Chapter 9

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The city bus cruised the street outside Megan Hillard's home, emitting diesel fumes filling the cool morning air. Wayne stood on the Hillard's porch with the other Notus MC members and the two parents that had gone all night worried about their teenage daughter. Neighbors continued to aid in the search, and together, they'd covered a one-mile radius around the house.

There was no sign of Megan.

Mike Hillard kept his arm around his wife, Laura. Both parents tottered on the brink of falling apart.

"You'll need to go into the St. John's Police Department and fill out a missing person form at exactly seven o'clock tonight. The front door will be locked because it's after hours but use the buzzer at the front door and explain why you're there to the attending desk clerk. Make sure you tell her it's been twenty-four hours. That will start the investigation. The faster an officer can declare an abduction, or the child is in danger, the sooner they can put out an Amber Alert." Wayne removed his wallet and took out a business card. "That's Officer Gomez's number. I'll be filling him in on what we've accomplished overnight, and he'll have all the information he needs by the time you get there."

"Why can't they start the Amber Alert now?" Laura looked to her husband. "She would never run away. I don't understand why nobody believes us. They could ask anyone. Her teachers. Her friends. The neighbors."

"I believe you, ma'am." Wayne cleared his throat. "It's procedure to wait in all cases when someone goes missing. With Megan still being a minor, she's allowed to be entered into the program, and it's important that all states receive the alert. Now, while law enforcement is held to following the laws, the Notus MC will continue searching for your daughter. But, it's imperative that you go through the proper channels. They have agencies they work with that have more manpower to help with the search."

Mike stepped backward and grasped the door handle. "I'll write you a check."

"Not necessary." Wayne raised his hand. "We don't take money for helping."

"W-why are you helping us?" asked Laura.

Thad stepped forward. "There was a time when I wished more people helped my sister when she went missing. The more eyes that are looking for Megan, the better. We all have a regular job, but I can promise that any time we're not working, we will be searching for your daughter."

"Did you..." Laura hugged her middle. "Did you find your sister?"

Thad shook his head. "The cases we've helped on over the last twenty years, over half of them were successful."

Laura nodded and whispered, "Thank you."

Wayne stepped off the porch. "We'll check back with you after you've contacted the police unless we find her sooner."

He walked to the sidewalk. What Thad refused to share was that the majority of people found were runaways. They wanted to leave their home. Megan Hillard, from the information gathered, was happy at home. Which wasn't a good sign. Knowing there was a killer on the loose, bumped Megan's situation into an emergency.

Chuck joined Wayne at the motorcycles. "What's the link between a seven-year-old child and a seventeen-year-old girl?"

"Innocence." Wayne put on his helmet. "Location. Females. Above middle-income families."

Glen sat down on his motorcycle and added, "Draw a line from the Hillard's house to the Morgan's house and smack dab in the middle is the field off Lombard Street where little Annie was found."

Wayne put on his gloves. "That's stretching for a link."

"No, it's something to think about." Glen straightened his bike. "Until we know otherwise, it's a huge coincidence that we've had two missing girls this close together in a short amount of time. How long has it been since a non-runner disappeared?"

"About six years." Thad started his motorcycle and took off down the road.

Wayne exhaled loudly. The last couple of weeks had taken its toll on all of them, especially Thad. There was never a moment where he wondered at Thad's ability to track people. Despite Thad's own nightmare losing Thalia, his dedication came because he wanted someone to have the outcome he'd never had with his sister.

"Let's catch up with him and go back to my garage. I want to pull up Google Earth and take another look at the possibilities of how the hell someone could take an almost full-grown woman away without anyone seeing. Someone, somewhere, had to have noticed her." Wayne started his motorcycle and raced after Thad.

He caught up with Thad on Philadelphia Street. The hard, cold expression from his MC brother came as no surprise.

Wayne pointed ahead and passed Thad, leading the way, knowing everyone would follow. He rolled into the driveway of his house and led the others inside and into the garage. Setting out four beers from the fridge beside his desk, he sat down and typed 'Google earth' into the search engine on the computer and waited.

He frowned and leaned closer, looking at the page advertising a camping site featuring Yurts at Lost Lake that came up. That wasn't what he wanted to be pulled up on the computer. He looked at what he'd typed. It looked all right to him.

"Fucking computer." He shoved the keyboard toward Chuck. "Get Google Earth on that damn thing."

Chuck looked at the screen and grinned. "You got closer to the right spelling that time."

"Let me see." Thad leaned sideways. "Goggle r-t-h-e. Hooked on Phonics worked for you, man."

"Fuck you," muttered Wayne.

The only people he allowed to joke about his dyslexia belonged to Notus, who'd spent more hours helping him in school to pass his tests to advance to the next grade than any tutor or remedial reading class. More than anything, he was frustrated with himself. Using his hands came easily to him. Hand him a knot, wrench, or a broken motorcycle, and he solved the problem without thinking. Give him a simple word like earth, and he couldn't even see the word in his head.

He leaned back and opened a Snickers bar on his desk and waited for the satellite picture to clear and get closer.

Glen pushed marker pins into the paper map on the wall, stringing twine between the two houses, and circled the field in between. Chuck turned the monitor toward Wayne and Thad.

Wayne swallowed and wiped his mouth. "Okay, go through the exit points."

"The port." Thad leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. "I-5 bridge going to Washington."

"I-5 straight to I-84," said Chuck. "I doubt someone would try to take a conscious person through downtown Portland. Traffic is too congested, and Megan could cause a scene or noise in the car to get attention."

"If she's alive," said Wayne. "We need to look at all angles."

"We need to narrow it down. We've already lost twenty hours." Thad leaned back in the chair, tipping the two front legs off the concrete floor. "This happened on a Saturday evening. A teenage girl walks to meet a girlfriend. Why not meet her at the house?"

"The mother said this is something she often does. Claims it's about their daughter wanting her independence and she doesn't have a car. Her friend does." Wayne tapped his thumb against the desk.

"That don't mean shit." Glen walked over from the other side of the garage. "How many girls in high school did we meet somewhere else, so we didn't have to meet the parents?"

"Almost all of them. So, go in that direction." Wayne threw them each a candy bar, surprised to find his stash depleted. He'd need to buy some snacks to keep everyone going. Just grabbing a meal took too much time away from a search. "I talked to the girlfriend...Lynn. She's shaken up, and there's no way she could fake the fear she had for Megan."

"Friends cover each other's ass." Thad shrugged, ripping open the wrapper. "Doesn't mean much. Not at that age when they believe they're invincible."

"Okay. Let's go." Wayne pointed at the screen. "We circle these blocks, and I have a list of Megan's friends and their addresses. Friends that might not be so loyal if they weren't involved in the disappearance. We'll assume girls talk as much as guys, and if she has a secret boyfriend, maybe someone older or her parents wouldn't approve of, we get a name, a car, some kind of lead."

They needed to get as much done as they could tonight, because tomorrow, they were due to work at Port Loader. If they had the extra time to bounce scenarios off each other, put themselves in a kidnapper's shoes to find the motive, Wayne would feel better about moving forward. Right now, they were racing against the clock, hoping to get lucky. Nothing more.

Locking up his house, he went to his Harley and led them all back across town. At the first red light, he checked his phone, unable to hear or feel the vibration of an incoming call when he rode. He'd missed one call from Gomez. He lifted his hand, pointed forward and made a circle with his finger. They'd need to pull over up ahead in the parking lot of Fred Meyer. If Gomez was calling, he could have news.