Chapter 6
Jackson shivered. It had been a while since he stayed this far north for any length of time. He waited impatiently in Barnett's idling Chevy outside the Night Owl Inn, Lisa's new job. According to the file he gathered from Mason's backseat, she managed the second shift, and went home after dark.
He scrutinized the forlorn building. This must have been a significant pay cut from the Lux Atlantic. The inn was far less grandiose, a two story motel with an empty parking lot. This place would have been one of those seedy motels raided by the police on national television.
The black and white photos sprawled on the passenger seat revealed a foreign woman to Jackson. Glimpses of a blonde through a distant diner window. Blurry shots of a woman in a white karate uniform with an undetermined belt color. Secluded photos of the Night Owl Inn, with Lisa jogging to her car. License plates. Her new home.
He picked up a picture of Lisa's face, staring with haunted eyes over her shoulder. The clearest piece of evidence he had. This was definitely 'his girl.' Her hair can change. Her expression can deepen with sorrow. She can carry a gun and learn Tae Kwon Do. Her home can move and a sea breeze can change into coffee, but she was still the same Lisa. He studied the photo, caressing it gently with his thumbs. Are you looking for me, Leese?
Jackson heard a rustling in the darkness. The glass door of the Night Owl Inn swung open, and out stepped the blonde from the photos.
"Okay Rus, I'll see you tomorrow!" she called back into the office. Jackson's heart leapt. She was alive, and right in front of him. Feelings of murderous rage and compassionate mercy struck him like a bolt of lightning. He gasped. Jackson trailed the woman as she sprinted to her car, a blue-gray Taurus. He watched her stop to survey the parking lot. The same terrified expression distressed her face in the photo. Jackson let her crawl safely into her car and watched her pull away. The photos, the time sheets, and the behavioral notes had not prepared him to see her, living and breathing, a few feet before his eyes.
As her car vanished, he released his captive breath. The puff trembled into the darkness.
"Lisa…" he shuddered.
Okay, where's Jill?