by Connie Mann
“I’m getting ready to head out.”
Satisfied, she said, “Good night,” and then left.
Sleep wasn’t on Nick’s agenda, however. He had to find Cat and Blaze. Fast. Earlier, JD had searched the farmhouse where Cat had first met with Richard Wang to see if there was any sign of either of them, but there was nothing. If Wang was telling the truth—and Nick believed he was—then Garcia had them. So where was he holding them? Even though he’d searched Garcia’s mansion, it would have been easy enough for Garcia to move both women while he was there. Or even gag them so they’d be quiet.
How could he make Garcia show his hand?
He drove back to his motel, mind spinning. There had to be a way.
Doggone stupid, misguided woman had used herself as bait. He muttered a string of curses. He knew exactly why she’d done it. He just couldn’t agree with it.
He sat at the small table in his hotel room and pulled out his laptop. He searched for Daniel Habersham and found article after article about his disappearance and the subsequent search fourteen years ago. Daniel’s face appeared on the screen, and Nick could understand why Cat had fallen for him. He looked like a nice kid—had been, by all accounts. He saw a brief mention by a reporter that he’d last been seen with Catharine Wang, the niece of Richard Wang. When he googled Garcia’s name along with Wang, he found several mentions of a bitter rivalry between the two men. Cat had alluded to that, too.
He dug deeper into Garcia’s background, and the more he read, the angrier he got. The man was into all kinds of sick, twisted stuff. His stomach turned when he read a police report about a woman whose body had been found. She’d last been seen in Garcia’s company.
He read article after article until the words blurred and his stomach churned. He didn’t remember falling asleep, but one minute he was thinking about Cat, and the next a buzzing woke him.
He sat up and grabbed his phone off the table. “Stanton.”
“Hi, Nick. It’s JD. Have you heard from the chief? His wife just called again. She’s on her way back to Safe Harbor because she’s so worried. She still can’t reach him.”
Unease slithered down Nick’s spine. He glanced around, realized it was daylight. “I’ll swing by his place on my way in. I’ll let you know.”
Five minutes later, hair still wet, Nick headed to Monroe’s fancy house on the outskirts of town. It sat back from the road and somehow screamed, “Look at me.” Or maybe he was confusing that with Monroe and his wife, who both loved the spotlight. He parked in the circular drive and climbed out, his unease growing. A quick peek in the two-car garage showed it was empty. He used the ornate brass knocker and waited but didn’t really expect a response.
He knocked again. Still nothing. He called the house and heard the phone ringing from inside, but nobody answered. Just as he turned to check the back door, a minivan came down the drive. A young woman climbed out with a bucket of cleaning supplies in one hand and a little girl of about four holding her other.
“Good morning.”
“Hi, I’m Nick Stanton.” He held out his hand as he walked toward her.
She shook it. “I’m Carrie Sanders. This is my daughter, Callie.”
“I’m looking for Chief Monroe.”
She checked her watch. “He’s usually left for the Blue Dolphin by the time I get here to clean.”
“Do you come every day?”
She laughed. “I wish. No, Mrs. Monroe just has me come once a week. Is something wrong?”
“You have a key to the house, right?”
“Yes, of course. Why?”
“Mrs. Monroe hasn’t been able to reach the chief. I’m just making sure he isn’t ill or something.”
“Oh, my goodness. Why didn’t you say something?” She hurried toward the door, jabbed her key in the lock.
“Wait out here,” Nick said.
He stepped into the foyer, and when he was out of sight of the little girl, he pulled out his weapon, just in case. There was no sign of the chief anywhere on the first floor, so he went up the sweeping staircase and checked the second, too. Thankfully, there was no sign of a break-in, either.
He went back downstairs and let Carrie and her daughter in, then called JD. “He’s not here, JD. But there’s no sign of foul play, either. So maybe he just decided to escape for a day or two.” Which was entirely possible, since his wife was out of town, but the chief prided himself on always knowing what was going on in Safe Harbor. His not being connected, at least by phone, was out of character and made Nick’s radar twitch.
“Mommy, look what I found!”
The little girl went running by him, a toy clutched in her hand. Nick saw the bright-red paint, and a flash of memory slammed into him.
He followed Callie into the kitchen, where her mother crouched down and said, “Oh, honey, where did you get that?” She eased it from her daughter’s grip. “We can’t take things that don’t belong to us, sweetie.”
The little girl’s chin quivered. “I just wanted to play with it.”
Nick stepped forward. “May I see it?” Carrie handed him the hand-carved wooden boat, and the minute he touched it, he felt like he’d been catapulted back in time. He was three again, and Sal Martinelli was holding him on his lap and handing him this wooden boat, saying he’d carved it for him. Nick shook his head and looked at the little girl. “Will you show me where you got this?”
She looked from him to her mother, who nodded and held out her hand. “Why don’t we all go?”
They followed Callie into a room at the end of the hall that had to be the chief’s study. A big mahogany desk, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, and leather furniture filled the room. Callie’s eyes were wide and worried as she pointed to an open desk drawer.
Her mother’s expression went stern. “Did you open that drawer, Callie? You know better than that.”
Their voices faded into the background as Nick pulled a pair of gloves out of his pocket and snapped them on. He opened the drawer all the way, reached in, and shock rippled through him as he pulled out his baby blanket. The blue one Mama Rosa had knitted for him. He’d seen it in pictures.
He stood stock still, frozen between past and present, absorbing the implications. Here was proof that Chief Monroe had been involved in his kidnapping. Or, at the very least, had knowledge of what happened. Why hadn’t he said anything? He knew Nick had been searching for answers.
Nick fingered the blanket as his mind spun. This just raised more questions. Why had Monroe kept these things? Was he blackmailing Sal in some way, after all this time?
He had to find out. First, he snapped pictures of both items with his phone. Then he went to his SUV and grabbed more evidence bags, mind racing. Once he’d bagged both items, he found Carrie in the kitchen, a subdued Callie coloring at the table.
“I’m so sorry, Officer Stanton. She knows better than to go snooping.”
Nick glanced at the little girl, who ducked her head and wouldn’t look at him. “Mind your mama, now.” He sent Callie a quick smile. “I’ll see myself out.”
Once in his SUV, he got the search warrant for Monroe’s place in motion, then glanced at the bagged items on the seat beside him. Was it possible he’d just identified who was behind his kidnapping? Why would the chief have been involved? Or was he protecting someone?
Did this mean Garcia was holding the chief, too? Were the two connected?
The stakes kept getting higher.
He had to find Cat and Blaze. Now.
Chapter 32
Cat had spent a miserable night trying to figure out how she was going to get Blaze out of here. Her arms ached from being held above her head and tied to the bedpost again.
As much as she didn’t want Nick involved, part of her hoped he would figure it out and come charging in, guns blazing, to free them both. She especially worried about Garcia getting his filthy hands on Blaze. That thought made her shudder. She should have taken the time to teach Blaze some basic capoeira mov
es the minute she arrived in Safe Harbor. Over the years, she’d taught dozens of young women how to protect themselves from evil men like Garcia. She just wished more of them had listened. Women like Joellen. The newspaper image of the girl flashed through her mind, but she shoved it away. She couldn’t think about Joellen now. She had to get Blaze out of here.
She turned herself around far enough that her feet could touch the wall behind the bed and then started kicking. The pain in her bruised feet brought tears to her eyes, but she didn’t stop. She kept it up until someone wrenched the door open.
“Cut it out!” Manuel hissed. “You do not want to wake the boss.”
“Don’t I?” Cat asked. She smiled.
Manuel muttered and started toward her.
“I want my violin.”
He laughed. “And I want a million bucks. Doesn’t mean I’ll get it.”
“Mr. Garcia likes it when I play my violin.”
That gave him pause.
“I can’t play for him if my shoulders are pulled out of joint.”
He eyed the restraints, then glared at her before he walked out and locked the door behind him.
She nodded as he left. Now all she had to do was wait. And hope it worked.
Nick’s mind spun as he drove to the station, trying to figure out if all this was connected somehow.
What was Monroe doing with those things? Why would he have held on to them for so long? If the chief had been involved in his long-ago kidnapping, why hang on to proof? Arrogance? Guilt? Or was the chief holding said proof over someone else’s head?
None of that mattered right then.
Just as he sat down at his desk, his phone chirped with an email. He glanced down, surprised it was from Bev at the crime lab. That was fast. He opened it and froze.
With Captain Barry and the chief both missing, Nick had asked her to compare their DNA samples to the body found yesterday. She wrote that she knew there was a rush, so she’d gone ahead and run all the tests and compared all the results. She’d obviously worked through the night.
Based on DNA, the body was that of Captain Barry. He stopped, let that sink in for a few minutes. Why would someone kill Barry? None of it made sense.
He went back to his email. Bev had also run a DNA test on the water bottle filled with scopolamine found near Teddy’s body.
What he read made him shake his head and squint, to be sure he had read it right. What was Chief Monroe’s DNA doing on the water bottle? Had he somehow contaminated the evidence? Or had he killed Teddy? And if so, why? Nick shoved to his feet, paced. Monroe? That didn’t make a lick of sense, either. What motive would he have for killing that young man?
Did Teddy’s death have something to do with the things he’d found at Monroe’s house? That seemed like a real long shot, but he couldn’t ignore any possible connections, no matter how unlikely.
Still, none of this got him any closer to freeing Blaze and Cat.
He had to get them to safety. Now. He’d been a fool to let himself get so sidetracked.
He’d have to go onto Garcia’s property without a warrant, since there was no way a judge would issue one based on Nick’s hunch. It would probably cost him his badge, but that was cheaper than Cat or Blaze paying with their lives.
He tugged on his Kevlar vest, grabbed an extra rifle and ammo. He turned to JD. “I’m going back to Garcia’s place. I think he’s holding Cat and Blaze on his property somewhere.”
JD stood, uncertain. “Did you get a warrant?”
“No time. But I want you to stay here.”
JD grabbed his own vest, put it on. “I’m coming with you.”
“No. You have a great future in law enforcement, kid. I don’t want you to blow it today.”
Nick’s cell phone rang just as JD opened his mouth to argue. He scooped it up, noted the out-of-state area code. “Stanton.”
“Good morning, Officer. This is Richard Wang. I’ve just received a call from Garcia. He says I should be on a small skiff, ready to leave my dock by eleven a.m. He will call with GPS coordinates.”
“I’m sure he told you not to contact the police, so why are you calling me, Wang?”
“He did say that, yes. As I expected him to. But I also believe he plans to kill both Catharine and Blaze. I would like to prevent that.”
Nick’s blood chilled at the man’s matter-of-fact tone. “You and me both, Wang.” He paused. “You do know getting me involved means I’ll arrest you at some point?”
Wang had the gall to laugh. “You can try, Officer. Others have. But right now, my greater concern is Catharine’s safety. Will you help?”
Nick grabbed more ammo, running logistics through his mind. “Of course. Get the skiff ready. Are you going alone?”
“No, I told Garcia that Phillip would be at the tiller of the boat.”
“OK, when he gives you the coordinates, call me immediately. I’ll be on a boat standing by. We’ll free them. Just follow my lead. We’ll sort the rest out later.”
“Consider it done.”
Nick turned to see JD standing at his elbow, rifle in hand. “You sure?”
“I’m sure. What’s the plan, boss?”
Nick looked him up and down, glanced at his watch. “How do you look in a dress?”
“What? I don’t, ah . . .”
Nick couldn’t help grinning at the expression on his face, then he sobered. “Garcia is setting up a meeting with Wang, out in the Gulf. We need to intercept them. We’ll be a couple of clueless tourists. Go find a dress, hat, sunglasses, wig. Whatever it takes to turn you into a woman. You have forty-five minutes.”
For a moment, JD simply stared, then he burst into motion. “Right. Got it, boss.”
Wanda turned to JD. “Let me make a call. I can get you set up ASAP.”
Nick looked from one to the other. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter 33
When the yacht’s engines started, Blaze’s heartbeat sped up. Where were they taking them? Were they going way out into deep water and then, like, planning to throw her and Cat overboard? Could Cat swim?
Blaze had gone fishing with Sal a time or two and had enjoyed the quiet, the peace out on the water. She could swim, a little. Probably enough not to drown. But if she were dumped in the middle of nowhere, she wasn’t sure how long she would last.
Stop it. She couldn’t think like that. She had to be smart. Cat was here, on the boat! She’d really come! Blaze felt a pang of guilt for doubting that she would, but then she pushed it away to deal with later.
Cat was keeping their captors off balance, no doubt planning something. Blaze had heard her yelling, and then she’d heard banging and angry words a little while ago.
She had to help, too. But how? What could she do? It wasn’t like she had mad ninja warrior skills. She didn’t have any skills, really, unless being a dork counted. She was good at that.
She looked around the stateroom. Considered. She was good with technology, and if she could get her hands on a phone, she could call Nick. He’d be able to lock into the GPS on the phone and find them.
Shouldn’t be too hard. Except the “get a phone” part. She’d never been a particularly good pickpocket. Hadn’t lifted a single thing since she arrived at the Martinellis’ marina. But could she use that now to get help?
The boat picked up speed, and her stomach pitched slightly, then settled back down. At least she didn’t get seasick.
She waited, heart pounding. How long before someone came to check on her?
It seemed like hours before one of them did. He walked in, glanced her way before setting a tray of food on the built-in dresser across the room. This was it. Her one chance. She almost sighed with relief. He’d made it easy for her. His cell phone was in a holder on his belt.
Without giving herself time to change her mind, Blaze leaped up from the bed and rammed the guy from behind, knocking him and the tray off balance. As they crashed to the floor, she swiped the phone from the holster and sh
oved it down the back of her jeans.
“What the—!” He scrambled to his feet and grabbed her by the arms. “What are you doing?” He glanced at the scattered contents of the tray. “Go hungry, then. See if I care.”
He slammed the door on his way out.
Blaze fumbled the phone out and swiped to open it. “Please no password, please no password, please no—yes!” He hadn’t used a password.
Heart pounding and eyes on the door, she quickly hit the location button to turn on the GPS, then typed in Nick’s cell phone number.
“Stanton.”
“It’s Blaze. I’m on some scary guy’s boat. It’s moving. Cat is here, too.”
“Good to hear from you, kiddo. How’d you get a phone? Does it belong to the scary guy?”
“Not his. One of his minions. I turned the GPS on.”
“Good girl. Are you, ah, hurt?”
“No. I think Cat’s OK, too. She was making a racket a while back.” She listened. “Someone’s coming.”
“I’ll be there soon. Stay tough, Blaze.”
She didn’t want to hang up, to lose the connection. But she wasn’t stupid. She couldn’t let them find the phone. She clicked end, stuffed it under the mattress, and hopped on the bed.
The door swung open, and she scrambled back against the headboard.
“Where’s my phone?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“You took my phone.”
“Why would I do that? You must have dropped it somewhere.”
He ignored her as he scanned the room and poked through the contents of the tray that littered the floor. He checked all the drawers but didn’t find anything. As he came closer and closer to the bed, Blaze tried to keep her expression blank.
He searched both bedside tables and under the bed.
He reached over to frisk her, and she stiffened at the look on his face. But a shout from above had him rushing from the room. She didn’t let out a breath until the door clicked shut behind him.
The minute Blaze hung up, Nick called Eloise at Blue Sky Cellular again and asked her to find the location of the number Blaze had given him.
