Broken Road (42 page)

“I said no more—”

“Elite Enterprises. He works in the warehouse,” Morgan said quickly and loudly.

“Ms. Billings,” said the officer.

“I’m sorry,” she said and then was led away with her three police escorts. As she passed Jarrod, she quickly said, “I’m so sorry for everything. I’ll do whatever I can—”

“This way, Ms. Billings,” said the officer again as he impatiently grabbed her by the elbow and began to pull her firmly away. She looked toward Detective Lieutenant Robert’s office and stopped for a brief moment to look at her uncle, who was staring back at her through the open door. She was unable to wipe away her tears because her hands were bound together behind her, but she mouthed the words, “I’m sorry” and then was forced to continue past the office. He simply turned away from her.

Soon after, Detective Lieutenant Roberts entered the station and headed straight for his office. As the detective entered the office, he immediately sat down behind his desk. He motioned for Willie to sit and Jarrod as well, who had followed him and was now standing in the doorway. Sergeant Powers came in with the messages and informed him they were leads that were called in and that four of them had already been looked into and turned out to be false. The detective nodded and asked him to close the door on the way out.

“Let me update you on what’s going on. As you may already know through Detective Anderson, we went to Langdon’s house earlier today and found his other roommate, Nathan Daniels. There are a total of four people living there. He showed us into Langdon’s room and you wouldn’t believe the amount of pictures he had of your daughter,” he said to Willie while shaking his head.

“It was like a shrine dedicated to her. We tore the room apart, but found nothing else. Fingerprints are being lifted, photographs are being taken, and items that could possibly be used as incriminating evidence have been seized.” He hesitated for just a moment and then said, “I spoke briefly with Ms. Billings. As soon as she informed me where Ms. Skyler was, I left.” Jarrod and Willie both stiffened and leaned forward at the same time. “She gave us the name of the motel, but when we got there, Langdon had already left with Ms. Skyler. We found a note, but nothing more. I also left men there and the same steps are being taken there as at the house. We checked with the owner of the motel, and he said that a woman had booked the room until Tuesday. Based on his description of her, I’m assuming it was Ms. Billings. That can be easily confirmed.”

“What did the note say?” asked Willie.

The detective looked at him sadly and replied, “It said ‘Follow us and she’s as good as dead.’”

Willie turned his head away and covered his face with his hand. Jarrod heard the sound of a choked sob and placed his hand on his shoulder for support.

“Why was the room booked until Tuesday?” Jarrod asked as he tried valiantly to shake the fear that was tearing him up inside.

“I don’t know yet. I’m going to continue questioning Ms. Billings in a few minutes and hopefully I’ll get all the answers we need. In the meantime, I…uh…I understand how anxious the two of you must be, but I honestly think it might be best for you both to return to the hotel. There’s nothing either one of you can do here. Mr. Skyler, I’m sure your wife must be desperate and in need of your support and comfort right now. I promise as soon as we find out anything, we’ll let you know. Go back to the hotel and get some rest.”

Both Jarrod and Willie looked at each other hesitantly and then finally agreed it would be the best thing. They shook hands with the detective, thanked him, and then walked out of his office.

Once they reached the main entrance, Jarrod turned around and saw Detective Lieutenant Roberts step out of his office and head down the long hall. The message taken by Detective Bradley just kept nagging at his mind. Acting on impulse, he quickly informed Willie he had left something in the detective’s office and needed to go back to retrieve it. He also said he needed to take care of something important that could not wait and would meet him back at the hotel soon after he completed his task. Willie raised his brows in surprise, for he couldn’t imagine what could be more important than the disappearance of his daughter, but he decided against prying and nodded. They parted ways, with Willie heading toward the lot where his car was parked.

Jarrod nonchalantly walked back toward the detective’s office and immediately noticed that most of the police officers and detectives, with the exception of Detective Lieutenant Roberts, were convened in the communications room. This was his perfect opportunity to retrieve the information that was given to the detective earlier. He had been able to memorize the name of the caller, but did not have time to obtain the phone number. He casually walked toward his office and was able to slip in without being noticed. Quickly glancing out the door to make sure no one was watching, he swiftly grabbed the paper and wrote down the information on a blank slip he picked up from the corner of the desk. He placed the original back in its place and slipped his copy into his back pocket. As he turned around, he noticed an officer coming out of the communications room, heading directly toward him.

“Can I help you?” he asked in a firm voice. “What are you doing in Detective Lieutenant Robert’s office?”

Jarrod hastily came up with the excuse that he had left his cell phone in there and did not want to disrupt the meeting taking place in the other room. The officer eyed him suspiciously and asked, “Where’s your phone?”

“I have it now.” He pulled it out of his front pocket to show him. The officer still wasn’t sold and began to ask him another question when another officer interrupted them by saying, “What’s going on, Galanti?”

Officer Galanti told him he had seen Jarrod walking into the detective’s empty office and came out to find out what was going on.

“I had left my cell phone in his office. I just came back in to get it, and I saw that almost everyone was in a meeting.” Jarrod motioned toward the windows of the communications room. “I knew it would only take a second to get it, and I didn’t want to interrupt to ask permission to go in. I’m sorry if it’s caused a problem.”

“No…no problem at all. Galanti, it’s fine. You just came on shift a little while ago, so you don’t know. Detective Lieutenant Roberts had offered them the use of his office while he conducted the interview with the Billings girl. Go back into the meeting. I’ll rejoin you in a minute.”

“Yes, Captain,” he said as he left, but not before giving Jarrod another suspicious once-over.

Jarrod thanked the captain and left.
That was close
, he thought. He ran down the steps and rushed toward the parking lot when suddenly he remembered he had no car. Damn. He had left it at the hotel, deciding to ride with Willie in his car. Well, it wasn’t that far to the hotel, he tried to convince himself. He began to run fast and hard, as if his life depended on it. No, as if Angel’s life depended on it, which was likely. Keeping that thought in mind, he continued to run, not allowing himself to feel the soreness in his still not fully recovered leg or the constricting pain in his chest from trying to take air into his lungs. He wouldn’t permit his body to give up; he had never pushed it as hard as he did now, mainly because nothing had ever mattered as much as it did now.

He finally reached the hotel parking lot after an intense two-mile run. He saw that Willie’s car was parked right next to his. If Jarrod had the strength to kick himself in the ass for not riding back with Willie, he would have. He slowed his run down to a jog and made it to his old, reliable Neon. He took a moment to catch his breath before unlocking the door and settling into the driver’s seat. He made sure he was breathing at a normal rate before he began to dial the number on the paper. He listened as it rang once, twice, three times before it was picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hello. May I speak with…” He quickly glanced at the name on the paper in his hand. “Nick Scott?”

“I’m Nick Scott. Who are you?”

“This is Lieutenant Wentworth of the Gainesville Police Department. I’m calling because a message was left at the station that you have some information pertaining to the missing Skyler girl case.” Jarrod detested the sound of his voice when forced to speak in such an uncaring, impervious manner.

“I do. I don’t know how relevant it is, but I thought the police would want to know anything and everything that might somehow pertain to the case.”

“We appreciate that,” Jarrod said as he leaned over and took out a small notebook and pen from the glove compartment. “What can you tell me?”

“Well, Benjamin and I are coworkers—”

“Where do you work?” Jarrod asked in anticipation.

“Elite Enterprises on University Avenue.”

Jarrod closed his eyes in relief. He had desperately hoped he would say that. “Go on.”

“As I was saying, he and I work together. We’re not buddies or anything even near that. To be honest, he doesn’t have any friends at work. Real strange guy. Keeps to himself a lot…”

“Go on, Mr. Scott,” Jarrod said, wanting him to get to the point, but not wanting to appear too anxious.

“Ummm…where was I?”

“You work together, but you’re not friends and the guy is weird. What else? Is there anything more you can tell me?” Although he didn’t want to seem unprofessional, he just didn’t have the time or energy to squander on obtaining information he already had. Aside from a catnap here and there, he hadn’t slept much in over twenty-four hours and was beginning to feel the effects.

“Yeah, there’s more. About two weeks ago, I was having lunch with a group of friends in the lunchroom. Benjamin was sitting alone at a table next to us, and he overheard me telling my friends I was looking to rent out a small cabin that I own for weekend getaways and such.”

Jarrod’s eyes opened wide and his brows shot up in hope and eagerness.

“Where exactly is this cabin located?”

“Georgia,” said Mr. Scott.

“Excuse me?”

“Georgia. Thomasville, Georgia.”

Jarrod felt his stomach drop. He hadn’t been living in Florida long enough to know how far or even how close Thomasville, Georgia, was to Gainesville, but he did know that Georgia was not right around the corner.

“He came over to the table and asked a few questions about the cabin. Mainly he wanted to know about its exact location. He asked how far it was from the nearest highway and town, and he also wanted to know how close the nearest neighbor was. He made it obvious he was looking for someplace secluded, out of the way. I answered all of his questions and he seemed really interested, but then he said he wanted to check it out first.”

“Didn’t you find it strange that he would be willing to drive so far just to check out a place for a weekend getaway?”

“It’s not that far, really. I mean, a person can make the ride there in less than three hours. Plus, he said he was looking for a place to spend his two-week vacation this summer. I figured what the hell? I could make a good amount of money renting it out for two whole weeks.”

“Did you take him to see it?”

“No, sir. Every time I picked a date, he said he was unavailable. Then he just asked if he could borrow the keys and check it out on his own. I didn’t see what harm there would be in doing so. The guy seemed so harmless.”

“So you just gave him the keys,” said Jarrod.

“Yeah. I also charged him a hundred bucks just in case he decided to spend the night and told him that if he did, he would have to leave the place in the same condition he found it in. He agreed and gave me the money right there and then. He brought the keys back after the weekend and told me he wasn’t interested in the cabin. I asked why, but he just shrugged and walked away. I told you, the guy is nuts.”

“Could you please give me the information you gave him? I need the address and detailed directions to the cabin from here.” Jarrod silently whispered a quick prayer that his car would make it to Thomasville without a problem.

“Sure. You have to get on 441 South, then…”

Nick Scott went on to give Jarrod all the information he needed. Jarrod thanked him and hung up. He immediately turned on the ignition and shot out of the parking lot, leaving skid marks in his wake. There was no time to waste. Not even to call Angel’s parents or the police. He needed to get to her as soon as possible. He drove continuously at the same intense, demanding level, stopping only once to fill up with gas and to relieve himself. He hadn’t eaten anything in as long as he hadn’t slept, so he grabbed a ready-made sandwich and a couple of high-caffeinated energy drinks from the attached convenience store, paying for them as well as for the gas with the emergency credit card his father had given him when he had left New Jersey.

He placed the key in the ignition and turned it, but immediately noticed that even with a fully loaded tank of gas, his old, reliable Neon, was beginning to lose some of its reliability. It faltered, shook, and made a high-pitched sound that disappeared as quickly as it came.

“C’mon! Please don’t fail me now! Not now.” he screamed to the car. He turned the car off, leaned his head against the steering wheel, and said a silent prayer to God, pleading with him to let everything be alright.
Please let Angel be at the cabin unharmed and please let the car start again without any problems. Please…please…please
. He took a deep breath and wiped away the tears of anger, worry, and frustration that had formed.