“Mine?” she asked, her voice bland, emotionless.
“I’m not going to let that happen. But we don’t know what this guy’s next move is.” They couldn’t do anything about protecting a woman—or women—they didn’t know were on his radar. But they could do something about protecting Josie. Frankly, he’d felt relieved when he’d been ordered to spirit her away while also following a lead. Get her out of the town where this maniac still freely roamed the streets.
Josie nodded, but she still looked troubled. “I’ll go pack.”
An hour later, Zach and Josie met Jimmy at one of the districts where Zach’s partner gave him a burner phone, cash, and verbally gave him the address to the safehouse. Josie turned over her cell phone as well. It would be monitored by a female officer who would answer it in the event the suspect called again, and they’d attempt a trace. Zach left Josie in Jimmy’s care at the station so she could give Jimmy her statement about the phone call and what specifically had been said, while Zach made a quick trip to his apartment, threw some clothes in a bag, and gave the lone plant on his windowsill some water. It had died six months before but maybe it would rebloom? What the hell did he know about plants? He wasn’t ready to completely give up on it just yet. Zach headed back to the station and picked up Josie.
Zach felt a small amount of tension releasing from his shoulders as he drove out of the city limits, south toward Tennessee with Josie beside him. He glanced at her, saw her take in a deep breath and got the feeling she was suddenly able to breathe more easily too.
“Do you know where this safehouse is?”
“I only have an address. But I think it’s pretty remote.”
The burner phone in the middle console rang and Zach glanced at it. Jimmy. He picked it up.
“Hey man.”
“Yo. You out of the city?”
“Yeah. Just crossing into Kentucky.”
“Drive safe. Like Sarge said, the professor’s still dragging his heels on giving us any kind of list to work with. Do you think Josie might be able to help with that?”
He glanced at Josie’s profile. Some hair had escaped her ponytail and had fallen around her face. She looked young and vulnerable, and his foot pressed harder on the gas, eager to put as much distance between her and any possible danger. “I doubt it. I’ll ask.”
Jimmy was silent for a moment. “Listen, I’m sitting here going over this case. Going through the case file, the information on Landish . . .”
“What is it, Jimmy?” Zach knew his partner, knew when he was hedging.
“Well, listen, it’s just strange. This new guy knowing about those burns on Josie, the rats. I know we talked about potential explanations for both of those things. But Josie said the guy who called her on the phone earlier today did a pretty convincing impression of Landish, correct?”
Zach glanced at Josie again and she looked back at him, blinked. “Yeah.”
“Okay, if he did a convincing impression of Landish now, could he have done a convincing impression of him then?”
“Wait, wait.” Zach shook his head. Jimmy was a good detective, one of the best, but this? This was far-fetched. “Josie only heard the guy this morning on the phone.” He glanced at her, gave her a small, reassuring smile. She obviously knew he was talking to Jimmy. Obviously knew they were discussing her case. The fact was, she might be able to help them with many aspects of this investigation. She might be able to provide some missing piece she didn’t even know she had. “She knew Landish as much more than just a voice.”
Zach saw Josie’s shoulders draw upward a fraction. Jimmy sighed. “Yeah, I know, but he never took his mask off, right?”
“From what I understand.”
“I’ve been looking at Landish’s suicide. And there are a few . . . questions.”
Zach’s nerves pinched. “Such as?”
“Like, for example, they never found a mask at his apartment.”
“He probably ditched it in some garbage can.”
“Possibly. There was also zero DNA belonging to Landish in that warehouse room. There were, however, a few hairs found stuck to that mattress that did not belong to Josie Stratton.”
Zach rubbed at his eye. “I thought it was presumed that mattress was bought used and those hairs probably belonged to the previous owner.”
“Yes. Possibly. The other thing of note is that there were no fingerprints in that room either. Not on the doorknob or anywhere else. It’s almost as if he wiped that room down before police got there.”
“Could Landish have realized Josie was missing very soon after she escaped and took the time to wipe the room down?”
“And then went home and killed himself? What was the point then?”