One Last Breath by Sarah Sutton (speld decodable readers txt) 📗

the wall briefly before retrieving what he was looking for. He placed it down on the counter in front of Tara and Warren. “This should do the trick.”

Tara thanked him, but she knew they weren’t done yet. They didn’t have time to drive back to the station. They needed to know what was on that memory card now. She looked at Warren and knew he had the same thought as well. She turned back to the owner. “Could we take a look at this on your computer?” She waved the memory card in her hand as she spoke.

The man sighed. “What are you looking for anyway?” he asked skeptically. “Is this about those missing girls?”

Tara nodded. She didn’t even need to plead with him anymore. That was all the confirmation he needed. He shook his head. She could see it troubled him. “If it’ll help keep that sicko off the streets, by all means, use my computer.” His eyes moved to the entrance of the store before he pursed his lips and turned on his heels. “It’s best if you use the one in the back, in case any customers come in.” He waved his hand for them to follow him as he walked to the end of the counter and pulled open a door with an Employees Only plaque on it. Tara grabbed the adapter off the counter, and she and Warren quickly followed him.

He led them into a small office that contained a computer, a filing cabinet, and loads of camera gear. Tara and Warren stood around him as he powered the computer on and explained how to use the adapter. “I’ll leave the rest to you guys,” he said before stepping out of the room.

They waited until he was good distance away. They needed to make sure that the evidence was completely sealed, that he had no chance of walking in. And when he finally was gone, they turned back to the computer. Tara felt her palms begin to sweat as she pulled the memory card out of the evidence bag and placed it carefully into the adapter.

She and Warren waited anxiously for the memory card to pop up on the screen. Tara was unable to blink until an icon appeared on the desktop. They both leaned in closer. When Tara clicked on the icon with the mouse, a window popped up, and within it, photo files appeared. Tara heaved a deep sigh as she looked at Warren. Part of her was excited at the possibility that they had found evidence, but another part was fearful. She could see the same pull of emotions dance in Warren’s eyes that were steadily glued to the screen.

She let the mouse hover over one of the images as she prepared herself for whatever she was about to see. She knew she was possibly about to see pictures of the victims, in what way she did not know, but she prepared for every possibility. She steadied herself and let her finger click on an image. As it opened, she heaved a sigh of relief. It wasn’t a victim. In fact, it was nothing like she expected. Staring back at her was the image of a house, fully ablaze. Flames burned wildly through the roof, tearing it into pieces. Windows were blown out. It looked like a horrific fire, but Tara had no clue what it could mean.

She looked at the next image. It was the same fire, but this time firefighters were there. One of them was helping an elderly woman across the lawn. Others stood in formation, holding a hose, about to extinguish the flames.

Tara was now even more unsure if the memory card had been left on purpose or strategically. The images didn’t make sense; they were completely unrelated. But part of her wondered if that was the exact reason why the killer would’ve left them behind. After all, the card had no prints on it.

Warren caught Tara’s perplexed expression “Maybe the killer is trying to throw us off,” he suggested.

It was her exact thought as well. “It does seem odd that it had no prints. If it fell out of his pocket or he dropped it, it’s unlikely it wouldn’t have some sort of forensic evidence on it.”

But she still wasn’t convinced the pictures were all for nothing. There had to be clues. She looked at two more pictures, each another development of the fire. One was a wide shot of the police activity, the fire almost extinguished. The other was a close-up of the damaged home.

Tara studied both pictures as frustration boiled. They needed something, anything that would give them a lead. They could find where the fire was, have someone help them identify who took the photos. But like Warren said, what if it was all just a means to throw them off track? What if it just wasted precious time? What if these were someone else’s photos that were planted at the scene to steer Tara and Warren off course?

She exhaled deeply as she clicked the last image. She waited a moment for it open, expecting to see just another image of the fire. But when it opened, her eyes opened wide. What she had feared all along rose up inside her like a sudden sickness. Warren gasped. Tara looked away instinctively for just a moment as she let the shock subside into a controlled reality.

When she looked back at the screen, she was met by Sofia’s terrified eyes. They were bloodshot and wet with tears, and she stared pleadingly at the camera. A chill ran up Tara’s spine.

She was lying on what looked like a concrete surface of an unfinished basement or something similar. The picture was taken from above, giving a full aerial view of her on the floor. Her feet were bound with rope, her mouth was duct-taped, and her hands were hidden behind her back; Tara assumed they were also tied.

She turned to Warren, but for a moment he didn’t even