Sick bastard. Although looking at these made Derrick question why Joe hadn’t committed sexual assault on his victims.
His brain rattled off answers. Perhaps he was impotent. Or the only way he could get off was porn and that may havestopped working, so he graduated to strangulation. Predators often experienced release by committing violence.
He saw a closed storage closet and opened it. Instead of photographs of teenage girls, this one held pictures of a grown woman, half naked, wearing a pair of red stilettos.
That woman must have been someone he’d known. Maybe his mother? Or a hooker who’d first taught him about sex? Or a woman who’d possibly abused him?
A car engine rumbled from the driveway, and he stepped outside and saw the ERT van parking. He rushed to fill them in and they divided up, one agent going inside to search while two went into the woods and another began processing the shed.
Derrick returned to the front steps of the mobile home, then called Ten Below again and got through this time so he asked to speak to the manager.
“This is Special Agent Derrick Fox,” he said. “I’m looking for one of your employees Joe Jones. I was told he was on a delivery last night.”
“That’s odd,” Joe’s boss said. “Joe wasn’t on the schedule yesterday or today. And he hasn’t called in. In fact, he hasn’t returned the delivery truck he drives.”
“So he still has the truck?” Derrick asked.
“He must, which is against the rules. When he does get back, I intend to fire him.”
“Can you trace the location of his truck?” Derrick asked.
“Yeah, hold on.”
A minute later, the manager returned and gave him the address for a house on Bush Road. “Thank you for the information. If he checks in, please call me on this number. And don’t tell him that I was asking about him.”
“What’s going on, Special Agent Fox?”
“I’m not at liberty to say, but I will warn you that he might be dangerous so like I said, don’t let on that I’m looking for him.”
“All right.”
Derrick ended the call. If Joe was at the address his manager had given him, they might have a chance to save Carrie Ann.
ONE HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO
Bush Road
Ellie left a nervous Ida and Kat at the station with Deputy Landrum to record their statements. Deputy Eastwood was on her way to the station with Hetty who would be held in a separate interrogation room from Ida to prevent the women from comparing stories. She sympathized with them, but she had to run this investigation by the book.
Everyone had kept too many secrets. Including Cord.
Dammit. Disappointment mingled with worry.
She had to have a conversation with him when they returned. Then they’d talk to the DA and decide if charges should be brought against Ida and Hetty and Cord for obstruction of justice.
But first they needed to find Joe. Carrie Ann’s life depended on it.
Derrick had called with a lead, so she drove back to Ida’s to pick him up. He quickly filled her in on what he’d found in Joe’s shed. The idea of Joe watching teen porn made her stomach sour.
“Do you believe Ida?” Derrick asked as Ellie pulled to a stop, and he climbed in her Jeep.
Ellie nodded. “Two teenage girls living with an abusive Earl? Yeah. Everyone in town believed Earl was guilty which supports their story about his violent behavior.” She imagined the girls hiding in their rooms out of fear, and compassion swelled inside her. If Cord had known the Bramble girls were being abused or had seen what happened, obviously his protective side had emerged and he’d kept silent to protect them, thinking the Bramble girls had been through enough. That Earl’s death meant they had a chance at life.
“What do you want to do about McClain?” Derrick asked, his tone deep.
Ellie cut her eyes toward him. She was still pissed at the way he’d handled the situation. “I don’t know yet. But you should have come to me first.”
His jaw hardened. “I was just doing my job and following the leads.”
