Chapter 14 - ROOM 8
Police reached the Lantern Inn before Jason could leave.
His car was outside Room 8.
The door was locked.
Officers surrounded the building.
Alvarez called me afterward and explained what happened.
They announced themselves.
Nobody responded.
They entered.
Jason was gone.
Again.
But the bathroom window stood open.
Behind the motel was a narrow wooded trail leading toward a service road.
Jason had abandoned everything.
A suitcase.
Cash.
Two passports.
A laptop.
Even his shoes.
He had escaped on foot.
Police dogs followed the trail.
Half a mile away, investigators found tire tracks.
Someone had picked him up.
That meant he still had help.
“Cole?”
I asked.
“Maybe.”
But Cole had vanished too.
The possibility that both men had reunited could not be ignored.
Then police examined Jason’s laptop.
One document changed everything.
It contained a list of emergency contacts.
Most were fake names.
One was not.
Rebecca Miller.
Sarah recognized it immediately.
“Jason’s sister.”
Everyone stared at her.
“You never mentioned a sister.”
Alvarez said.
“I met her once.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“Where does she live?”
“Jason said Pennsylvania.”
The federal team searched.
Rebecca Miller existed.
She lived forty miles east of the Lantern Inn.
More importantly, she owned a blue pickup truck matching the vehicle seen near the motel.
Officers drove to her house.
The truck was gone.
Rebecca was gone.
But neighbors had seen her leave with a man.
Jason.
They were heading east.
Alvarez immediately alerted state police.
Roadblocks were established.
Airports were notified.
Train stations were watched.
For the first time Jason was trapped between coordinated agencies.
His false names were being exposed one after another.
His money was being frozen.
His photographs were everywhere.
He could no longer simply become somebody else.
That evening Sarah sat with Emily at my kitchen table.
They were making grilled cheese sandwiches.
Something ordinary.
Something peaceful.
I stood in the doorway watching them.
Sarah noticed.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You’re staring.”
“I’m appreciating boring.”
She smiled.
“Boring sounds amazing.”
Emily looked at both of us.
“Are you guys getting married again?”
Sarah nearly dropped the spatula.
I laughed despite everything.
“No.”
Emily shrugged.
“Just asking.”
For the first time in days, the house felt almost normal.
Then someone knocked.
Three hard knocks.
Emily froze.
Sarah froze too.
I walked toward the door.
A police officer assigned to the house was already approaching from outside.
I looked through the window.
Nobody stood on the porch.
But something had been placed against the door.
A small cardboard box.
Police opened it.
Inside was Sarah’s wedding photograph with Jason.
Across his face someone had drawn a black line.
May you like
On the back were four handwritten words.
HE KNOWS WHERE YOU ARE.
