Burning Proof by Janice Cantore Page B

states a clean-cut, male white subject driving a late-model Ford Mustang pulled to the curb and contacted her, asking if she wanted a ride. The male subject appeared to her to be in his twenties, and because of his short hair, she thought he was possibly in the service. Tired of waiting, the victim accepted his offer. Instead of driving her home, the suspect drove to an abandoned strip mall where he produced a knife and sexually assaulted the victim, then bound her wrists and ankles with a rough, hemp rope and placed her in his trunk. The victim felt the vehicle move as she struggled inside the trunk and was able to free her wrists and ankles and eventually able to open the trunk lid. Victim cannot say for certain how long she was in the trunk, how far the vehicle had traveled before she got the trunk open. She rolled out of the moving car, found herself on a dirt road she was not familiar with, and ran. Victim believes the suspect chased her, but did not look back. She saw anothervehicle and headed that way. Two Air Force personnel were in the second vehicle. They stopped, rendered assistance to the victim, and called 911. Neither saw the suspect or his vehicle.
    The summary went on to say that the original investigating officers felt that the suspect was going to kill Molly and dump her body somewhere in the vast emptiness of the Mojave Desert. Though the rape kit recovered a DNA sample and Molly gave a detailed description of her attacker, he was never apprehended.
    After dinner that night, Luke shared the summary with Woody.
    “Definitely a case for us,” Woody said after he read the printout.
    “Tomorrow I’ll meet with Faye Fallon. Why don’t you come along?”
    “Sounds like a plan. Are you disappointed about the delay in the cold case squad?”
    “Yeah. But I believe being given this case, having the chance to help this young girl, is a great consolation.”

CHAPTER
- 19-
    “CONCENTRATE on what you know is right; then everything else will fall into place.”
    Abby tried hard all day Tuesday to follow Woody’s advice. She called her aunt and told her about what was going on in her life. Dede prayed with her and expressed excitement that Abby planned on coming home. After their conversation Abby tried to stay busy and occupied, cleaning and organizing her house, anything to keep her mind off Joiner.
    By Wednesday morning at seven thirty, she was ready to hit the road, ready to run away. That thought stopped her cold.
    Am I really running away?
    “Do you mind if I plant things?”
    “What?” Abby looked up from the pile of belongings splayed out on her bed and shoved the idea of fleeing from her thoughts, focusing on her friend Jessica Brennan, now also her house sitter. Though Abby was taking Bandit with her, she still liked the idea of someone watching the house and watering the few plants she hadn’t yet killed.
    “Like flowers and stuff,” Jessica said.
    “Mind? I don’t mind, but you don’t have to go to any trouble. It will put me at ease knowing that you’re here keeping an eye on things.”
    Jessica smiled. “No trouble. You forget, I live in an apartment. I can’t muck about in the dirt, and I’d like to. You have a blank canvas in your backyard.”
    Abby hadn’t driven to her childhood home in Lake Creek, Oregon, in years. She hated the barren center of the state of California, the hot ribbon of Highway 5 that bisected the Central Valley. It was always a sweltering, dry drive. She preferred the quick, easy, and relatively inexpensive flight to the Medford airport, thirty minutes from Aunt Dede’s house.
    But she had a dog now and she had no desire to leave him in a kennel, nor subject him to an airplane flight, so she’d decided to drive. Jessica had interrupted the new dilemma she’d created for herself; suddenly what she’d take with her had become an unexpected knot of a problem.
    Distracted by her stuff and the offer, she looked at Jessica. “Can I give you some mon