Leave No Trace

Chapter 11

Nolan

That was a fast turnaround, Nolan thought bitterly. But what the hell is Allison going through right now as we sit here? Mira had gone from pariah to perfection in the timespan of a half hour.

The three of them were sitting in the conference room, Mira sipping from a glass of water. Nolan and Danielson were nursing coffees.

"So you're telling me I can't go back to school yet?" Mira asked, eyebrows raised.

"We want to keep Dean in the dark. We want him to continue thinking that he has the upper hand, because you've been arrested, and no one will be on to him. But we will be informing your teachers that in the contrary, you are helping with a police investigation and are under our protection until such time it is safe to go back." Danielson rattled it off so easily, that Nolan couldn't help but wonder if he'd rehearsed it. However it sounded professional and perfect for the situation.

"Victims of abduction usually know their attacker. Went to school with them even," she said, glancing over at Mike, who flinched. His brother was a consistent reminder of why he'd become a cop, "And no other suspects have surfaced so we will be turning our attention to Dean Marshall."

Mira nodded. "My only real question, is pertaining to the case. Where is he keeping her?"

"Not at his house, obviously. She's been officially declared a missing person. An APB is out for her, but no hits yet. Everyone is hoping to find her, but it isn't looking good." Danielson sighed, looking troubled. "We've got a tip line running round the clock. We're going to try and coerce every department into helping us. I hear even the OPP wants involvement. And we've got FBI south of the border monitoring known human traffickers. We're doing our best, but it's not good enough."

Mira was deep in thought, frowning at the table. "The woods beside the Steve Bauer trail? No, no one would be stupid enough to hide in there.... There aren't many places to hide around here.... Is there anything in his personal life that we could connect to this?"

"His father owns several pieces of property, however they are all currently being rented to tenants. It would take weeks to get enough search warrants, and they're all not accessible to the boy."

"Wait!" Mira looked at them. "Victory."

"I'd hardly call- wait." Danielson said, leaning forward. "Say that again."

"Victory, the boat his dad owns. Dean would have access to that!" Mira was excited. "Look, he could be keeping Allison there!"

"And... we think he's working with an accomplice." Nolan stated, "His brother."

"There could be two of them could be keeping her there!" Mira said, grinning. Though it wasn't really a subject to grin over, she was excited at the prospect of finding her best friend.

Even Nolan couldn't help but smile. "I have better news for you, Mira."

"And that would be?" Mira asked, eyebrows raised.

"My fiancé, Austin, has a boat in that exact same marina. She's called the Star, a sailboat, and she's only two slips over from the Victory. We have an ideal place to monitor the situation from."

"We can't risk being caught." Danielson said.

"He knows our faces. All of them." Mira said, catching on. "You're right."

"I guess it's time to talk to costume and makeup." Nolan said sarcastically.

"Does that mean what I think it means?" Danielson asked with a sigh.