“Can I help you two?” she asked.

Tara flashed her badge.

“Are you two investigating the Appalachian Trail disappearances?” the woman asked, intrigued.

“Yes, we are,” Tara affirmed.

“Everyone keeps calling about it—asking when the trail’s going to be reopened.” The woman reached for a packet of gum on the counter, took a strip out, and popped it into her mouth. “What do you need to ask me?”

“Do you work with someone by the name of James?” Tara asked.

The woman stopped chewing. “Yes, why?”

“We just wanted to talk to him. Is he around?”

The woman shook her head. “He actually didn’t show up for work this morning.”

Tara’s suspicion suddenly heightened. “Has he ever not showed up for work before?”

The woman nodded as she rolled her eyes. “He’s really annoying. I was supposed to have off today but he never came so I had to come in.” She paused. “He’s been late a lot lately actually and often cuts out early.” She sighed and rolled her eyes again. “Apparently my boss is trying to fire him, but she can’t even get in touch with him.”

“Do you work with him often?”

“Pretty regularly.”

“And do you get along?”

The woman shrugged. “He’s one of those people that are just really hard to read. He’s a bit socially awkward, so he kinda just keeps to himself.”

He was sounding more and more suspicious upon each of her replies, but Tara had a feeling there was more to learn from this woman, and at that thought, she pulled out pictures of the victims.

“Do they look familiar to you?” she asked once the woman’s eyes fixated upon them.

The woman studied them for a moment and then suddenly pointed to the pictures of the first two, the couple.

“I knew they looked familiar on the news,” she said as she looked up at Tara. “They definitely came through here. They were asking how to get to Hanover.”

“Was James working here when you saw them?”

The woman pondered a moment. “Yeah, he was actually,” she said. “He was the one who gave them directions, which was odd, because usually he tries to avoid the customers.” A silence lingered for a moment.

“Do you have his address?”

“Yeah, here.” The woman shifted to the computer, looking it up, and then reached for a piece of paper to scribble it down. She handed it to Tara.

Tara thanked her, before asking her for her phone number, in case they needed to contact her with any more questions. She scribbled it down as well.

Warren then stepped forward, handing her his card.

“Let your boss know if he contacts either of you, to call us immediately.”

Chapter Twenty Six

“Looks like someone’s home,” Warren said as he pulled up to a small, weathered farmhouse with a beat-up van sitting in the driveway.

Tara nodded. “Let’s just hope it’s his.”

She wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but she had this feeling they were closer than they ever were. All the signs pointed to this man—he had been spotted at a crime scene, showed odd behavior, and had met two of the victims and directed them to where it’s believed they went missing. There was a very strong possibility that he was the killer they had been looking for all along.