The Guardian

valley. Over 5000 more people that move here every month. God knows how many leave.”
    “So what are you saying?”
    “What I’m saying is it’s like a needle in a hay stack. There are nearly 24% Hispanics living here. They are constantly commuting back and forth between here and Mexico. Who’s to say that this mystery van is even in the US, let alone Las Vegas.”
    “Jesus John, that’s a pretty scary perspective. Almost knocks the wind out of our sales.”
    “He can’t help it guys. He’s suffering from some old high school injuries. Isn’t that right John?” Laura was digging him.
    “I keep telling you, my knees are fine. It has nothing to do with that.
    “Look, I’m not trying to discourage you. It’s a sure bet the guy is still in town. There were two girls in a two week period. If the guy were from Mexico, my hunch is that it would have only been the one girl and that would be it. It’s just a gut feeling, but my gut feelings are usually right on.”
    “Well, we’re hoping that your gut is right on this time as well.” Singletary said looking over at Smythe.
    “Let’s go over the lists, make sure we haven’t missed anyone. Point out any that we want to go back to because of suspicion or any other morbid curiosity if nothing else.” John said making room on his desk.
    They pulled their chairs over to the desk. They spread the lists out, along with a map of the area. The map had already been marked with the areas that he and Laura had been to. They proceeded to mark the areas off the list that Singletary and Smythe had.
    After about an hour and a half and two pots of some crappy but tolerable coffee they came up with a condensed list of about eight names.
    Of these names, they broke it up into two areas. They divided the areas equally and agreed that they would go back and question the parties involved. They hoped that it would clear up any doubts they had. They figured they were pulling straws having not heard from the Guardian. They could not get in touch with him. It boiled down to a waiting game. It wasn’t so much the waiting that bothered John. It was the not knowing. What was it someone had told him once? “The unknown cause’s chaos and panic.” he wasn’t at the panicking point yet. It was certainly starting to cause them some ancillary chaos.
    Singletary and Smythe left John’s office. John just leaned back, pushing his fingers through his thick hair and moaned.
    “You sure you’re okay?” Laura asked.
    “Ya, I’m okay. I just need a break from this shit. I’m just getting tired of, no life, no down time, and it’s starting to get to me.”
    “I know what you mean. I know what you mean.” Laura was already thinking of some down time. She wasn’t going to tell John. It was going to be a surprise.
    Chapter 74
    Jack had been keeping his eye on the house where the little girl lived. It was the same routine, day after day. He couldn’t wait any longer. Today was the day. He had made up his mind to that. He could almost feel her in his arms, sense the smell of her. It was more than he could handle. Yes, absolutely, it had to be today.
    He went out to the garage and began preparing the things he needed. He loaded them into the van. It was barely daylight. He hadn’t slept all night just thinking about the girl. The time had come. He’d made up his mind, and he needed to get the van loaded with the things he needed and be on his way. It wasn’t very much. It was just some things to bind her and blindfold her and his bottle of chloroform. That would knock her out for a while. Still, he wanted to make sure that everything was just perfect.
    Going into the kitchen, he decided to prepare a nice breakfast for his other two guests. It would help him pass his time a little quicker. Maybe take his mind off the third girl.
    After he was done with the preparations, he fixed up the trays. He put them on the cart, and headed out to the rooms where the girls were.
    Knowing that she got out of school at 2:15, he didn’t want to get there too early. Looking at his watch, he saw that he still had some time. He didn’t want to be sitting in front of the school, waiting. He wasn’t taking any chances that someone would see him. There were parents that were there every day picking up their kids. They would know which vehicles were regular or not. Now that he had these stupid flames on the front, he was beginning to think it wasn’t such a good idea. It was too late for that