Girl, 11 by Amy Clarke (grave mercy TXT) 📗

Elle stared at the photo of the old house. “All the other files are named. I wonder why this is just the auto-generated file number from his phone?”

“The photo was uploaded to the folder five minutes before . . . well before the ME’s best guess on when Leo died, factoring in the window of time between talking to you on the phone and when you found his body.”

That had to mean it was important. This was the last thing Leo found, something he figured out even after he called her, believing he had enough. The bits of evidence collected in the folder made her smile. Leo reminded her so much of herself, the many wild goose chases she spent years following, sure she had the right person so many times. But Leo did have him, and that wiped the smile off her face, because he’d never know that he solved a case that had baffled hundreds of others for so long. He had the distinction of being the one who lost his life for it, though, and for that she would make sure he was remembered.

Finally, she looked at Ayaan. “What do we do now? Douglas has Natalie, and I’m sure he knows we’re after him. He’ll kill her as soon as possible. And we have no idea where he’s gone.”

Before she could answer, Ayaan’s phone rang. She dug it out of her coat pocket and answered. Whatever she heard on the other end made her instantly alert. “What? Where?”

“What’s happening?” Elle whispered, leaning forward.

“Okay, one second, I’m putting you on speaker for Elle.” Ayaan pressed a button and held it up. “Sam found Luisa’s body.”

Elle’s eyes were glued to the phone screen as Sam spoke. “After I got your voicemail, I drove to the abandoned house where we found Luisa’s car. We initially thought she’d run off with her boyfriend, but knowing she was with Stevens, the picture of why she disappeared changed. We got cadaver dogs in the woods near the house an hour ago and found her. In a shallow grave, buried underneath a fallen tree.”

Tears filled Elle’s eyes as she thought about Maria Alvarez learning her daughter had been murdered. “How long?”

“It’s still early, and it’ll be hard to tell, since it’s so cold. The body is pretty well preserved. But given how long neighbors said her car has been here, I’d say she’s been dead over a week. With her hair at Leo’s house, I’d guess she was with Douglas when he killed him, and he killed her afterward to keep her quiet.”

Ayaan met Elle’s gaze, her eyes reflecting the same devastation. “Does she have anything on her?”

“There’s a diary buried underneath her, but it’s . . . well, it’s unreadable now. But her phone was in her car. I’m just charging it up to see if I can get anything off it.”

After updating Sam about the situation at the Stevens house, Ayaan said, “Sam, I need you to look at her phone and see if you can find anything in her maps app. Anything that would show places she visits often, addresses she’s entered recently. It’s our best shot for finding out where Douglas might have taken Natalie.”

He was quiet for a moment and then there was a shuffling sound. He read off a list of her most recent trips, mostly for local department stores and restaurants. But one address made Elle sit up straighter.

“What was that last one?”

“Two thirteen Forest Drive, Stillwater. She went there the day before she was last seen at work.”

Ayaan’s eyes locked on hers. “Did you say two thirteen?”

Elle stood up, vibrating with excitement.

“Yes,” Sam said.

“That was the house number on one of the pictures Leo had on his laptop, the last thing he saved.” Elle rubbed her chest with shaking fingers. “Sam, do you have your tablet? Can you find out who owns that property?”

“Sure, let me check.” There was another brief silence. “The owners are Mark and Betty Miller. They’re in their sixties; I’m guessing it’s a summer home. Looks like they bought it from the bank about six months ago. It was an escheatment, forfeited to the state after the previous owner died, so it went cheap.”

“Who owned it before the state?” Ayaan asked. From the look in her eyes, Elle guessed that the commander already suspected the same thing she did.

“Hold on. Ah, got it. Shit. The previous owner was Douglas Josiah Stevens, our college professor’s father.”

44

Elle

January 20, 2020

It took almost a half an hour to get to Stillwater, even blasting the speed limit with the siren on. After Ayaan called for more backup to the house, Elle couldn’t stand the silence, trying to push through the panic as they sped along Highway 36.

“Why do you think Douglas gave up his dad’s property? Even if the guy died without a will, his son still had a right to it, didn’t he?”

Ayaan nodded. “State law would automatically hand over the house to any living children or other relatives, if there was no spouse. It’s rare for property to escheat to the state. So, either the lawyers couldn’t find Douglas Jr. to hand over the assets, or they found him and he relinquished his rights.”

“It doesn’t make sense. If this is his kill site and he planned to start taking girls again, why wouldn’t he claim the house?”

As she took the next exit, Ayaan cut the lights and sirens. “Maybe this wasn’t his planned kill site. We know he used the cabin where you were kept back in the nineties; his father was alive, so it would have been too risky to use his house then. If he murdered Luisa and dumped her body at that abandoned place in Shoreview, maybe that’s where he planned to take Amanda and Natalie too.”

Elle fidgeted in her seat, shaking with adrenaline. “That must be what made him break his pattern. He accidentally killed Amanda early, and then when