The Ultimate Romantic Suspense Set (8 romantic suspense novels from 8 bestselling authors for 99c)

by Lee Taylor

  They hurried back to the truck. Ben sat in the front seat, and Cole stood on the driver’s side of the truck while the chief typed in the information.

  “She’s got an apartment in town.”

  “Doesn’t sound like a very good place to hold anyone captive,” Ben said.

  “Yeah. Wait a minute. It looks like she inherited a piece of property from an uncle at 629 Waverly Road. It’s outside of town. On a five-acre lot.”

  Ben sat up. “That’s more like it.”

  He was still staring at the screen. “It says here she spent time in Spring Grove.”

  “A state mental hospital?”

  “Right.”

  “Christ. What else do you have?”

  “It says she was married to someone named Jim Terry.”

  “I’d like to know more, but we don’t have time to fool around.” He turned to Cole. “We’ve got to move.”

  oOo

  Sage gave a mighty tug, and the bolt came free of the wall, slapping the chain against the floor.

  She gathered up the metal links and rushed across the room to Laurel. The two sisters hugged each other tightly.

  “You did it.”

  “Yeah. I guess he was in too much of a hurry to make sure this thing was entirely secure.”

  “Or he never figured you’d keep working to dig it out.”

  “Now we’ve got to figure out how to get out of this room. There must be a way, or he wouldn’t have us chained up.”

  “Or it’s an extra precaution.”

  Still holding the chain, she crossed the room and tried the door. It was locked. Next she ran to the window and pulled the curtains aside. Behind the glass, she could see boards nailed across the opening from the outside and daylight filtering through “I can break the glass.” Sage swung the chain at the window, shattering several panes.

  “Don’t cut yourself.”

  “Give me a pillowcase.”

  Laurel pulled the case off one of the pillows and tossed it to Sage, who wrapped her hand in the fabric and started pulling out more of the glass. When she’d removed enough, she reached through and pounded at the board.

  “It’s not tight. I think I can get it off.”

  She had been working at the boards for a few minutes when they heard a door open and footsteps crossing the wooden floor.

  “Mr. Hood is back,” Laurel sobbed. “What are we going to do now?”

  Sage sprinted back to where she’d been sitting on the floor, pushing the chair in front of the place where she’d pulled the bolt from the wall.

  She lay down and closed her eyes as though she was still sleeping off the dose of chloroform or whatever Bettie Henderson had given her. But her eyes were slitted as she watched the hooded man walk into the room. She could tell from his body language that he was angry.

  As she stared at him, she wasn’t able to think of him as anything but a monster.

  “I tried,” he shouted. “I tried so hard, but you wouldn’t go along with me.”

  Laurel stared at him. “I tried, too. But it was hard to know what you wanted.”

  “Just a loving little girl.”

  “I am a loving little girl.”

  He made a snorting sound. “Don’t give me that crap. You sure as hell don’t sound like it.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  “How far is it from here?” Ben asked the chief, struggling to keep the panic out of his voice.

  “Three miles.”

  “Hurry. There might not be much time left.”

  Ben leaped out of the truck. He and Cole ran to the car. As the truck pulled away, they followed. When they reached the main road, they turned left and sped away from Doncaster. As they rounded a curve, a flashing red and blue light made the chief slam on his brakes.

  Four cars had piled up, their mangled frames blocking both lanes. A couple of men and women stood on the shoulder, and another was lying on the ground near one of the cars.

  Two police cruisers had pulled up at the scene. Ben could see an officer directing traffic. Another was talking to one of the men standing by the road.

  Hadn’t Judd heard about the accident on the radio? Maybe, but there must not be any other way to get to Bettie’s house.

  Judd jumped out of his truck and hurried toward one of the officers. As Ben watched them talking, he wanted to run up and say they were on an emergency mission, and they had to get past this mess. But he stayed where he was. He had no creds in this town, but if anyone could get them moving again, it was the chief of police.

  Ben could hear the wail of an ambulance in the distance. Christ, more emergency vehicles to block the road.

  He brought himself up short. If ambulances were coming, someone was hurt. But he didn’t know them. He knew Sage. He loved Sage, and if anything happened to her, he didn’t know how he would go on.

  That realization slammed into him. He loved her! He had to find her. Before it was too late.

  Judd ran back to the truck and called to them. “Follow me.”

  He maneuvered the vehicle onto the shoulder, inching past a mangled car. Ben followed, drawing a dirty look from the middle-aged woman driver.

  Ignoring her, he pushed past, then breathed out a sigh as they swung back onto the blacktop and sped up.

  Judd led them to the outskirts of town, then stopped along the road.

  Up a gravel driveway, Ben could see an old Victorian that would have been memorable if it were in good repair.

  In front of it was parked what looked like a ten-year-old Ford.

  Judd drew his weapon as they hurried up the drive.

  oOo

  Clad in the black hood, the monster swung around and glared at Sage. “It was working this time. It was finally working.”

  Sage doubted it. He’d killed at least four other women. But she knew he must be delusional if he could kidnap women and think he could turn them into his dead daughter.

  He kept speaking, addressing Sage now. “You spoiled it all by coming to Doncaster. Wendy and I would have had a wonderful time together if you hadn’t screwed it all up.”

  She wanted to tell him he was the one who had spoiled it. Whatever “it” was. But she knew that was exactly the wrong tack to take. This man was dangerous, and he obviously had no sense of reality.

  She was wracking her brain for some way to handle him when she realized she had run out of time.

  He raised his arm, and she saw a gun in his hand. Ben’s gun. The one Bettie must have taken from the motel room.

  Sage’s heart was pounding so hard that she thought it might break through the wall of her chest. Her muscles tensed to the snapping point. She had to force herself to think.

  He didn’t know that she’d gotten the chain out of the wall. That was her best advantage. Her only advantage.

  His gaze flitted around the room, and he lit on the broken glass in the window.

  “What the hell happened?”

  As he took a step forward, she coiled her whole body, knowing that she had only one chance to get this right.

  oOo

  “This place looks deserted,” Cole said as the trio made its way carefully up the driveway.

  “Bettie probably doesn’t live here,” Ben replied. “She probably just uses the house to hold her victims captive.”

  The discussion was cut short when they heard a shot ring out.

  Ben leaped for the front door, kicked it open, and was inside before he knew where he was going.

  The house was dark, but he saw light coming from under a door down the hall. He charged in that direction and threw the door open.

  Sage was on her knees, facing a figure dressed all in black who had a gun in one hand and the other raised to protect his head as she swung a length of chain. The heavy links flew at the dark-clad man, and he jumped back, cursing.

  Then he spotted Ben and turned, aiming the gun toward him.

  oOo

  “No,” Sage screamed as the chain swung at the black-hooded figure. H
e cried out as the heavy links hit him.

  Ben sprang forward, bringing the man the ground.

  Leaping on top of him, Ben wrenched his gun hand back, as Cole and Chief Judd pounded into the room.

  The gun fired again, and Sage rushed forward, stamping on Mr. Hood’s wrist. He screamed but held on to the weapon.

  Ben bashed the man’s head against the floor, and he went still. Judd charged forward and grabbed the gun. Then he whipped out his cuffs and secured the guy’s hands behind his back.

  When the man was cuffed, Ben reached for Sage. She came into his arms, and they clung together.

  She’d held herself together while she’d been a captive. Now she could admit her fear. She’d been terrified that he’d never hold her again.

  “Are you all right?” Ben asked, his voice rough with emotion.

  “Yes.”

  “Thank God.”

  Ben turned toward the young woman on the bed. “You’re Laurel?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are you okay?”

  “I am now. He was going to kill us. But Sage got the chain out of the wall, and she used it to hit him just as he fired the gun.”

  Cole Marshall yanked the hood off their captor’s face. He and everyone else in the room stared in astonishment.

  The guy lying on the floor looked a little like Bettie Henderson, if Bettie had been a man with slicked-back hair. The features were hard-etched. The eyes angry.

  “Get the hell off me,” he demanded in a deep voice.

  “Not likely,” Chief Judd answered as he kept his gaze on the guy. “Who are you?”

  “Jim Terry.”

  “The hell you say.”

  “Don’t take Wendy away from me.”

  “How many times have you killed Wendy?”

  “I would never kill her. I love her so much.”

  “She was your daughter?”

  “Not was. She is my daughter. Mine and Bettie’s.” Something in his eyes changed. “But Bettie got into one of her fits and killed her.”

  “What?” Sage gasped.

  “We covered it up. We made it look like an accident.”

  “And what happened to Jim Terry?” the chief prodded.

  “He died,” the figure on the floor sobbed out.

  As Sage watched, the masculine features softened, and she saw Bettie. For a moment she looked like herself. Then her face changed again. “That’s wrong. Jim Terry didn’t die. I couldn’t let him. Not after everything we’ve been through. He’s right here.”

  Tears filled Bettie’s eyes. “I just wanted Wendy back,” she said in a quavery voice.

  The police chief began to speak. “So you kidnapped girls. And when it didn’t work out, you killed them.”

  “Jim did it.” This time Bettie seemed to be speaking.

  “I don’t want to hear anymore of this crap,” Chief Judd growled. Then he began again, “You have the right to remain silent. . .” When he’d finished reading Bettie her rights, the chief pulled out his cell phone and called the station house. “I want a patrol car at 629 Waverly Road.”

  Sage looked back at her sister. “Laurel is still chained to the bed,” she told the chief.

  Judd walked over and examined the place where Laurel’s chain was attached to the wall. “I’ve got some tools in the truck.” He handed his weapon to Ben. “I’ll be right back. Keep her covered.”

  Ben trained the chief’s gun on Bettie, but it was clear that the fight had gone out of her.

  Judd was back in a few minutes carrying a toolbox. From it he took a bolt cutter and severed the chain. Then he carefully cut the cuffs off of both women. Laurel flexed her arm, looking at the place where she’d been manacled.

  “I thought I was never getting out of here alive,” she murmured.

  Sage crossed to her, and they hugged.

  “Thank you. Thanks to all of you.”

  Chief Judd helped Bettie to her feet and hustled her out of the room.

  When the rest of them came outside, a patrol car had already taken Bettie away.

  “I’m ordering a psych eval for her,” Judd said to the group. “She’s one mixed-up individual. Ben kept his gaze on the chief. “And what about the smuggling operation?”

  I’m turning that over to the State Police—assuming you were serious about getting me access to that lawyer.”

  “Yes. We can discuss that later today. Right now, I’d like you to call ahead and tell the hospital that Laurel is coming in for a checkup.”

  The chief made the call, and Cole drove them to the hospital, where the staff took her right away.

  oOo

  After Laurel had disappeared into the back, Sage glanced at Ben, but he looked more closed up than she’d ever seen him. He’d embraced her when he found her. Now he looked like he wanted to be anywhere but with her. They needed to talk, but that was going to have to wait until Laurel was settled.

  When she emerged with a clean bill of health an hour later, they headed for the Baker house where Laurel packed some clothes. From there they drove to the motel where Ben and Sage had been staying. After their heartfelt thanks, Cole left for Baltimore, and Sage turned to her sister.

  oOo

  Ben watched the sisters disappear into the unit they’d originally booked for Sage. He stood looking at the closed door for long moments, then went back to the room where he and Sage had been staying, the room where he had given in to his feelings for her. Later, when he’d known a serial killer had her, he’d been terrified that he couldn’t save her life.

  Thank God he’d been able to rescue her in time. But now what? Even if he loved her, nothing fundamental had changed. He was still the man who had worked as the security chief on the Windward. He was still the man who had let people die. The man who knew he should be punished for his sins.

  Maybe it would be better if he packed up his stuff now and went back to Baltimore. He could send someone from Decorah down for Sage and Laurel.

  He clenched his teeth. He’d been a lot of things, but coward wasn’t one of them. He’d wait for her, and . . .

  That thought and his breath choked off as the key turned in the lock and Sage stepped into the room.

  The only thing he could think to say to her was, “How’s your sister?”

  “Better than you might expect. She’s not going to live with Mom. We talked about transferring her credits to The University of Maryland, Baltimore County.”

  “What’s your mom going to do?”

  “The same as always, I assume. That’s not my concern,” she clipped out.

  “Is Laurel going to live with you?”

  “That depends.”

  “On what?”

  “What she and I work out.”

  She stood by the door, and he thought she might explain what she meant. Instead, she said, “I didn’t thank you for everything you did. How did you find us?”

  “Cole located the other body, and I touched it the way I did at the warehouse.”

  “Andrea Dvorak?”

  “I assume so.”

  “How did he find her?”

  “He’s got a sense of smell that’s almost superhuman. That’s how he knew you’d left here in a car. And that someone had anesthetized you.”

  “What did you see when you touched Andrea?”

  “I saw the man take off his black hood, and I saw Bettie’s face.”

  “She took off the hood?”

  “Yes. When Andrea was dying. To kiss her good-bye. Chief Judd didn’t want to believe how I’d gotten any new information, but I made him help us locate the house Bettie had inherited from her uncle.”

  “Thank you,” she breathed.

  She shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

  “No thanks necessary. I was doing my job.”

  “Your job. And was touching Andrea as bad as touching Magdalina?”

  He gave a little nod.

  “I wasn’t there to pull you back.”

  “Cole did it.”r />
  “Thank God.” She swallowed hard. “I think you went above and beyond on this assignment.”

  “I . . . had to find you,” he answered, hearing the emotion in his voice.

  “Thank you for telling me all that.” Sage clenched and unclenched her fists, seeing the closed expression in Ben’s eyes. Figuring she had nothing to lose—or everything—she said, “But we need to talk about us.”

  “That’s pretty direct.”

  “I think I have to be.”

  She could see him stiffen and knew that in the next few moments everything would change—for the better or they would get much worse. She almost wished she’d kept her mouth shut. Then she forced herself to plunge ahead.

  “You had a dream about me, where we were on that ship together.”

  “The Windward,” he interjected.

  “You said I was punishing you for what you’d done there, and that . . . uh. . . I had you in my power.”

  He nodded tightly.

  “I just went through a terrible experience, where a killer had me in his power. I was terrified of what he—I thought he was a man—was going to do. I worked like mad to free myself before he could come back and . . . kill me and Laurel.” She felt her chest tighten as she said it.

  “Like the slaves on the Windward,” he muttered.

  “No. Not exactly. They were there because they wanted to be. They didn’t realize they might be risking their lives.”

  He shifted on the bed. “I guess that’s right.”

  “Putting yourself in someone’s power voluntarily is different from having the choice taken away.”

  “What does that have to do with what we’re talking about?”

  “You keep beating yourself up for what you’ve done. I want you to see that I trust you completely. And I want you to understand that you trust yourself.”

  She saw his confusion, and she pressed ahead before she lost her nerve. “Tie me to the bed. Naked. Like you were tied down in that dream you keep thinking about. Then do whatever you want to me. Find out what you’re really like in that kind of situation.”

  Disbelief bloomed on his face. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “Are you afraid to try it?” she demanded.

  “No!”

  “Good. Because I’m not.” She made her voice businesslike, when she was so nervous she felt light-headed. “I guess we should strip the covers off the bed.”