One Last Step by Sarah Sutton (free e books to read TXT) 📗

The man nodded as his bottom lip quivered.

Warren leaned forward, placing his elbows on the table and readying himself to try again. “I know this isn’t easy,” he began. “But can you tell us when you spoke to her last?”

The man nodded. “Ye-yesterday morning.”

His voice cracked as he said the words, but the clarity of response caused both Tara and Warren to suddenly lean forward even more.

“Did anything seem off to you?” Warren asked, now sitting at the edge of his seat. “Did she ever mention anyone? Maybe someone she met on the trail?”

Again, the man shook his head, and Warren’s body relaxed again in disappointment. “No one,” he said. “And she always seemed happy when I spoke to her.”

“Did she ever mention a compass? Or engravings on a tree?”

The man looked at Warren in confusion. “No.”

Warren sat back into his chair. “How often did you two speak?” he asked.

“We tried to every day. It depended if she had cell phone service, but she checked in pretty regularly, sometimes just a text.”

Tara listened intently as she gained the impression that he and his daughter were close. But as close as they seemed, Tara knew that any daughter would keep some things to herself—especially a possible love interest.

“Do you know if she stayed at any campsites?” Tara finally asked. She knew it would be the prime place to meet someone on such a solo adventure.

“I was just keeping track of where she was on the trail. I’m not too sure what campsites she stayed at.”

He shook his head again as he looked back down at the picture, rubbing his thumb hard back and forth against the image, reminding Tara that his moment of composure could soon come to a close.

“Do you know where she was when you spoke to her last?”

He wiped a few tears off his cheek. “Yeah…she mentioned she was leaving Hanover.”

His words sent a jolt through Tara’s body and she suddenly looked back at Warren, only to be met with the same question in his eyes.

“Did she decide to head back home after Hanover?” she asked, wondering if maybe she decided to head back up to Maine, which would explain the location of her body.

“No, why? She was heading to Pennsylvania.” The man looked up as his thumb paused in motion.

A silence fell around them and Tara looked from the man to Warren, who suddenly opened his mouth.

“Sir, your daughter was found about six miles north of Hanover.”

The man scrunched his face into confusion.

“But that doesn’t make sense,” he said. “She was moving south.”

Tara’s mind raced, visualizing each piece of the puzzle for what it was and forcing them together until one of them fit. It was what the sheriff mentioned earlier, that the first two victims were spotted at a camping store in the same town.

“Do you know where she stopped in Hanover?” Tara asked.

The man sniffled as he leaned his face onto his fist.

“Yeah, she mentioned she needed a new water jug. I think she stopped at some store to get one.”

Tara looked at Warren, but he was already out of his chair. They now had a lead.

Chapter Seven

“I think this is it,” Warren said as he pulled up on the side of the road and looked over at one of the stores.

Tara saw a large wooden sign hanging over the entrance with BAKER’S OUTDOOR GEAR etched into it. It was the only camping store in town, and named after the owner and man the sheriff mentioned he already interviewed, Tom Baker.

Moments later Tara and Warren stood in the store while the bells atop the closing door behind them settled into a hum. The aroma of fresh leather and new merchandise surrounded them, but not a single person.

“Just a minute!” they heard coming from the employee-only section of the store, followed by hurried footsteps and then the emergence of a middle-aged man. “Sorry about that,” he said. “We just opened up, I was checking the inventory.” He placed his reading glasses onto the counter and then looked up, realizing for the first time who they might be. “How can I help you?”

“Are you Tom Baker?” Warren asked.

“Yes, that’s me.”

Warren flashed his badge. “We’re with the FBI, we just wanted to ask you a couple questions.”

“Ask away, but I already told the police all I know.” He sighed as he took a seat behind the counter and started counting money in the register.

“It won’t take long,” Warren said as he placed pictures of the three victims onto the counter. “Do any of these people look familiar to you?”

The man looked down, his eyes moving from one image to the next, before back and forth between two of them. “I already told police this,” he said, agitated. “They came in here, the couple, but it was brief.”

“And her?” Warren slid the image of the third victim closer to him.

The man shook his head. “I already told police I’ve never seen her before.” He held his gaze on the image for a moment longer before lifting his head. “I’m sorry, I wish I could be more help.”

A silence fell around them and Tara took the moment to scan the walls, searching for any sign of a surveillance camera. In the corner of the ceiling, her eyes fell upon one.

“Do you sell compasses here?” Warren continued his questioning as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic bag containing one of the compasses. The man nodded skeptically as Warren placed it down on the counter in front of him. “Do you sell ones that look like this?”

The man glanced at it briefly before shaking his head. “Not ones made of brass,” the man replied.

“Do you know where someone could’ve bought this?”

The man shrugged before putting on his reading glasses. He sighed once again as he bent down closer to the object. “It’s hard to say, you can really buy these anywhere online nowadays.”

The edge of Warren’s mouth curled in disappointment as