White Space Season 1

everyone knew everyone, with nowhere to go, surrounded by tons of woods, odds weren’t looking good of finding the poor girl alive.
    Houser searched the rest of the top floor, then the rest of the house, looking for anything else that might tie the guy to taking Emma, or even Emma herself. Many of these old houses had crawl spaces, basements, and attics, plenty of places to hold a kidnapping victim. Hell, the man could have five kids downstairs under the mountains of bullshit.
    Finding nothing inside, Houser hit the backyard. There was a blue shed in the rear of the property, which might house yard equipment, but could easily pull duty as a prison. Houser walked through the back yard, glancing up at the window of the house next door where an old white haired woman was watching him — the same house that hadn’t answered the door when he knocked earlier. Houser waved, pretty sure she was calling the cops. He had to act quickly.
    He reached the shed and was not surprised at all to find a padlock locking the doors.
    He pictured Emma on the other side. At first, he imagined her alive. Then he remembered finding Cecilia as the life was fading from her eyes.
    Please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead, please don’t be dead.
    He knocked on the shed, the tin door bouncing in its track from the weight of his blows.
    No response.
    Houser said, “Hello? Anyone in there? I’m here to help you.”
    Nothing.
    Houser looked around for something he could use to pick the lock, or smash it if he had to, but saw nothing. He could shoot it, but didn’t want to attract any more of an audience than he already had. Nor did he want to take the chance of hitting someone inside.
    So he stepped back a bit and kicked the door off its tracks with a loud crash.
    If the old lady hadn’t already called the cops, the kick had to dial the three digits.
    There was nothing in the shed, except for a motley assortment of gardening tools. A shovel leaned in the corner, with dark fresh soil staining the business end. The sick in his gut said it was more future evidence.
    Houser looked behind him, glancing around the yard, but saw no indication of any recent burials.
    He glanced back up and saw the old lady duck from the window.
    Time to go.
    He ran back inside the house, closing the back door, then raced out the front, locking the bottom lock on his way out.
    Once in his car, he put the car in motion, and called Jon.
    “Hey, just left his house. No sign of Emma, but fucker has an ass ton of pics on his iPad; little girls on a playground. Particular interest in Emma, a dozen or more shots, right in a row.”
    “Jesus,” Jon breathed. “Now what? Do we call the police?”
    “Not yet,” Houser said. “I’m on my way to the church right now.”
    “The church?” Houser heard Jon swallow.
    “Yeah, I’m not waiting around all day for him to get home. Say, do they have a playground at the church? Emma ever go there?”
    Jon took a moment to fill Cassidy in on the details, then asked if Emma ever went to the church or the playground.
    Jon was back. “She’s not sure if she went to Sunday school there, but yeah, they went to church services sometimes, and to the playground.”
    “OK, well right now, this guy is our suspect, and I’m gonna go pay him a visit.”
    “Don’t do anything stupid,” Jon said.
    “Don’t you do anything stupid,” Houser said. “Like calling the cops. Let me do what I do well, so this guy doesn’t lawyer up before I get a chance to let him smell the sweetness of my breath on his ears. ”
    “OK,” Jon said. “I’ll wait to hear from you. Actually, no, we’re gonna meet you at the church.”
    “It’s up to you. But I’ve gotta warn you, I think the old lady next door may have called the cops already, or maybe even called him at church. So if he’s on the move, I’m not waitin’ for you.”
    “Please,” Jon said, “find her.”
    “Call Chief Brady. Call Paladin. Tell them to get search teams in the woods around Whistler’s house. Just don’t say anything about Whistler, yet, unless you have to.”
    “Do you think she’s … dead?”
    “I’m not gonna lie to you, Jon. We’re running out of time.”

    **

    The church grounds had five buildings and a playground. The largest building was the church, a massive, traditional-looking wood and stone structure with high arches, several stained glass windows beneath winding spires, and a giant cross on the steeple you could see from the sea.