Chapter 23: Missing (4)
Everly and Old John came to visit the patient.
It had been a week since that night when the refrigerated truck had been forced to stop. Mike’s head injury was severe, and he remained unconscious, showing no signs of waking. As for policewoman Sharon, her head wound was relatively minor, and she had mostly recovered.
Recovering from an injury was inherently boring, and Sharon had a lot she wanted to say. Old John’s visit became an outlet for her emotions. Thus, what began as a simple hospital visit gradually turned into the current “policewoman telling a story.”
“You can probably guess what happened next, Mr. John. The frequent disappearances of young women along Highway 34 threw the area into panic. With fewer prey, Peter was forced to shift his hunting grounds to Highway 466… That noon, he was dining at Old Jones’ motel when he coincidentally ran into Mike and me, who were there investigating. At the time, we were on the phone with the highway authority, requesting the past three months of truck passage records. Peter, worried that we might trace him, called out to us as we were leaving, claiming he had information, and got into our car…”
At this point, Sharon’s hand trembled slightly, and a lingering fear colored her voice.
“But you probably didn’t expect that Peter didn’t wait until later—he attacked Mike and me the moment he got in the car. We never imagined someone would do something like that in broad daylight, in a motel parking lot where anyone could walk by at any moment! Mike was immediately knocked unconscious. I fared a little better—Peter intended to spare me, to slowly torment me, so he didn’t strike a killing blow. But the impact to my head left my limbs powerless; even though I was conscious, I was completely unable to move…”
“He had subdued Mike and me, then drove the refrigerated truck next to a police car, using its body to block any outside view, and brazenly moved us into the truck’s cargo compartment. After that, Peter got into the police car, planning to drive it out into the wilderness and abandon it. The whole process went smoothly—except when leaving the motel, he ran into Lina, who had just returned from a date with her boyfriend. She saw him in the driver’s seat. Although she clearly had no idea who actually owned the police car, Peter decided that same night to eliminate this threat…”
Hearing this, Everly instinctively bit her lip.
—She saw it again!