“In other words,” Nate said, “the frat is pissed. Several of their friends are expelled and the fraternity was shut down.”
“Exactly,” Jake said. “And expect to see more frats closed. We’re still going after the other one we suspected of malicious misbehavior. I’m sure this document will help incriminate them, but only if the victims are willing to testify.”
“That unfortunately gives us a lot of suspects,” Ryan said.
“Randy Brooks?”
“He had an alibi for the night of the library attack,” Jake said.
Ryan said, “We’re returning to the department. Nate, join us. We’ll put out an APB for Lauren and come up with a plan in the squad room.”
Nate nodded and climbed back in his vehicle, but he didn’t like it.
He needed to search for Lauren now. They couldn’t afford to take their time.
It could mean life or death for her.
***
The first thing Lauren sensed when she came to was the foul taste of the coarse gag in her mouth. A horrible, discomfiting grogginess wrapped around her senses, making everything seem cloudy and strange. She opened her eyes and scanned the area around her, confused. She was on a small bed and the room had a low ceiling with small windows. As soon as she moved her hands to push herself up, she discovered the bindings tying her hands together and her feet together. The memory of going to her car with the chart came back to her. The person who’d grabbed at her from behind…
A voice broke through her confusion. “I’m glad you’re awake, sweetheart.”
The man leaned over and kissed her forehead, but she pulled away.
“It’s all right. I know you’re frightened. Understand that I’ll never hurt you. I just needed to bind you and gag you to get you away from there. Too many of your brothers and stepbrothers are military and policemen.”
He sat down on a stool next to her cot, and the proximity to her attacker made her want to vomit. She recognized him, and if she could ask him just one question, it would be: Why?
“I know. I’ve surprised you, haven’t I? It’s really quite simple. I love you, just as I’ve always loved you.” He stood up and walked away, leaning against the wall and then turning to face her with his arms crossed. “I’ve loved you ever since high school. But you didn’t even know I existed. And when I finally got the nerve up to invite you to the prom, you turned me down.” He said it with the calmest composure she’d ever seen before. Then he picked up a long piece of wood and slammed it down on the counter behind him. “You. Turned. Me. Down.” The last came out in such a growl that she curled into as much of ball as her bindings would allow. That voice…when it was masked with anger like that, she thought she recognized it from somewhere else…
“No, no.” He hurried over to her side. “Don’t be afraid of me. I’d never hurt you. Ever.”
She cringed from him, and another look of fury crossed his face.
A cruel laugh left his lips. “Well, I suppose I did, once. Yes, I confess I took your virginity. It was mine to take, but I realize it must have hurt. That’s all in the past, though. Now I’ll love you and cherish you the way you deserve.”
He smiled and she closed her eyes, before she jerked them open again in response to her cot moving.
However, it wasn’t just the cot that moved but the entire floor.
She was on a boat.
Her captor chuckled. “That’s right. They’ll never find you here. We’ll stay on the water forever. ‘And they lived happily ever after.’ That’s what people will say about us in a few years.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Nate sat in the squad room rubbing his forehead. The police captain was busy handing out assignments. He knew he wouldn’t be given an assignment because he wasn’t part of the PD.
He’d promised Ryan he wouldn’t do anything until they checked in at the station, pooling all of their resources, but to his knowledge, they knew nothing more than they’d known an hour ago.
His gut told him to go to the lake, but he didn’t know why. If Ryan asked for a good reason, he couldn’t give him one. His gut wasn’t a good enough reason. He strolled over to the window facing the side of the building, wishing he could find some answers to his questions. The window was slightly open, letting in a nice breeze. Where did Trevor live? Where was Randy Brooks? Were they involved in her disappearance?
He heard a sound off to the side and turned his head, surprised to see a boy of about eight standing outside with a huge gray dog whose tongue was hanging out.
“Go to the loch.” The boy nodded to him as if he were talking directly to him. All he could think of was what the hell did that mean? What was a “loch”? He turned to see if the lad was addressing someone behind him.
The boy chuckled. “Are ye daft, man? I said go to the loch.”
He closed his eyes for a second, trying to gauge if the kid and the dog were really there, and when he opened them again, they were gone.
He rubbed his forehead again, looking for the boy, but he didn’t see him or the dog. Could they have disappeared that quickly? Was he seeing things? Afraid his worry and concern for Lauren was clogging his mind, he turned back toward the officers’ meeting.
Ryan came over and clapped a hand on his shoulder. “You see a ghost or something?”
Nate looked back at him with wide eyes. “Maybe. Or I could just be losing my mind. What’s a loch?”
Ryan closed his eyes. “A loch is a lake. Why? Did you see something?” Something about the way he said it made Nate think he knew more about the situation than he was letting on. It emboldened him to speak.
“Did you see a boy or a dog there a moment ago? Is there one that lives down the street or something?”
Ryan quirked his brow. “Did he speak with an accent? Was it a huge deerhound or wolfhound or something?”
“Yeah,” Nate said, suddenly relieved. “He said to go to the loch. Then he called me daft. Who uses the word daft in this day and age?”
“Old Scots,” Ryan whispered. “I’ll explain later. You and I are going to the lake. Don’t mention the kid to anyone. I’ll be right back.”
Nate didn’t know what to make of what Ryan Ramsay had said, but he didn’t much care if Lauren’s stepbrother had a screw loose. At least they were going to the lake.
Jake followed the two of them out to the cruiser. Ryan gave crisp instructions as they hurried along, as if he knew time was of the essence. “Jake, contact the sheriff’s office, see if they’ll send a boat out onto Orenda Lake.”
“I don’t know why you’re going to the lake. There’s no indication…”
Ryan stopped him in his tracks with one word. “Loki.”
Jake’s jaw dropped and his entire demeanor changed. “I’ll make the arrangements. Get your ass going.”
As soon as they were in the car, Nate asked, “What the hell did that mean? Who is Loki?”
Ryan put the car in gear and sped out of the parking lot. “You’re not likely to believe this, and if I hadn’t see it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it either, but Caitlyn was contacted by the boy and his pet a while ago, when she was in a bad state. He said he was her guiding angel.”
“You mean guardian angel? Are you trying to tell me I just saw an angel?”
“Not guardian angel, guiding. He guides her in the right direction, which is exactly what he was doing with you. I told Jake about him.”
Nate chuckled. “Come on, Ryan. You don’t believe that, do you?”
“Like I said. If I hadn’t seen him with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it either. But I do trust my own eyes and ears.”
“So what did he look like?”
“The dog is tall and thin. Gray haired with a wiry coat. The kid has brown hair, always mussed up, and he looks around eight or nine. Speaks with a Scottish burr, and comes off as the kind of jokester his name implies.”
Nate took in everything Ryan said, unable to believe he’d talked with an apparition. “A ghost f
rom Scotland. I don’t know, Ramsay…What was he wearing?”
“His Grant plaid.”
“What?”
“A kilt in muted reds and greens, a little gold. He’s from medieval times, so the colors aren’t really bright.”
Nate whispered, “You saw him out the window.”
Ryan said, “No, I didn’t. If we find Lauren on the loch, I mean the lake, will you believe me then? Nothing gave us any reason to search the lake. It’s September, and the temperature is only around fifty degrees. There won’t be many boats out there now.”
“Agreed. Tell me how you want to handle this. And who do you think we’ll find?”
“Randy Brooks. His father and uncles all have boats and houses on the lake. He insisted someone would pay when we arrested the group at the frat house.”
“Not Trevor?”
“Trevor is a little more mature than the others, but he’s still a possibility.” He pulled into the driveway, parked his cruiser, and both of them made a beeline to the lake. Ryan’s father emerged from the house and followed them down.
“What is it, Three?”
“Dad, we’re taking the boat. Lauren is missing. We have nothing to go on, just an inkling. I’ll tell you as soon as we hear anything.”
Lorraine had followed her husband out of the house. “Oh no,” she said, reaching out to her husband. He wrapped his arms around her and helped hold her steady. “Please find her.”
Ryan reached the boat-house and ducked in. A moment later, he came out with two vests—he put on one and tossed the other to Nate. “Use this in case bullets fly. If you go over, it’ll keep you above water.”
Nate didn’t argue, he just put it on, struggling to get his numb hands to comply. He said a quick prayer, then thought of Lauren and what she must be going through.
He’d never met anyone as strong as Lauren. She had to hang on, she just had to. He’d started to imagine a future with her. With this woman he loved.
Once they headed out, Ryan pointed to the sheriff’s boat already headed in their direction. Jake had been true to his word. Ryan slowed when the sheriff’s boat drew up next to him. “Did you find anything?” he called out to the two guys on board.
“Ramsay, there’s one boat out there,” the man who was closer to them reported. “Plenty of room to hide someone. When we approached, we hadn’t gotten your call yet, but I think it’s worth checking out. He’s trolling. Midway down on the east side of the lake. No fishing gear in sight.”
“How many men?”
“Only saw one.”
“Travel with us for backup?”
“Absolutely. Not much else happening out there this time of year. You make the call when we check it out. We’ll follow your lead.”
Ryan nodded and took off.
“You never asked him who it was,” Nate said.
“Does it matter?”
***
Trevor Hutton removed Lauren’s gag and ran his fingers down the side of her cheek. She backed away from him, coughing to get the awful sour taste out of her mouth. This wouldn’t be the end. It couldn’t be. Ryan and Jake would come for her, and Nate would search high and low for her.
But would they even consider checking the lake this late in the season?
“Water,” she rasped.
Trevor moved over to the counter built into the side of the small room and grabbed a bottle of water. “Now, I’ll leave that off if you can be pleasant and promise not to scream.”
She nodded. As soon as she had reason to believe they were close to another boat or the shoreline, she’d scream her lungs out, but until that happened, she needed to convince him he could trust her.
She took several swigs of water, knowing she had to be dehydrated.
“I told Dominic not to hurt you. He was only supposed to scare you. In fact, I wish you’d never started that ridiculous support group. I sent Randy out to scare you, but I didn’t tell him to set your house on fire. The stupid bastard. I beat the shit out of him for that mistake. You could have died. But you didn’t listen to him or to the group. Your brothers wouldn’t stop, and the school security was all over the fraternity. That’s why it escalated. Dom and the others just like to play with a few women here and there. They never hurt them. None of them were virgins, and they all want it.”
She didn’t intend to argue with him. Ryan had told her to save her energy if she was ever abducted. Keep her strength up, be aware of her surroundings, and dig for information. Don’t try to get away until there were others around, then scream and fight with all your strength.
Except she found herself saying, “He did hurt me. They all did, kicking and punching as if I were nothing but a rag doll.”
His eyes glittered with rage and balled his fists. “I know, and I was furious when I saw that video. I’m glad Dom was arrested. I never intended for this. To see them touch you…hit you…it was just wrong. I apologize that I didn’t get to you in time.”
She said, “Where are we?”
“Orenda Lake.” He moved over to a closet and opened it up. “Look at all the pretty things I bought for you.” He pulled out one gown and said, “They’re more weather appropriate for Florida, of course.”
“Florida?” Her pulse sped up and she coughed again, doing her best to maneuver the water bottle with her hands tied in front of her.
He said, “My parents own two homes, one on the lake and one in Florida. We’ll occupy the one they’re not in. They’ll be leaving next week, so we’ll have our own place until they return in late spring. By then, I expect you’ll be used to the idea of being my wife.”
“We’re on the lake. You’ll be caught if you try to bring me to Florida.”
“Hardly. There’s a small channel, as you know, that will take me into Seneca Lake. My parents own an old homestead there, too, though it’s barely functional. No one will find us there. We’ll set out once the search dies down.”
“Trevor, you’re a nice man,” she said, trying to keep the tremor out of her voice as she addressed her rapist, “but I’m not interested in being your wife. A woman has to agree to the marriage, and I’ll never marry you.” She turned her head just a touch, not wanting him to see the disgust in her eyes. A distant sound registered in her ears. Was it truly a boat, or was she just projecting what she wanted to hear?
“Ah, but you will grow to love me. When you have no human contact but me, you’ll become dependent on me. You’ll see. You’ll beg me to touch you in the end.”
All of a sudden, he froze, tipping his head to the side.
“Shit,” was all he said, but she knew that meant he’d heard the boat, too. She knew it was really there.
He grabbed her and hauled her around, holding her back against his belly. He pulled a gun out and said, “One word, one wrong movement, and I’ll kill whoever it is. My guess is it’s either that idiot boyfriend of yours or one of your stepbrothers. I’ll kill all three of them if I need to.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“Stay out of view, Nate. I don’t want him to know how many of us there are. Just stay hidden for now.” Ryan slowed his engine as they approached the boat, the sheriff’s vessel directly behind them. Their boat was a large fishing boat, so while there was no lower deck, the overhead area was large enough to protect the fishermen against the weather, which meant there was a wall for him to hide behind.
Nate took off his work boots and then the life vest.
“What the hell are you doing, Patterson?”
“I’m going in the water. If there’s only one guy on board, you can keep him occupied, and I’ll come up on the other side and take him by surprise. That’s a good-sized boat. I have plenty of room to come up on the opposite side if you distract him. If I can’t get to him, then I’ll sneak below and see if I can find Lauren. I can’t keep the life jacket on. I wouldn’t be able to hide in the water.”
“You realize the water is probably in the high fifties. You’ll have to move fast.”
�
�Adrenaline will carry me through. I love your stepsister.”
Ryan gave him a small grin. “Can’t argue with that reasoning. Be careful. We have to assume he’s armed.”
The sheriff pulled out his mic and said, “All occupants on deck, please.”
Nate ducked behind the raised helm of the boat, giving himself a small area to watch the other boat. His worst fear materialized in front of him. Trevor Hutton emerged from the lower deck with Lauren in front of him, a gun aimed at the side of her head.
“You’re going to leave now and let us go.” Trevor appeared as calm as if he held a gun to someone’s head on a regular basis. If Nate were to guess, he would not be easily distracted.
Nate didn’t wait any longer. He shrugged out of his shirt and slid into the water on the far side of the boat. Damn it. Ramsay was right. The freaking water was cold. His nuts screamed at him to get out, but he persisted. After a few minutes, he’d adjusted enough to stop shivering, but he knew his time was limited. He moved to the far end of the boat and dropped underwater, swimming as fast as he could, careful not to let out any air bubbles to give himself away. He forced himself to swim far enough past Trevor’s boat that he wouldn’t be heard when he came up for air. When he finally did, he had to fight to keep from making any sound from the cold.
Fortunately, Ryan was distracting the kidnapper. “Not a chance, Hutton,” he said, his voice carrying over the water. “Let go of Lauren, and I’ll lift her into my boat.”
“No. Your stepsister and I are getting married. I’ve always loved Lauren, but if I can’t have her, no one will. If I die, I’m taking her with me. Her hands and feet are bound. I’ll throw her over the side of the boat. She won’t last long in this cold water.”
“If you don’t free her, we’ll call for another ten boats to come and surround you. You’ll run out of food, water, and gas. Don’t make it come to that, Hutton.”
Three Reasons to Love Page 18
