LET ME OUT by Kate Bold

Author:Kate Bold [Bold, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

The headlights cut through the darkness as Ashley steered the four-wheeler between ancient oaks and towering hickories. She handled the twists and turns with ease, like a professional skier in a slalom race. Thanks to her father, she’d learned to pilot an ATV when she was just a child. She hoped Daniel would be able to pick up a few pointers from the passenger seat behind her.

The agent had been acting strange since they’d left the cabin. On the walk back through the woods to the four-wheeler, he’d barely said a word. But his expression revealed that his mind was racing. Maybe he’d just been pondering the details of the case. However, it seemed as though he wanted to tell her something, but didn’t quite know how.

She wondered if he’d spotted a clue at the cabin that she’d missed. A piece of evidence that would link the drug traffickers to Sarah and Violet. Could the women have been held at the cabin? The valley location was miles from where the two bodies had been found. But both women had been missing for twenty-four hours prior to their deaths. They had to have been kept somewhere. If they’d been at the cabin, the TBI’s forensic team should be able to find DNA, hair, or clothing fibers—something they could use to identify the presence of Ashley’s classmates. Wherever they’d been, whatever they’d touched, the women would have left a trace of themselves behind.

Ashley maneuvered the four-wheeler over a small rise. Beneath the glow of the full moon, the water of Mettler Lake glistened through the trees to her right. The parking area for the boat ramp—their destination—lay just up ahead.

The ATV belonged to the Laurel County Sheriff’s Department. The low-pressure tires made it dangerous to operate the vehicle on asphalt. The tires could slip and regain traction in a split second, causing rollovers when turning. Because the sheriff’s department was located at least twenty miles away, Daniel had hauled the four-wheeler to the boat ramp on a trailer attached to one of the department’s SUVs.

Knowing that the agent was eager to interrogate Mr. Charger and Elkins, Ashley had offered to return the four-wheeler by herself in order to allow Daniel to accompany the drug traffickers to the county jail. But he’d refused. She knew it would take a little while to process the criminals—take fingerprints, mugshots, and fill out the arresting paperwork. She wondered whether that was the reason for his refusal to let her go alone. Or was there something else?

The four-wheeler plunged into the clearing, the tires biting into the gravel in the boat ramp’s parking lot. Ashley veered to the left and pulled up behind the sheriff department’s Ford Interceptor. She backed off the ATV’s throttle and inched the vehicle onto the trailer.

As she killed the engine, the realization of the night’s events finally hit her. They were safe now, but Daniel had almost been killed. A wave of nausea washed through her. What if Mr. Charger

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