Voyage of Discovery (Sue Thomas FBEye)

Chapter Six

Bullpen Sunday morning

Red lights were blinking on Tara's computer at work. After they remained unanswered for an hour, a message was issued to her home computer. Tara came to work as soon as she saw the message. Files had been accessed without proper authorisation. She worked her magic, pulling each file and reading what the intruder read, before slowly tracing it back. She called D.

***

Myles and Bobby spent the morning interviewing travellers who wanted nothing more than to leave. The police had showed up minutes after the crimes were committed and lots of people saw a black car speed away.

From the preliminary reports, the father would have been stabbed first. One deadly blow. No struggle. He was found by the dumpster. There were signs of struggle inside the motel room. The mother was strangled but not assaulted. One small boy was choked in the room while his older brother had his throat slashed in the parking lot. The coroner said he was more than likely grabbed from behind while trying to escape. Lots of people heard screams.

Since they were there, Bobby figured he would talk to all the guests, even the ones with room facing the front. Bobby noticed a teenage boy acting nervously while he asked his parents some questions. The couple and their son were on vacation with another family. A few doors down, Bobby found the other family, a couple with two teenage girls, one of which wouldn't hold his gaze. He decided to go back to the teenage boy. The parents had slipped out for breakfast, leaving the boy alone. Bobby figured he was maybe sixteen.

"You were not hungry?" asked Bobby after the boy let him in.

The boy shook his head. His eyes were haunted. How did I miss that, wondered Bobby.

"Take a seat, mate." He was suddenly afraid the boy would collapse. "Want to tell me what you saw?"

The boy stared at him, terror mixed with panic.

"I know your parents were asleep, but I bet you were not. My guess is... you slipped out to meet that cute little sheila you are friend with."

"My parents don't know," he murmured.

"Okay. I won' tell them if you tell me what you saw."

The boy twitched on his chair, but he remained silent.

"Let's start easy, mate. Where were you?"

"In my dad's car. It was parked in the back," he voiced barely above a whisper.

Bobby had to lean closer to hear him. "So you were in your dad's car with the sheila?"

He nodded reluctantly.

"On the back seat?" added Bobby.

The boy blushed.

"I will take that as a yes. What happened next?"

"I heard a scream and looked through the window. I saw a kid running." He was breathing erratically, reliving the horror. "A cop was running after him... he... he... grabbed the kid and next thing I know the kid collapsed on the ground." He was sweating heavily. "He... the cop... he looked around then he... he left in a black car... I think... dark colour anyway."

"He didn't see you?"

The boy shook his head.

Hope surged in Bobby's chest. "Could you recognize him?"

"I don't think so. It's the uniform I saw. Five minutes later, more cops arrived. Me and... we... we sneaked out of the car and hurried back inside. But... I saw the license plate of the car."