Forcing himself to take some deep breaths and calm down, Tyler poured himself a scotch and downed it in one. He was not going to get anywhere losing his head, he knew this from past experience. Though he hadn’t made the decision, he knew he was going to call Sarah tonight and tell her what had happened. You couldn't get more honest than that and it wouldn’t do any harm to his goal of keeping her on side. As he thought this, Tyler realised instantly that any phone or computer he had in this house were now useless to him. Spalding seemed to have a great deal of tech knowhow. He could have done anything to any of the laptops or untraceable phones that were littered about the place. Tyler would have to go to his backup stockpile and buy a new laptop in the morning. It was the only way to be sure.
For now, though, it meant another drive. He needed to get far away from here and call Sarah from a public phone. Wearily he went out and got into the car once more. It felt like he’d been behind this wheel constantly for the last few days and his back cried out at sitting in that same position again. If only he’d been able to get some sleep before any of this happened.
Tyler let the windows down and the cold night air washed in over him. How many times had he driven at night like this, his the only car on the road and his body crying out for rest. Too many to count; came with the territory. He kept his eyes on the mirror and to the sides of the road for any cars that might appear or were parked in the darkness this far out from any town. Spalding could still be around, watching him and toying with him.
He drove through the first three towns he came to, thinking it best to get some distance from his home before trying to call Sarah. It was likely she was in bed by now and probably long asleep but he had to get to her now.
There was a diner on the outskirts of town and he pulled over. The need for coffee was as powerful as the need for a phone. He went inside and ordered and saw a payphone at the end of the counter. He weighed up the odds of Spalding having been able to get to that phone and thought it very unlikely indeed. He called Sarah and sat back against the wall waiting for her to answer.
As he waited he looked around at the few people who were here and he’d never seen such miserable people in his life. Not one of them looked like they wanted to be awake right now and there was no talking the place at all. The noise from the kitchen was minimal too and Tyler realized at once this wasn’t the best place to make this kind of call from.
He was going to simply have to give Sarah the broad strokes and hope she could fill in the rest herself without him having to say it out right. She was clever enough for that; it shouldn’t be a problem. He just hoped if she decided to shout, that wouldn’t be audible to these people here at this end.
Chapter 33
SARAH WAS NOT ASLEEP when her phone started ringing. As ever after being at murder scene after her shift, she was in her living room looking through her box file labelled ‘The Monster’. Every murder reminded her of her mother and her vow to find her killer and of late every killing she investigated seemed to be somehow linked to Dwight Spalding. These ‘Agrarian’ murders hadn’t been linked in any way as of yet, but she had a feeling, an intuition, that they would be. She just had to wait until the connection became clear.
The phone was silenced but it vibrated noisily on the coffee table. Sarah looked to the screen and saw a number she did not know. She answered,
“Hello?” Was it him? Was she going to hear the killer's voice?
“Sarah, it’s me Tyler,” came the reply.
“Tyler, what is it has you calling at this hour?”
“Okay, before I say this just prepare yourself, you’re not going to like this,” he said. Sarah stood up, already growing angry at whatever he was going to say.
“Just tell me, Tyler!” she said harshly.
“Carson Lemond is gone. He’s been kidnapped.” Were it not for the graveness in his voice, Sarah would have thought he was playing some joke on her and was about to burst out laughing. This was no joke.
“What do you mean kidnapped?”
“He was at my house,” Tyler said after a brief pause, “I left him there while I went to the crime scene to see you. When I got back he was gone and there's a note.” Sarah didn’t know where to start with this. She paced around and felt like falling down dead on the spot. Tyler had brought a murder suspect she was pursuing to his home to shelter him there? And now that suspect was gone, apparently kidnapped! How many things could go wrong in this?
“What did the note say?” she asked, thinking this was the best place to start.
“That Carson
