Forty-Four Box Set, Books 1-10 (44) (125 page)

“I’m not sure I understand,” I said.

“I’m sorry. I’m not doing a very good job of explaining myself. Maybe that’s because it’s mostly a feeling. But I feel it in my bones. There’s something off about him. A lot of people are self-centered, but it goes beyond that. There’s a callousness there, a real lack of feeling. At least for Emily. I don’t know. Maybe that should be enough to rule him out. Despite the fascination people seem to have with serial killers these days, most violent crimes are still crimes of passion.”

“You must have a pretty good feel for these things after all these years.”

“I like to think so,” Frazier said. “But it could also be that I’m just grasping at straws, refusing to face our ultimate fear.”

I thought I knew what that was, but he got quiet so I asked anyway.

“That it was random,” he said. “That she didn’t know him. That it was a stranger abduction. They’re fairly rare but they’re also the hardest cases to solve. Generally, these guys don’t leave behind too many clues.”

We passed a sign telling us that Eugene was 10 miles away.

“There was a vigil on campus last week,” Frazier said. “It had a fairly large turnout. We sent a few of our people undercover and got video of those in attendance. I’d like you to look at it. But we’ll start at her apartment. It’s empty now, of course.”

I leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

“How does it work with you?” he said. “If you don’t mind my asking.”

“Well, with something like this I don’t know. In the past, I’ve seen ghosts of murder victims, so if that’s what’s happened, I guess there’s a chance that I could see her.”

Frazier glanced at me with eyes old as dust.

“And I thought I had a hard job.”

CHAPTER 12

As I got out of the car, the stickiness in the air closed in around me like a wet blanket. The strong, sweet aroma of flowers reminded me of a funeral parlor. I followed Frazier up the stairs to an apartment on the second floor.

Duck’s Village was a large complex with a lot of buildings located about a mile and a half from the campus. It was fairly empty in the lot, and most of the people walking around seemed to be either painters or part of a cleaning crew. There were just a few students here and there.

“We didn’t find any evidence of foul play here, so it’s not exactly a crime scene,” he said. “Just the same, we haven’t let them clean or paint yet.”

We reached a corner unit and stopped. He pulled out a key and unlocked the door.

We stepped inside into a small living room. It was stuffy and Frazier opened the sliding glass window in the front as I walked around. It was basic, with a kitchen, a small bathroom, and two bedrooms at the end of a short hall. There were holes on most of the walls and discoloration where posters and pictures must have been. The apartment was partially furnished, with desks and chairs and a sofa and a coffee table in the living room. The mattresses in the bedrooms were wrapped in plastic.

“Which one was her room?” I asked.

“It’s the one on the right.”

Frazier was quiet as I walked around. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I figured I would go easy and try not to force anything. I went into each room, inhaled, and closed my eyes.

I sat on the bed and whispered her name, but I didn’t hear or see anything. As far as I could tell, the only thing lingering here was sadness.

“Did the roommate say anything about the last time she saw her?” I said. “Like what state she was in or what she said?”

“Just that Emily seemed happy. Nothing out of the ordinary.”

I peered out the window and saw that the apartment overlooked a parking lot on one side and a large pool on the other. A group of girls in swim suits huddled together on lawn chairs, laughing at a guy splashing water on them.

I walked through the apartment again, stopping in her bedroom once more.

“Show me something,” I whispered.

But I was talking to the walls.

We left the car in the lot and headed over to the university. We crossed a busy street and walked by Autzen Stadium, where the Ducks played football.

“Ducks or Beavers?” Frazier asked as our feet crunched on the gravel.

I smiled.

“Neither, really. I don’t think either one of those programs is big on soccer.”

We walked over a canal before stopping in front of a sign that had a map of the trails in the area. Named for the famous Oregon runner, Steve Prefontaine,
Pre’s Trail
started here.

“There are running paths all through this area,” Frazier said. “And this paved one here is the one students from the apartments take to the university. It leads through the woods and then to a footbridge that crosses the Willamette River. This was Emily’s route during the day. At night she took the bus.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t want to be out here at night,” I said as the canopy of trees closed in all around. “It’s kind of claustrophobic. And a little spooky.”

“I have to agree that there’s an ominous quality to the place.”

I imagined the trails would help you go faster. I could see myself running here and setting a lot of personal records, speeding past whatever might be lurking in the bushes.

“I’ll go up ahead and get out of your way,” he said.

I glanced around as I walked along the path, but didn’t pick up on anything. I slowed down when I reached the bridge. The Willamette was a wide river here and not very deep. Both sides of the shore were covered in thick brush and trees. I rested my arms on the railings, looking out, and then walked over to the other side. A few runners and students with backpacks went by. I scanned the banks and saw a man underneath the bridge, standing in the water near the shore with his shirt off.

Frazier came over.

“Eugene has a sizable homeless population and many of them come down here, especially when the weather warms up. We canvassed the area when Emily went missing, interviewed some of them, but nothing came of it. Take your time.”

I watched him walk down the bridge to the other side of the river. I took a few deep breaths and listened to the flowing water below. I thought of Emily Ross and how happy she looked in the photo.

I closed my eyes, lost in the sadness.

I saw something flash brilliantly in the darkness of my mind for a split second.

A color.

Red.

Red clouds, bleeding out over a darkening sky.

CHAPTER 13

The colorful image vanished as fast as it had come. I opened my eyes and looked around. I slowly made my way over to where Frazier was standing.

“Anything?”

I shrugged.

He kept his eyes on mine, waiting for something more.

“I don’t know,” I said. “There’s something really sad about this bridge.”

He took out a pen and a small pad of paper and scribbled down some notes. As we walked I told him about the red sky and reminded him about my color blindness.

“I only see colors in dreams. So that’s unusual. But it doesn’t have to be related.”

 “Should we stay longer?”

“No, I think I’d like to get over to the school.”

We crossed another wide, busy street with a countdown for the visually impaired and reached the campus. It was more crowded here, with students buzzing about and people taking tours, with name tags dangling from their necks.

“This was where her anatomy class was,” Frazier said, pointing to a large brick building covered in ivy. “The one she never made it to.”

We went inside and down a long hallway, stopping at a classroom. It was stuffy and the air felt old. We continued over to the library, which wasn’t too far away.

“She came here a lot to study,” he said. “She was a regular. Do you want to go in?”

“No, it doesn’t seem like it would be personal enough. Thousands of people are probably here every day. It might confuse things. I mean, I could end up seeing a ghost, maybe several, that has nothing to do with her case.”

He nodded and pointed to a kiosk in the middle of the cement pathway up ahead. In between the flyers offering yoga classes and African drum lessons was a photo of Emily Ross with
Have you seen her?
written in bold, black letters.

“There were hundreds of these flyers posted everywhere in the first month after her disappearance. There were a lot of volunteers and they plastered the school. Not as many now. It’s just human nature. People move on.”

He rubbed the side of his neck for a moment.

“Let’s go over there,” he said.

We turned to the left, skirted a large parking lot, and walked up to a chain-link fence next to a hilly area. There were dried bouquets of flowers wrapped in cellophane on the ground, handmade notes and signs, and prayer cards, burnt candles, and U of O teddy bears on the grass.

“This is where they held the gathering last week.”

I read some of the cards. Then I bent down and touched a few of the items. Once again, the only thing I picked up on was sadness, along with a terrible feeling of finality.

“We have some good footage of the ceremony and the crowd that gathered,” Frazier said. “I have the DVD in my car. Maybe you could look at it tonight after we check you into your motel.”

I wasn’t sure what would come of any of this, but I reminded myself to stay open to possibilities.

“Maybe I’ll sit here on this bench for a few minutes. See if something comes my way.”

“Good,” Frazier said.

He walked over to a small patch of shade and pulled out his phone.

I sat down, the sun at my back. I took in slow breaths of the oppressive air. I closed my eyes, trying to get into a relaxed state, vaguely aware of the noises around me. I heard laughter, runners’ feet on the path next to me, a leaf blower in the distance.

I thought about that red sky I had seen and wondered if it was a beginning, a foothold, something that could take me to the next step.

I pictured Emily Ross in my mind, her warm smile and those kind eyes. The person who took her would have taken them for signs of weakness. Like a predator, he would have picked up on that from a mile away.

I felt a shadow pass in front of me. I opened my eyes. A gardener was a few feet away, the one with the leaf blower. Two shirtless men were throwing a Frisbee.

Nothing.

I drew in one more deep breath that bled into a sigh.

If I was going to have any chance of making a difference in this investigation, I had to avoid being consumed by the sorrow. So far, I wasn’t off to a good start.

I couldn’t feel Emily Ross anywhere, just a growing heaviness pushing in on me from all sides.

CHAPTER 14

I studied the menu as we stood in line at Track Town, a pizza place across the street from the school.

“What can I get you?” Frazier said after a minute.

“How ‘bout a Coke and a slice of pepperoni?”

“You got it.”

I found us a table and looked around at all the sports decor. There were large photos of Steve Prefontaine and other Oregon athletes covering the walls, as well as banners and framed autographed jerseys.

A few minutes later, Frazier sat down across from me.

We small talked for a while, taking a break from the case. I told him about how my sister sometimes forced me to watch those cop shows with her.

“How does the real thing stack up so far?”

“I’m not sure. I’ll have to get back to you on that.”

The waitress brought our pizza and drinks and we started eating.

“I tried to make a pizza once on the grill,” Frazier said, wiping the oil off his lips. “I almost had to call the fire department to put it out.”

I smiled, glancing over at him and noticed again that strange tear in his aura.

“I’ve been doing a lot of grilling this summer,” I said.

I still wasn’t completely at ease with Frazier, but I decided as we sat there, eating together, that I liked him. He had a gentleness that was rare not only in cops, but most people I came across. He radiated a natural calmness that settled into our conversation. The silences weren’t uncomfortable like they can be with strangers.

“From what I was able to see, you’re quite a good soccer player,” he said. “I don’t know much about the sport, but with those skills and moves I would think there might be a place for you on a professional team somewhere.”

“That’s nice of you to say, but I think those days and dreams have passed me by. Anyway, with the leagues always folding here, I don’t think it would be a very wise career choice.”

“What about Europe? I hear the women’s game is big there.”

“I’ve never given it any thought. Maybe if the cooking thing doesn’t work out. But I’ve made my peace with what happened. There were no guarantees things would have turned out differently if I hadn’t had the acci—” Jesse crossed my mind. “Anyway, I think the competition in the game you saw helped to make me look better than I actually am. It’s just a rec league.”

“Be that as it may, you stood out.”

He finished his soda.

“Are you ready? Your motel is just down the street. We can walk over and get you checked in. I’ll go back for the car and drop off your stuff and that DVD.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

It was already past seven when we got to the Best Western, the sun finally dropping in the sky. Frazier talked with the motel clerk at the desk and I got the feeling they knew each other. She checked me in and told me about breakfast and the hours of the pool and gym.

“I can’t promise that the treadmills in this place are in working order,” Frazier whispered.

“That’s all right. I’ll probably hit the trails or go over to the track tomorrow sometime.”

The woman handed me my key card.

“I’ll be back with your things in about half an hour,” Frazier said.

I headed over to the elevator.

CHAPTER 15

I took a shower and then channel surfed while I waited for Frazier. Finding nothing, I checked my messages. There was one from Ty, telling me he would be working late. I sent a text letting him know I was fine and where I was staying.