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

“I bet she takes the stairs a lot.” Atlas commented as he noticed her door was only a few down and to the left from where they came out. He knocked on her door.

The officer who had answered the boyfriends call opened the door and after they flashed their badges, he motioned them inside.

Just as before, Atlas talked to the officer while Naya walked into the kitchen where the boyfriend was standing, his eyes wide in thought and red rimmed.

“Hello, I’m Detective Largusa.” She held out her. The young man looked at her, lost for a moment, when he recovered, he hastened to shake her hand almost stumbling as he did so. He was an absolute mess.

“Justin.” He said and leaned on the counter behind him. “I know you all think I’m nuts, but this is not like Alia. She’s a smart girl, she knows how dangerous running alone is. That’s why she always tells me exactly when she will be back.”

Naya nodded in sympathy. “I understand. Does she always run the same route?”

“No, almost never. I mean she has favorite routes, but she always changes the exact streets in case anyone’s watching. She even changes up the days. She runs two to three times a week, either Monday or Tuesday, then Thursday or Friday, and sometimes a run on the weekend. And she does it at random depending on her work schedule. She tries to be as unpredictable as possible.”

Wow, Naya had to admit, this girl had done everything right when it had come to running safety. The guy they were looking for must have some other way of finding these women. Naya was beginning to think that maybe he was a runner himself who was meeting them and running with them.

“Did she ever run with anyone?” She pried.

“No, never.” Justin didn’t hesitate. “I wanted her to. But running was her safe space. She liked the alone time.”

Naya wondered if perhaps their killer was an attractive young man and that maybe these women didn’t want to tell their significant others they were running with him. Then her mind snapped back to Julia Charles and she realized that the theory didn’t fit that narrative. Julia would have probably mentioned it to her parents she was running with an older man. Unless he perhaps looked like a high school or college kid, but that seemed improbable, and she still might’ve said something.

The more Naya thought about it, the more she was sure that there had to be a personal connection she was missing. How could this guy abduct so many women so easily, and without leaving a trace?

“Was she a fast runner?”

Justin nodded. “Average, but fast enough, that’s  why I was generally okay with her running alone as long as she took precautions, she can speed up pretty randomly as needed and that’s why I didn’t think anyone would ever really be able to catch her if she ran into problems.”

Atlas came up behind Naya, placing an arm on her shoulder. “Justin, my colleague Officer Bartel will be staying here with you if you need anything.” He grabbed a card out of his pocket. “Give us a call if you think of anything else, or if she comes back after Bartel has left.”

“Where are you going?” He challenged.

“To go look for her.” Atlas answered in a calm and collected tone, which Naya knew was to diffuse him.

“Oh okay. Cool. Find her, please. She’s my whole life.” He turned and leaned his elbows on the counter and covered his face. It was clear he was trying to hide his emotions from them.

Atlas nodded and took Naya’s wrist to lead her out of the apartment and give the young man some privacy. Once they were out, he glanced around the hallway. It looked like there were six apartments on each floor.

“Generally, I would say we should canvas, beginning with the neighbors, but that is just going to take too long here.”

“Agreed. Let’s head out to the street.” Naya concurred and they jogged down the stairs and out the front door.

“So, like the others, she’s a smart runner. No typical path, runs at random times…” Atlas said, and Naya mirrored his frustration.

“I don’t care what Brody wants, I think it’s time he held a press conference and warned female runners in the area.”

Atlas nodded. “I think he might already be on it. After all, he called me while I was on my way to work this morning, and he sounded just as frustrated as we are.”

“Good.” Naya grumbled as she looked up and down the street. “Now how is he getting these girls? None of them make the typical mistake predators capitalize on where they run the same path at the same time.”

Atlas shrugged, but when he spotted a corner store imbedded in the building to the right began to beeline for it. Naya followed.

Before going in he stopped and looked up at the eave, looking for cameras, Naya did the same and noticed that there was one pointed at the door. Maybe that could help.

Atlas went inside to ask for the tapes while Naya watched the people meandering on the street. It seemed fairly active and it was daylight. How did no one notice a woman getting abducted?

She sighed, she knew exactly how. There were countless stories of women being drugged and then people on the street thinking the woman was just drunk and with her boyfriend. It was possible he was drugging these girls. It was also possible that he was threatening them and they appeared to be going willingly. People were not as observant as one would think.

Atlas came out and stood right next to her, placing a cup of gas station quality coffee in her hand.

“Really? Coffee?” She laughed as she