rope on the floor. He picks it up and looks at it. There is a light shade of red on parts of it. It is blood. "Why don't you explain this then, Tina. If he is so innocent, why would he have a bloody rope and a chair in here?" Peter asks as he approaches her. Tina starts to realise that Caleb might not be the man she thought he was. "I honestly don't know what to say," she says. "Do you believe us now?" he asks. "Yes," she says softly. Peter hands the rope to Hugh so he can look at it too. "We have to take it to the lab to see if it is Sara's. If it is hers, we have proof that Caleb is the killer," Hugh says. "We have to find out when he took her," Peter says. He faces Tina. "When was the last time Caleb was here?" he asks her. "I'm not sure. I will ask the guard," she says and takes her phone out of her pocket. She calls the front gate. "Hi Miles. It's me, Tina. When was the last time Caleb Smith was here?" she asks. She waits for him to respond. "Okay. Thank you, Miles," she says and hangs up. "He left 20 minutes ago. Miles says he looked like he was in a hurry. He spent less than 10 minutes in the complex," she says. "Thank you," Hugh says. "We have to get going," Peter says. He takes his phone out of his pocket. "I will get a forensics team to see if they can find anything we missed. I will ask them to analyse the blood on the rope as well," he adds. They walk outside. Hugh notices the tire tracks. "What car does he drive?" he asks Tina. "I am not sure. I'm not much of a car person, but it will be in the office," she says. "We will stop there on our way out," Hugh says. "The office is next to the gates," Tina says. Peter unlocks his car and they get in. When they get to the gate, Tina takes them to the office. She takes a binder out of a shelf and starts paging through it. She stops when she reaches the page with this information. "Here it is," she says and hands the binder to Peter. He sees that the address is John's. "Don't you have his latest address?" Peter asks. Tina looks confused. "Did he move?" she asks. "Yes. He moved months ago," he replies while scanning the rest of the information. "He drives a white Toyota Corolla 2011 model," Peter says. "Here is the registration number," he adds and points towards it to show Hugh where it is. Hugh quickly writes it down. "Thank you," Peter says and hands the binder back to her. "If you see Caleb, call us immediately," Peter says and hands her his business card. "I will," she says. They leave the warehouse complex and drive back to the office. "So, we are back to square one," Peter says as they are driving. "I wouldn't say that. We have his registration number and car type. We can start searching for him," Hugh says. "That might not be enough. He knows that we are onto him. He will make sure that he isn't seen by anyone," Peter says. The last bit of positivity he got in the last couple of days leave his body. "We have to try. I will make some calls to get his face on every newspaper and news channel in the city. I will arrange roadblocks to check for his car," Hugh suggests. "Do what you think is necessary. We have to find her soon. A killer on the move is a dangerous one. He won't think rationally and might kill her before the end of the night," Peter says. Hugh looks at the surroundings around him. He is starting to get used to life in the states. He still finds the countryside back home the best, but he doesn't hate Los Angeles anymore. They stop in front of the office and head inside. "Did you find him?" one of the receptionists asks. "No, but we are working on it," Hugh says. They go to their office and Hugh starts making phone calls. He sends Caleb's photo to all the local newspapers he can find. The people at the news networks won't show it since there isn't proof that he is the killer. He calls the traffic department and instructs them to have officers searching for Caleb's car. "Let's hope this works," Hugh says. Peter gets a call from forensics an hour later. "Did you find anything?" he asks. "No, but we have our lab working on the DNA on the rope. They will get back to us as soon as they have a match. We will test it against the DNA sample we got from Sara's mother the day she got abducted. If we have a partial match, we will know that it is Sara," the man replies. "Thank you," Peter says and hangs up. "They didn't find anything, but they are testing the blood as we speak. I just wish there was something we could do to find her. I will speak to Carl again. Maybe he has an idea where Caleb could've taken Sara," Peter says. "I will call Miranda to tell her what we know now," Hugh says. "Okay. I will see you later," Peter says and leaves the room. Hugh takes his phone from the table and searches for her name on his contacts. When he finds it, he calls her. Miranda answers immediately. "Did you find her?" she asks. Her voice sounds hopeful, which makes it even harder for him to tell her that they still don't know where Sara is. "Not yet, but we are getting closer. We know who has her. We are working on tracking him down," Hugh says. "Who is he?" she asks. "His name is Caleb Smith," Hugh says. "I don't know him at all. Why would he take her?" she asks. "I don't know. All I know is that we are working hard to find her," Hugh says. "I appreciate your hard work. Please just bring her home soon," she says with sadness heavy in her voice. "I can't promise anything, but we are trying our best. How is Chad doing?" he asks. "He is okay healthwise, but not mentally. He won't stop blaming himself for what happened to her. I keep telling him that he didn't do anything wrong, but he won't listen to me. He is being discharged in an hour," she says. "If you want, I can come talk to him from the law enforcement perspective. I can't guarantee that it will work, but I will try," Hugh offers. "We could use the company," Miranda says. "I will meet you there in an hour," Hugh says. "Thank you. I'll see you then," she replies. They hang up and Hugh puts the phone in his pocket. He walks up to his computer and quickly creates a pamphlet with Caleb's photo telling people to call the department if they see him or know his whereabouts. He puts the phone number of the police department below the picture and prints out 50 pamphlets. He writes a note to Peter to let him know that he is going to the hospital. He takes his car keys and the pamphlets and heads to the parking lot. On his way to the hospital he stops at a few local stores and hands out the pamphlets to the owners to put up in the store. They agree to do it. Hugh sees that he has a message on his phone from Carmen, his ex. He opens it. It says: