You Can't Run by Hope Davis (best way to read books .txt) 📗

This one isn’t quite a girl though. Shanice Woods. Thirty-two, mother of two. Her husband called when she didn’t return from her run.”

“So, he likes runners then.” She considered this as she slid on her pants and placed her gun in its holster.

“It would seem so.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a minute, but Naya had an idea. “Listen Atlas, maybe I’m going out on a limb here. But I don’t think we should waste time interviewing the husband and kids. I think we should let the patrol guys handle that this time.”

“I agree.”

“We should see if we can find out her regular route from them, head there and see if there could’ve been any witnesses around or anyone suspicious.” Naya tiptoed down the stairs, looking in on Vance as always. She was surprised to see him awake and sitting up in bed. She held up her finger and looked away from him. “I’ll meet you at the station in twenty.”

“Sure thing, hop in my car when you get here.”

“Will do.” Naya hung up the call and looked back towards Vance. He had a book open on his lap and she could see dark circles under his eyes, she wondered how long he had been having trouble sleeping.

“Everything okay?” She asked.

“I’m fine. Seems I can go to bed nice and early with as tired as I am these days..” A shy smile playing on his lips.

Naya went over and sat on the bed with him for a moment. “How are you liking Derek?” She asked reluctantly. It felt weird to have a conversation with her older brother about his caretaker.

He shrugged. “He’s okay. I’m trying to stay positive about this whole thing,” he motioned to his legs covered by the blanket, “But it’s hard. Derek is cool though. Kevin and I got him into our Call of Duty rotation.”

Naya nodded slowly, knowing what she had to say next. She looked away from her brothers face and towards the wall. “Derek wants me to get you a wheelchair...”

“That would be best, yes.” He answered in a way that was so calm and collected, for a minute Naya forgot what a serious topic this was. For a second he was just her brother again, having a mundane conversation about something like grocery shopping and not the impact of his cancer. It was hard to believe he was able to stay so objective about something so life altering.

She turned back to look at his face, and all it took was seeing the dark circles under his eyes to remind her of where they were and their reality, and that she had to be going.

“Alright, I’ve got to go, but call me if there’s an emergency okay? No Derek today, but there is still lunch in the fridge for you. Middle shelf.” She said this as if he didn’t know, though she knew he did.

“Thanks mom.” Rolling his eyes, a half-smile back on his face.

“You’re welcome son.” She joked right back, ruffling his hair like she used to do when they were kids. It wasn’t until she locked the front door and looked down at her hand that she noticed it was covered in his hair.

Her breath caught and she fought back the tears that threatened to spill as she turned away from the door.

She had work to do, she would have to deal with her turmoil later.

CHAPTER 8

NAYA

“Turn left on 88th.” Naya directed, looking down at the hastily scribbled notes in her hand.

“Hmm…” Atlas surveyed the dark horizon. “This is so…rural.”

Fields lined the road on either side, a single double yellow line reflected their headlights back at them, there were no streetlights, no sidewalks either.

“Are you sure this was the route Shanice’s husband gave?” She glanced back at the notes, they weren’t all that descriptive.

“Yeah. And I know this is a grown woman we’re talking about, but I would be nervous to run this road at night.” Atlas slowed the car as there was motion off to the left.

Naya leaned over to get a better look “Raccoon?”

“Yeah… This is weird, although, her husband did say she was a former long distance marathoner and fast. He said her average mile time could get as low as a six-minute mile.”

She let out a low whistle. “And our guy managed to grab her? He’d have to be pretty fast himself?”

They were both quiet for a second. “I guess we shouldn’t assume this is the same guy.” Naya added. “After all, she’s a full-grown woman, maybe she just went further than normal?”

“No.” Atlas shook his head. “I know we’re supposed to keep an open mind, but it’s too similar. Two late night runners disappearing within a week of each other isn’t a coincidence.” He let out a huff. “And I don’t care what anyone says. No mother of two children is still out at three in the morning when she told her husband she would be home at ten as always.”

Naya shared his belief.

“Turn right.”

Atlas did and Naya surveyed the area around them. They were almost back to the Woods’ house. “I wish there was a chance that there was a witness, but I’m thinking not.”

“Maybe we should’ve detained the raccoon.” Atlas joked and Naya laughed.

“I don’t think we have cuffs small enough.” She yawned. “Well, we are almost back to her home, but I need coffee. We aren’t going to be sleeping any time soon.”

“You’re right. I think there’s a 24-hour drive-thru on the way back to the station.”

“Thank god.”

They laid out everything they had on the conference room table and then Atlas rearranged the pictures of Julia Charles he had taped to the white board. Naya took a gulp of her coffee and tried not to yawn. She needed some