Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 128488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“Maybe whoever they abducted died in their cages.”
Her mouth set. “They would have been found eventually, though, right? I mean, especially if this was a trafficking network. It wouldn’t have just stopped with you. Things as lucrative as selling humans seldom do.”
He sighed. It was a horrifying fact. “No, you’re right. I just can’t believe it . . . ended. That after we escaped, whoever was behind what happened to us packed their bags and called it a day. This was sophisticated stuff. Cameras. Potentially flying people in who had rented us from behind a computer somewhere. This was a big operation.”
“The problem is, it was conducted from a random abandoned factory in Mexico.”
Yes, yes, he knew that very well. The FBI had looked at the owner of what had once been a textiles business. The business had set up shop on the outskirts of several low-income towns, hoping to not only attract a workforce but help address the poverty of the area. Evan wasn’t sure where that plan had gone awry, but the business owner had moved back to the States less than five years after construction was complete and the doors were opened. It had remained abandoned for three years before Evan and Noelle found themselves caged in what had once been a large workshop teeming with seamstresses creating apparel. “And an abandoned factory that burned down at that,” he muttered. Maybe there would have been more forensics to find had the entire place not gone up in flames. For a second he smelled the smoke, felt the burn of his lungs as he pulled in a breath. He let out a long exhale, taking a deep swallow of his beer.
“I appreciate this,” he said, tapping the folder. “It might be something.”
She nodded. “Or he might be batshit crazy,” she said on a small laugh. “The guy is seventy years old and has been in and out of rehab. Also, he’s currently in the slammer for breaking and entering, so if you want his story, you’ll have to go visit FCI Beaumont in Beaumont, Texas.”
Jeez. That was a trek.
“Thanks, Aria,” he said, closing the folder. He would read it more thoroughly later when he was alone. And if his gut said it was worthwhile, maybe he’d pay the guy a visit. If the FBI hadn’t made headway with Evan’s case, he wasn’t likely to, either, especially almost a decade later. But trying, at the very least, was a burning need inside him. And so he wouldn’t give up.
“One other thing,” Aria said, removing another folder. “You asked me to dig up anything not in public databases about Noelle’s father.”
“Did you find something?” The FBI had looked into their fathers’ connection, including the two men’s personal and legal history, but hadn’t found that it led anywhere as far as Evan and Noelle’s abduction. That part was still odd and unsolved, but Evan still believed that that was no coincidence. If not, though, how did it factor in? If he could figure that out, he had a feeling it would lead to more. Much more.
“There wasn’t anything else regarding their legal case than what you’d already told me. The shooting of Megan Meyer was rehashed in court. And you have those records.”
Evan nodded. He’d already been somewhat familiar with the case, as he’d been living with his father when it’d been litigated. Still, he’d read through every word and learned all the details of exactly what had happened that fateful day his father shot the scorned woman he’d been having an affair with.
A mistake. A tragedy. One his father was deemed not guilty for by a jury of his peers.
“If it’s not relating to the court case, what is it?”
Aria pulled a folded piece of paper from her purse and handed it to him, speaking as he opened it. “He filed a police report on behalf of a friend right before Noelle was reported missing.”
Evan frowned. “Really?”
Aria nodded. “It might not be related to Noelle’s abduction in any way, but I thought it was a bit coincidental that his daughter went missing within a couple days of a friend of his going missing too.”
He scanned the document. Had the FBI discovered this? If they did, he didn’t know about it. Either they’d missed it or investigated and found it to be unrelated. Maybe the FBI didn’t even know about it, because the person who filed the police report on Noelle was her friend Paula Hathaway. Apparently, according to Paula, she was the one who’d first felt an internal alarm after days of not hearing back from Noelle. She’d called Noelle’s father, who had informed her he hadn’t seen her in person either. He’d hung up after telling Paula he was going to check her room and other areas of the house to determine if she’d been home. When Paula didn’t immediately hear back from him, she called the police. What she hadn’t known was sometime between that phone call and the police arriving at his home to take his statement regarding Noelle, he had died of a heart attack. “Dow Maginn,” he muttered, bringing himself back to what Aria had just said about Mr. Meyer’s missing friend. “Was he found?”