Left to Vanish (An Adele Sharp Mystery—Book Eight) by Blake Pierce (books to read for 13 year olds .txt) 📗

If it saved lives, she supposed she could wait a moment.

Perhaps she was losing her instincts as an investigator.Perhaps she never had them. Agent Paige seemed to think she was at leastsomewhat good at her job. But Robert was dead. Her mother was dead. And fornow, the killer had escaped custody. If she didn’t hurry, she’d receive theultimate proof she had never known what she was doing to begin with.

She simply couldn’t let that happen.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Adele watched their third taxi driver in the same day shootuncomfortable glances toward Agent Paige. The older detective had her sidearmresting in her lap while examining the device.

Despite the obvious discomfort of their chauffeur, AgentPaige remained on task, saying, “Repeat that for me; are you sure?”

Adele, sitting in the backseat, lowered her phone, hercheek prickling from where the device had been pressed moments before. Sheswallowed, saying, “He has a record. Hassling some of the property owners, evenstooping to vandalism.”

Agent Paige glanced back, mercifully tucking her gun backinto the holster. “Violent?”

Adele shrugged. “It sounds like Mr. Gregor Lavigne snuckinto the basement of one of the new constructions and set fire to the place.According to him, he’d been told the building was slated for demolition anyway.”

Agent Paige whistled softly, and then, her eyes darting,she snapped, “Keep your eyes on the road.” She tapped the GPS with a firmfinger, “Get us there, fast.” The driver snapped to attention, his fingersgripping the steering wheel. Paige returned her attention to Adele as ifnothing had happened. “So he tried to burn down the house?”

“According to the police report, which is from seven yearsago, he was just trying to send a message. To his credit, no one was living inthe house at the time.”

“Still, arson, harassment, vandalism.” Paige nodded,returning her attention through the windshield to the road as they movedquickly through the coastal region. The address for Gregor Lavigne led to aless reputable, more run down part of the town. Adele could feel her hearthammering as they moved quickly. She checked her phone again as it buzzed,sliding to the file sent to her by the local police. Again, she scanned throughthe contents, reading the police reports with quick, skimming bursts in betweenglances out the window.

She could feel her heart quickening, her eyes fixed throughthe windshield ahead.

Adele said, quickly, “Is the address right?”

The taxi driver cleared his throat. “Number fifteen,” hesaid, “yes?”

Adele nodded, pressing back now and lowering her phone. Herown hand strayed to her firearm at her hip. She pressed her fingers to theholster, closing her eyes for a moment and feeling a strange reassurance.

There were closing in. Gregor Lavigne, of LavignePreservation, had a history with the victims, trying to get their propertieswith lowball offers. He’d been proven to have a temper according to Mr. Becker,citing God and his faith as entitlements to these properties. And now it hadbecome clear he had a rap sheet as well. Arson, vandalism, harassment. Could hehave escalated?

She leaned forward now, peering past the taxi driver’sshoulder, her eyes fixed ahead. The driver was slowing, rolling past some ofthe more run-down, single-story houses lining either side of the street. Acouple of duplexes, and even some townhouses at the edge of a cul-de-sac werealso worn, with old coats of paint, and yards given to neglect.

Adele scanned the peeling numbers on one of the houses… 12.

“We’re getting close,” she said.

At that moment, she heard the rumble of an engine. Shelooked ahead, brow furrowing, as an old gray sedan with a duct-taped windowbegan to back out of a communal driveway.

They continued to trundle forward along the curb, the tiresscraping against the cement. Adele’s eyes landed on the two digits of the houseoutside the shared driveway.

15.

“That’s it,” she said, suddenly pointing.

Agent Paige leaned forward, looking through the windshieldat the car backing out. “Is that him? Is that him?” she repeated, urgently.

Adele rolled down her own window, trying to get a goodlook. For a moment, as the car backed out, she glimpsed a swarthy face with athick, bushy beard.

The beard was more wild than it had been in the photo thepolice had provided her, but the man’s squinting eyes and comb-over wereunmistakable.

“It’s him, it’s him!” Adele said.

Agent Paige yelled out of the front of the car. “Stop!”

This didn’t work. The car backing out of the drive continuedto pick up pace.

“Block him off,” Agent Paige said hurriedly.

Instead, the taxi driver froze, instinctively slamming onthe brakes to avoid hitting the car.

“Dammit,” Paige screamed.

Ahead, through the windshield, Adele thought she spottedMr. Lavigne glance into the rearview mirror. His squinting eyes widened in hisfuzzy face, and for a moment, their eyes locked.

Adele breathed heavily, willing the man to put his car inpark, to stop.

And for a moment, it seemed like that was exactly what hemight do.

Adele watched with bated breath, waiting as the car pausedat the edge of the driveway, its red brake lights flashing, one of them dimmerthan the other. For a moment, everything seemed frozen in time.

And then Mr. Lavigne’s car screeched, jerking backward andpulling sharply away, picking up speed as it began to move down the road, back towardthe highway.

“Dammit,” Agent Paige repeated. “Get out now, get out, youimbecile!” She shoved sharply at the taxi driver, who tried to protest, butAgent Paige said, “Government necessity. Get out.”

The taxi driver seemed ready to protest further, but asAgent Paige shoved at his shoulder, her clothing shifted, revealing her holsteronce more, and trembling and cursing, the driver quickly slid out of the frontseat, moving onto the sidewalk.

“He’s getting away,” Adele shouted.

Agent Paige was already sliding in the driver’s seat, notbothering to buckle, before putting the car in drive and with an equally loudscreech, tearing away from the curb and spinning the car, leaving rubber on theground as she aimed for the fleeing jalopy.

Adele could hear the protests and shouts of the taxi driverbehind them, feeling a jolt of sympathy and making a mental note to make surethe man was compensated for any damage or wasted time. But for now, Mr. Lavignewas getting further away.

She watched as the duct-taped window turned,