Chapter 10
"I got their signal back."
"Thank you Tani."
When Adam, Lou, Steve and Danny arrived at the scene of the accident, they found the victim lying unconscious on the ground, with Mel and her Mustang nowhere to be seen. Only their medical bag was still next to the unconscious man. Adam quickly began CPR while Lou called for an ambulance.
"Tani, do you still have Mel's signal?"
"Yes, she continues down the coast."
"Danny, come."
Steve grabbed Mel's doctor's bag and ran back to the Camaro, and before Danny could intervene, he got behind the wheel and started the car. Quickly Danny got in and his door was not yet closed when Steve was already stepping on the gas.
"Steve please."
"Danny, we have to get to her, what if this guy injects her with this stuff too? And then there's no one there to ..." He broke off.
"Yes, Tani?"
"She's right in front of you now."
"Tani, there's no car here."
"You just passed her."
"It can't be, there's nothing here."
Horrified, Danny looked at Steve.
"He threw her cell phone out of the car."
They drove some more, but the Mustang was nowhere in sight. Especially since they passed various junctions where they could have turned off.
Cursing, Steve pounded on the steering wheel.
Then he turned around and drove to the place where Mel's cell phone must have been. It had landed in the grass next to the roadway and was even still intact. As Steve tapped on the display, his heart felt a slight stab again. Beaming at him was a Mel with two grinning men. One about his age and the boy probably about sixteen or seventeen. Steve swallowed, if he didn't think of something soon, Mel would probably be reunited with her loved ones soon.
Slowly, Mel regained consciousness. She had a headache and felt nauseous, probably from the chloroform. It was dark around her and she could not see anything at all. The man had tied her hands in front of her chest. Nervously she felt around, there was enough space around her, probably she was in a hut or something. She was lying on something soft, but it smelled quite strong. Her stump hurt quite a bit and when she felt down her leg her prosthesis was missing. Probably he had forgotten to open the vacuum valve when he removed it.
She stared tensely into the darkness and listened, but it was eerily quiet around her.
After all, she wasn't dead yet.
She had to think about Steve, I wonder how he was doing? Maybe she should have stayed with him in the hospital. Then she thought about the poor man the perpetrator had also tried to kill in broad daylight. Why was the perpetrator suddenly out in the daytime. Was this a new thrill?
Steve and Danny drove back to HQ. There they met Adam and Lou, who reported that the latest victim was also doing well. Saddened, Steve looked at Mel's medical kit, which he had brought with him to HQ. He could only hope she was okay. Tani spontaneously gave him a hug.
"Hey boss, I'm sure she's fine."
He looked doubtfully at Tani. Then he took a breath.
"Okay, what do we have so far?"
Tani typed something on the surface table. A picture of a motorcycle appeared.
"Near Makapu'u Lookout, we recovered tire tracks from a motorcycle. It is a motocross machine from the 1990s. Unfortunately, it does not seem to be registered, we could not find anything about it. The perpetrator is driving it without insurance. I have written to all stores that still repair such machines and asked them to contact me if they know the owner of such a machine. So far, unfortunately, nothing came.
There is still nothing new about the DNA. The fingerprints that we took from the disposable gloves are unfortunately also not in the system.
By the way, I did some research in our database. There was a series of murders with BTX on the island in the 1990s. But the perpetrator Roger Monroy was caught then and died a few days ago in Halawa. And no, before you ask, he didn't have any children or other relatives, I already checked."
Thoughtfully, Steve looked at her.
"That means we are dealing with a copycat offender. Would the question be, who visited him, or generally had contact with him? Letters or anything like that? And with whom did he share his room in Halawa?"
Danny looked at Steve.
"If this was a room mate, though, we should have his fingerprints."
"Yes, that's right, I was also thinking more of a secondary contact. So maybe someone who was corresponding with him or his roommate."
"Okay, Tani and I, we'll go to Halawa and examine his cell and question the guards and room mate. Maybe we'll even get his stuff handed over."
Mel had no idea how long she had been here. At least it slowly became a little brighter and she could recognize something. She was in a wooden hut, probably somewhere in the forest, because the light that fell through the slits between the boarded-up windows was slightly greenish. She still had a headache and was terribly thirsty. The night she had hardly slept, and only stared tensely into the dark for fear that the guy might come back. The air in the cabin was getting stuffy, probably the sun was on the roof by now. Mel struggled to her feet and stood swaying on one leg. With her hands tied, she couldn't really hold on anywhere, but she tried to get over to the kitchen counter, hoping to find something to drink, or at least something to cut her bonds so she could use her hands again.
She hopped slowly forward on one leg and came to a halt again and again, swaying. Tears ran down her face, but she continued to struggle through the room. Then she got stuck somewhere and fell. She tried to catch herself with her bound hands, but her head still hit the table. Briefly her eyes went black and she felt the blood running down her temple. Crawling, she pushed herself further and only pulled herself up again in the kitchenette. She examined one cabinet after the other, but they were all empty. The same with the drawers.
Screaming, she gave vent to her anger.
She sat down on one of the chairs and tried to think. The one she had chosen didn't seem to be particularly sturdy, because it wobbled dangerously as she settled down. Slowly she stood up again, then picked up the chair as best she could with her bound hands and threw it against the kitchen counter. It fell to pieces. Mel hopped back up and picked up one of the chair legs. With it she smashed the window near the kitchen. Immediately the sounds of the forest came in louder to her. She cut her bonds on one of the shards.
Finally she could use her hands again. She hopped to the door, now holding onto the table and other objects. Of course, it was locked. Silently Mel cursed, what was she thinking. Stupid this guy apparently wasn't. Again she skipped back to the kitchen and the smashed window with pauses. She freed the window frame completely of glass and began to pry the boards away with the leg of the chair. Panting, she had to pause. Sweat ran down her back in rivulets and her head seemed to explode. But giving up was not an option for her, and soon she had pried away three boards and created an exit for herself. She climbed onto the countertop and pushed her way through the narrow opening, stump and foot first.
It was higher than she had thought, and when she let go of the window frame she came up badly, buckled, and fell with her hand into the glass shards of the pane. Cursing, she straightened up again. She tore off a piece of her dress and bandaged her hand. Still holding on to the hut, then to the bushes and trees, she tried to follow the path away from the hut. Finally she found a branch that she could use as a crutch and made a little faster progress. But suddenly the path disappeared. Panic tightened her throat and she stopped. Searching, she looked around, when suddenly the earth gave way under her and she fell.