Kiss Me Slowly

Chapter 45: The Lead

Chapter 45: The Lead

"How are we supposed to figure out which one is the right one?"

"I don't know." More typing.

"Can't we send teams out to intercept each one?" I asked. Denny shook his head.

"That'd take too long, and it's too risky. Plus, if we sent one out, all the others would be alerted. We have to think about this."

"But if this one is two states over, there's no way it's that one." I said. "It'd take at least 5 hours to get there, and it's only been one." Denny nodded.

"And this one," he pointed to the one on the highway, "Is going the wrong way. They'd be going as far away from the town as possible. This one is coming towards us."

"Ok, can we check the security from a few hours ago on each one?" Denny nodded. He clicked and typed for a few minutes, then all the screens changed.

"Ok, I was right. This one started here an hour and a half ago. The one parked in the driveway is still there. The one at the gas station is gone, and so is the one on the highway closer to us."

"Don't forget this one." I pointed at the one that had been parked in the middle of nowhere. Now it was closer to town.

"Ok, three options." Denny said.

"Can we follow them to an hour ago?" Denny nodded and sped the time up just a little. We watched the cars.

"This one." I pointed at the screen. "It's too soon. It started moving before." Denny nodded.

"So that crosses of another one."

We followed the other two until the right time. They both started moving at the same time. Both of us sat back. Denny paused the video.

"Two options." I said. Denny nodded. "Can we try sending teams out now?"

"Let me make a call." He stood and walked into an office and shut the door. I bit my lip and looked at the screen.

"Just hold on, Ethan." I whispered. "We'll be there soon."

After a few minutes, Denny came out. "So we can get a team out, but there's only one available, and it's closer to the one on the highway." I nodded in relief. Let's just hope Ethan was in that car.

"Now what do we do?" I asked.

"We could follow up on this Coraline." He suggested. I nodded.

"Where does she live?"

We figured out the details and he took his partner and they went to check it out. We both figured it'd be better if I didn't go because I wasn't and officer or trained in the field.

I sat and waited for something. Anything. Waited for one of two calls. One that said they got the car and found Ethan ok. The other that said Denny found more about Coraline. I waited for a sign that Ethan was ok. I waited for something.

Anything.

Denny came back pretty quickly and reported nothing. There was no one home, and they couldn't really force their way in without a search warrant.

He also said they were still chasing the car.

"Damn it." I sighed, putting my head on the table. Denny came over to me and placed his hands on my shoulders.

"We'll get him." He assured me. I nodded half-heartedly.

I laid there or a couple more minutes. I looked up at the computer which still had the paused video of the security cameras on the screen. I looked at both cars. I felt like I was missing something.