Chapter 2 - THE SUV THAT BACKED AWAY
Claire drew her sidearm.
Not at the windshield.
Low ready.
“Noah, behind my vehicle.”
He didn't move.
“Now.”
That got him moving.
The second SUV remained perfectly still.
Claire keyed her radio.
“Dispatch, actual Unit 12 at Carter cabin. One duplicate marked unit facing me. Unknown driver. Start Ortiz and state patrol. Nobody treats that vehicle as law enforcement.”
“Copy.”
Claire raised her voice.
“Driver of the second SUV. Turn off the engine. Put both hands outside the window.”
Nothing.
“Do it now.”
The brake lights came on.
Claire's stomach tightened.
“Noah, stay down.”
The SUV reversed.
Not quickly at first.
Then faster.
It disappeared behind the cabin.
Claire ran three steps toward the side yard—
and stopped.
No.
She had a terrified ten-year-old beside her.
An unsecured structure.
An unknown adult possibly inside.
She was not turning this into a solo chase through mountain timber.
The engine roared somewhere behind the trees.
Then faded downhill through the old fire road.
Ortiz arrived two minutes later with two deputies.
Claire pointed.
“Duplicate fled south service trail.”
Ortiz immediately sent one deputy around the lower junction.
The other stayed with Noah.
Claire crouched beside him.
“I'm going to ask one question. Then Deputy Harris is going to stay with you.”
Noah nodded.
“Was that the SUV you saw earlier?”
His eyes went toward the trees.
“Yes.”
“Was the person driving it inside the cabin?”
Noah hesitated.
“I don't know.”
Good enough.
Claire stopped.
No more.
She and Ortiz approached the cabin.
Front door unlocked.
No forced entry at the frame.
Claire announced.
“Sheriff's Office.”
Nothing.
They entered.
Living room.
Small kitchen.
Wood stove cold.
One chair overturned.
A mug broken near the hallway.
A woman's canvas jacket on the floor.
Claire saw a purse on the kitchen table.
Wallet inside.
Driver's license.
SARAH CARTER.
Thirty-six.
Same address as a townhome forty miles away.
Ortiz looked at Claire.
“Noah's mother.”
Claire nodded.
They continued.
Upstairs bedrooms.
Empty.
Bathroom.
Empty.
Then a small smear of blood beside a rear window.
Not much.
Enough.
The window stood open.
A screen lay outside in the weeds.
Ortiz photographed everything.
Claire looked down.
Boot prints in the soft dirt.
One set large.
One smaller adult set.
Both leading toward the woods.
No child prints.
Sarah had left through the back.
Or been forced that way.
Then Claire noticed the kitchen wall.
A county map.
Several sections circled in blue pen.
Three photographs were pinned beside it.
Sheriff SUVs.
All Unit 12.
One was Claire's current vehicle parked outside the courthouse.
One showed her previous patrol SUV at a county maintenance yard.
The third was grainier.
A sheriff-marked SUV beside a private house during what looked like an eviction.
Claire stepped closer.
Someone had written beneath it:
NOT COUNTY GPS.
Ortiz came beside her.
“What is this?”
Claire did not answer.
She knew the address in the photograph.
Bedford Road.
A complaint from two years earlier.
An elderly homeowner had insisted a sheriff SUV had appeared during a private property removal even though dispatch had no deputy there.
Claire remembered the complaint because everyone decided the homeowner had confused a tow contractor with law enforcement.
The case was closed.
She had signed the monthly administrative packet containing that closure.
Without ever meeting the homeowner.
Ortiz looked at another page.
A printed screenshot of Claire's current patrol SUV.
Plate.
Unit number.
Rear-window antenna placement.
Everything.
At the bottom, Sarah had written:
If one comes to the cabin, verify Claire before opening the door.
Claire stared.
Sarah had expected a duplicate Unit 12.
Before Noah ever ran onto that road.
Then Ortiz called from the bedroom.
“Claire.”
Claire walked in.
A blue waterproof hard drive case sat open on the floor.
Empty.
Beside it was a handwritten note.
Only four words.
MARK WANTS THE ORIGINAL.
Claire read it twice.
“Who's Mark?”
Ortiz shook her head.
Then Claire's radio clicked.
Deputy Harris outside.
“Sheriff.”
“Go.”
“Ryan Cole says Sarah Carter is his sister.”
May you like
Claire looked toward the broken rear window.
“He also says she brought Noah here because she thought somebody was impersonating you.”
