“I also told you that Richard had a brain injury. He didn’t think straight, Gianna. He often talked about things that didn’t make sense. You ever listen to conspiracy theorists? It was like talking with the crazy ones.”

“I think we need to tell the detectives to talk to Leo.”

“Let me reach out to Leo first.”

“Why?”

“Because he’ll answer the phone if I call. Anyone else is going to be put through three layers of secretaries or sent to voice mail even if they say they’re from the police department. A call from me will get through immediately.”

“I’ll give you five minutes.”

She hung up the phone as Hawes opened the door, her face flushed. Gianna leaped to her feet, her heart beating in double time.

“We’ve got a sighting of the vehicle. It was seen less than two blocks away from your home.”

“Did they see Violet?” asked Gianna.

“Only the vehicle. Once the new report went out, a local patrol officer immediately let us know he’d seen that type of vehicle. He didn’t have more information.”

“Was it parked? Or moving?” Chris asked. He’d risen out of his chair in unison with Gianna, his body tense, ready to respond.

“Moving. More patrol cars are flooding the area. They’ll find it.”

“How long ago?” Gianna asked, her heart sinking.

“He estimated he saw it about an hour ago.”

“Shit.” Chris vocalized Gianna’s thoughts.

“Becker and I are heading over to that area. Find anything in the notebooks yet?”

Gianna glanced at Chris, who shook his head. “Not yet. We’ll keep looking.” The last thing she wanted to do was sit and stare at pages. Her energy had returned in a burst at Hawes’s announcement. She wanted to go with them.

“They’re sending us some more bodies to assist wherever we need them. You’ll have some more help to look through the notebooks soon.” She left.

The energy drained out of the room, and Gianna sank back into her chair. “I hate this.” She pushed away the notebook she’d been scanning. “Every word tells me how dysfunctional he was, and I can’t stop thinking about Violet.”

“Me too,” said Chris.

Gianna turned toward him, studying his face. “What else is going through your mind?”

“I swear my brain is about as scattered as these notebooks indicate your father’s brain was. It’s taking every ounce of control for me to stay focused on the present.” His hazel eyes clouded. “Trust me. The past keeps popping up and threatening to take over.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t be here.”

His face lost all emotion.

Wrong thing to say. “I mean—”

“I know what you meant. You think you’re trying to make this easier for me. But that won’t do it. I won’t go sit at home and wonder what’s happening to your daughter. And I’d like to think that you need me here,” he ended softly. His gaze held hers.

Again he’d laid himself bare in front of her, opening himself up for rejection.

“I need you,” she whispered. “I’d be in pieces on the floor if you hadn’t been here to hold me together.”

He shook his head. “You’re way too strong for that. You always land on your feet, don’t you?”

“This time would have been different. I don’t want to go forward without you beside me.”

He reached out and gripped both her hands. “Not going anywhere.”

“When does your son get back?”

“Tomorrow evening.”

“Maybe this will all be over by then.” Over. It could mean two different things, but she refused to acknowledge one of them. A commotion in the adjoining room caught her attention. Through the window she saw two patrol officers and a plainclothes detective having a discussion and pointing at a spot on the map.

“Something’s up.” Gianna dashed out of their room and into the next. The officers looked up in surprise as she burst through the door. “What happened?”

“Another sighting of an Escalade,” one of the patrol officers said as Chris stepped into the room behind her.

“Where?” asked Chris.

The plainclothes detective tapped the map. “Here. In a totally different area than the first sighting. It could be another vehicle or else it’s simply traveled that far. I’ll put my money on it being a similar vehicle. It’s too far away from our prime location. That first sighting was near your home, right?”

Gianna nodded silently, her gaze locked where he’d just touched the map.

She turned to look at Chris. He nodded at her, his lips pressed together in a white line.

The second sighting had been on the highway a few miles from the burned-out cabin where her father’s body had been found.

The detective had it wrong: her home wasn’t the prime location—the cabin was.

Chris was silent as they sped out of town toward the Cascades and the cabin. Next to him in the cab of his truck, Gianna fidgeted.

“I’m glad Hawes and Becker had already left,” said Gianna. “Hawes would have known exactly where we were going.”

He didn’t mention that Gianna had repeated the observation three times. He understood. She was stressed.

After seeing the location of the second Escalade spotting, Chris had explained to the detective that the vehicle was within miles of where Francisco Green had been murdered. He’d suggested the county police check the burned cabin and the cabin where Rafael’s body had been found. The detective was aware of the case, but hadn’t realized the Escalade was so close to those locations, and immediately called Becker and Hawes.