Find Me If You Dare (The Chronicles of Elizabeth Marshall Book 2) by Rachel Lucas Page A

evidence was found in that spot. I noticed small spots of dark brown that were marked, possibly dried blood. There really wasn’t much to see.
    At first, I thought there were more cars than law enforcement officers, but as I scanned the area, I noticed that there were many officers and agents out combing through the weeds and thick grass, looking for any further evidence.
    While Logan talked with Director Phillips and some of the local authorities, I took the time to walk around the deserted area myself.
    It didn’t seem to make sense. Why would Lisbeth, or even Maxine for that matter, come all the way here to this area to find this person and kill him? She had been leaving notes or clues, but there was none here, no identification, no connection that was apparent. It didn’t seem to fit. If it hadn’t been for the symbol carved into the victim’s flesh, I never would have thought she had any involvement.
    “What are you thinking?” Logan was back at my side, looking over the area and taking in the various law enforcement officials in different uniforms out scouring the area.
    “I’m just not seeing a connection, Logan.” It was windy out on that dusty Texas road and I had to move a strand of my hair behind my ear to keep it from getting in my face. “Take away the symbol found on the victim and what do we have left? I just don’t see why she would go to all this effort, travel this far, to kill some random victim. Especially if she told us in advance she was heading this direction.”
    “You’re right. ” Logan agreed, his hands buried deep into the pockets of his leather jacket. “Can you think of any purpose any of the personalities would have in coming clear out here?”
    Mentally, I began listing the different members of the family, searching for any reason one of them might have to come here of all places.
    “Maybe it is random, maybe it’s just –“
    “Detective Sawyer,” Director Phillips was jogging over to where we stood. He seemed to be just disconnecting a call on this cell phone. “We might have a possible break. A landlord from an apartment complex in town just filed a missing persons report on one of his tenants. We’re heading there now.”

 
                                         Chapter Twenty-Two
                                                                
    The apartment complex was old, worn down and not in the best part of town. There was a row of two-story brown brick buildings with more weeds than grass on the surrounding grounds. The cars in the parking stalls were mostly older models, beaten up and dented.
    The landlord met us on the second floor landing before a door marked 14D. He was heavy-set and looked as though he hadn’t bath ed or shaved in a few weeks. He probably would have changed his stained baggy white tank top and loose-fitting gray sweatpants if he’d known it was the FBI responding to his call instead of the local police.
    “You see, I got Vinnie a job at my cousin’s smoke shop after he got out of Huntsville,” the landlord was explaining to us, “he’s been real good at not missing any work. So when my cousin called me and said Vinnie didn’t come to work and didn’t call, I checked his apartment and he didn’t answer. Vinnie doesn’t have a car or anything, and he doesn’t have any family that I know of, so I thought I’d call you guys.”
    “Do you have a key to his apartment?” Director Phillips asked.
    The helpful landlord produced a key ring out of his pocket and started looking through the different keys for the right one.
    “Got it,” he stated as he produced the right key and inserted it into the lock. He opened the door and moved aside to let the law enforcement officers step inside but not before letting out a few foul expletives.
    The doorway was blocked by several broad sets of shoulders so I couldn’t immediately see inside, but I could