As the Mercedes was being pulled onto the flatbed, she caught Pierce’s attention. With a wave, he walked her way, but, as if anticipating her first question, shook his head. “No body,” he said, “But it’sNaomi’s car. Registered to Jamison. The license plate matches, and divers found her purse and ID inside.”
She was still staring at the wet, grimy vehicle, once sleek, now covered in sludge. “What about in the trunk?” she asked, fearing the answer.
“Empty.”
Nikki felt a moment’s relief. “So where is she?”
“That’s the million-dollar question.”
“How did the car end up in the river?” she asked, watching as the water lapped the shore. A snowy egret skimmed the surface as it flew away.
“Unknown.”
“But you’ve seen the footage of her driving back into Georgia?”
He nodded grimly.
“And you’re sure it was Naomi behind the wheel, when you said she crossed the state line?”
“We’re enhancing the images from the cameras, but we think so.”
“No one else in the car?” she asked.
“Looks like she was alone.” He swatted at a mosquito hovering near his head and squinted up at the flatbed, where the car was being secured before it was taken to the forensic vehicle examination lab. “We should know more once we go through it.”
“You’ve called Jamison?”
“Yeah.” Pierce squinted against the afternoon sun. “He’s on his way back from Charlotte.”
“And the girls?” She just had to confirm that they were okay.
“Coming back on Monday, I think with Naomi’s sister, Roxie. Her husband is going to handle their kids, to free her up so she can spend some time down here to support Jamison and the girls, at least until things settle down.”
“And when will that be?”
Again he swatted at a bothersome mosquito, his eyes still on Naomi’s car being strapped to the flatbed of the tow truck. “God only knows.”
Sol didn’t like it.
She stood on the edge of the river, just around the bend, alone, her gaze on the water, her senses attuned to the sounds, sights, andsmells of this part of the lowlands. With the sun beating down on her scalp, she listened to the chirp of birds and the steady croak of a frog hidden in the cattails and dense foliage. The water lapped rhythmically, adding a quiet beat to the steady hum of insects, while the air smelled damp, of wet earth and running water.
She heard the voices of men shouting orders, the clank of the winch, and the grumbling of the drag of the car as it was hauled upward out of the river, but she closed out those unnatural noises and let her mind focus on the natural sounds while the slightest breeze whispered against her skin.
Something was off.
The balance of energy between what was real and what was perceived had been skewed somehow.
By someone.
Someone with malicious intent.
She went over what she knew about the missing woman, and it wasn’t much, just what she’d witnessed when Naomi had come into the office, which was rarely, and then recently what Reed had divulged because of the case, that the ADA and his wife had scheduled a romantic weekend when she hadn’t shown up. That they, with three stepping-stone daughters, were planning on another baby.
She doubted that would come to pass.
As a breeze cooled the beads of perspiration on her forehead, Sol didn’t need anyone to tell her that the woman for whom they were searching wouldn’t be found. Not here. Not in the water.
She stared at the sluggish river, the slow-moving current.