Chapter 48

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

Everyone had come out in full force to join the search. Brynlee’s friends and family had been questioned, but no one knew where she was. For the past several hours they’d been searching every part of town looking for her. Dare had explained to the Laynes that they had a person of interest, but it was better to be safe than sorry. Plus, it took the heat off Johnson for the time being.

Sawyer hoped like hell the distraction worked and lulled him into a false sense of security. He had a feeling Johnson was exactly the men they’d been looking for—they just needed a little more evidence.

Sawyer scrubbed a hand over his face and momentarily closed his eyes. They burned with fatigue, but he didn’t dare give up. Not when it was Brynlee’s life on the life. He’d spent hours going over every piece of information they had on Johnson—his work history, financial records, and even his social media activity—but nothing stood out as overtly suspicious.

Johnson was clean—too clean. But Sawyer knew better than to trust appearances; he had a gut feeling there was something buried in Johnson’s past, something that could explain the connection between him and the missing women.

Sawyer dug deeper, searching for anything that might shed light on Johnson’s life. It didn’t take long before something caught his eye—a court record, dated almost five years ago. Sawyer clicked on the link, his pulse quickening as the document loaded.

It was a custody hearing.

The details of the case unfolded before him. Johnson had been married once, years ago. His wife, Rebecca, had filed for divorce after the death of their child—a daughter who had died in a tragic accident when she was only three years old. The loss had shattered their marriage, and within a year, Rebecca had moved on, remarried, and started a new family.

Sawyer’s eyes narrowed as he continued reading. Rebecca had given birth to a child, another little girl, with her new husband just over a year ago—right around the same time that Jayla Simms had gone missing.

Sawyer leaned back in his chair, the pieces starting to come together in his mind. Johnson had lost everything—his child, his wife, his family. Rebecca had moved on, but Johnson hadn’t. He’d been left alone, his life unraveling while she rebuilt hers. And then, women with a certain look—blonde hair, blue eyes, young—had started to disappear.

They all looked eerily similar to Johnson's ex-wife, Rebecca.

Sawyer’s heart raced as the implications of his discovery sank in. What if Johnson had been trying to recreate the family he’d lost? What if he was targeting women who reminded him of Rebecca, trying to make them fit the mold of the life he’d once had? The thought was chilling, but it made a twisted kind of sense.

His mind flashed to the autopsy reports. Lindsey Gill had a birth control implant removed from her arm—carefully, almost surgically. At the time, it had struck the medical examiner as strange, but without context, it hadn’t made much sense. But now, with what Sawyer had learned, it painted a horrifying picture.

Had Johnson been trying to get Lindsey pregnant? Was he trying to recreate the family he lost by forcing these women into roles they didn’t want, roles they couldn’t fill?

Sawyer’s stomach turned as he thought about Hilary Swanson. She’d been pregnant when she died, supposedly miscarried due to the stress her captor had put her through. Had she been another attempt? Another failed attempt at Johnson’s twisted dream?

And what about Jayla Simms? Her autopsy hadn’t shown anything indicative of pregnancy, but maybe she hadn’t lived up to Johnson’s delusion either. Maybe when the women didn’t fulfill his expectations, when they couldn’t be the perfect wife and mother he was trying to force them to be, he eliminated them.

Sawyer pushed back from the desk, pacing the small office as the pieces of the puzzle clicked into place. They needed to act, and fast. If Johnson was indeed the man behind these murders, there was no telling what he might do next—especially with Brynlee’s life hanging in the balance.

He tapped the button to print off the paperwork, then grabbed it up and moved toward Dare’s office. Cam had gone home to be with Kinley and get some rest, but he’d seen Dare prowling restlessly through the station several times over the course of the night.

Sawyer jerked to a stop when he saw Ainsley curled up in a chair next to Dare’s. Her eyes, drowsy with exhaustion, flew wide at the sight of him. “Did you find something?”

“Maybe.” He flicked a look at Dare, who took his cue to excuse himself.

Dare pushed from the chair and dropped a kiss on Ainsley’s head. “I’ll be right back, sweetheart.”

Ainsley watched them intently as Dare crossed the room, and they made their way to the interview room next door. Dare closed the door and turned to him. “What did you find?”

Sawyer spread the papers on the table. “Remember that photo on the mantle? Johnson lost his daughter to a drunk driver almost five years ago. His wife left him, remarried, had another kid—another little girl. The women he’s been targeting—they all look like his ex-wife and the daughter he lost. I think he’s trying to recreate his family.”

Dare’s face twisted. “That’s… sick. But it makes sense. It explains the removal of Lindsey Gill’s birth control implant.”

Sawyer nodded. “Exactly. He removed it—probably to try and get her pregnant. Hilary was already pregnant when she died. Maybe the others didn’t live up to his delusion, and he?—”

“Eliminated them,” Dare finished, his voice cold. “Fuck. We need the damn list from the insurance company.”

Sawyer flicked a look at the clock. Dawn was fast approaching. “We don’t have time. I’ll go see if we can get the search warrant rolling.”

He snatched up his keys and headed for the door, his blood thrumming in his veins. He could only hope they weren’t too late.