Inside, she took her tote bag from Gage. “I’ll find a bathroom and clean up so we can get going.”
Down the hall she found a lovely yellow bedroom with attached bath, and she made quick work of washing up, all the while hoping that Elyse would be able to communicate her thoughts in a succinct manner and the sketch would proceed smoothly. Maybe they could return home tonight.
Home, right. Go back to Gage’s compound. His world. Despite the security and fortress-like atmosphere, it was becoming a place where she was starting to feel comfortable. Was she really falling for him again, or was she simply grateful for his care and attention? Once they apprehended her attacker, would the emotions fade?
“Grrr. Stop. Just stop with the thoughts. You have an important job to do.” She flipped her hair over her shoulders and marched to the family room.
The drive to the sheriff’s office was uneventful, and after a quick talk with Detective Warner, she settled in a small conference room with Elyse. A sturdily built woman with thick dark hair, she curled her hands in her lap and stared at Hannah. She badly wanted to ask Elyse about Nick to glean any bit of information about her husband’s last hours. She wouldn’t though. Telling Elyse that she was married to Nick would taint the interaction. She needed Elyse to focus solely on Nick and the other man.
Hannah got out her easel, consisting of a few boards hinged together with fittings to hold paper, photographs, and other aids she might need in her work. She took out a sheet of vellum-finish watercolor paper and clipped it to the board. After locating a graphite pencil in her bag, she sat and met Elyse’s wary gaze.
“Relax.” Hannah smiled. “Pretend we’re good friends and you’re describing this handsome man you met.”
Eyes still guarded, Elyse nodded and looked off into the distance. “He had this look—a kind of smile—that said he had a secret. I thought he was just coming on to me because he was such a big flirt. But now I wonder if even then he was planning to kill the other guy.”
“We can’t think about that, Elyse,” Hannah said as a vision of a man pushing Nick over the cliff flashed in her mind, and her heart started pounding.
Maybe the deputy was right. Maybe she shouldn’t have taken on this drawing. Well, too late now. She’d have to make the best of it. “Can you give me specifics?”
Elyse met Hannah’s question with a blank stare. Not unusual. She took out her copy of FBI's Facial Identification Catalog from her bag and flipped to the base images to show Elyse. “Can you choose the image that fits the basic shape of his face?”
She took the book and examined each page carefully. She finally pointed to a white male with a square, wide face then looked up. “He looked like this, but his face was straighter down to his jaw. And his chin was not so wide.”
“Good. Good.” Hannah drew a rough outline and showed it to Elyse.
Her forehead furrowed. “Umm, sort of, but his nose was wider. And big, but it fit his face, you know? It didn’t seem out of place. And his forehead was higher.”
Hannah made the adjustments, and the image sparked Elyse into tossing out additional suggestions, but she struggled with communicating the differences. It felt like pulling an elephant through a funnel to get each little detail right, but they kept at it. As the sun dropped toward the horizon, Hannah held out the sketch one last time for the day, praying it was right and she could head back to Cold Harbor.
“It’s him,” Elyse cried out. “The guy. Perfect.”
Exhausted, Hannah stared at the face of her husband’s potential killer. She didn’t recognize the man, and as she gazed at his handsome features, she felt nothing other than fatigue. She stood. “I’ll give this sketch to Deputy Warner, and then he’ll come in to let you know what’s next. Thank you for taking a whole day out of your vacation to get this done.”
“You’re the one who should be thanked,” she said. “You spent all day with me when I wasn’t much help. And you drew him perfectly. I don’t know how you did it, but you did.”
Before Hannah melted into a puddle of exhaustion, she exited the room. She found Gage pacing the hallway, Deputy Warner leaning against the wall.
“Good.” Warner pushed off the wall. “We were going to give you five more minutes before ending your marathon session for the day.”
“We finished.” Hannah removed the sketch from the clips.
“Do you recognize the man?” Warner asked.
“No,” she couldn’t hide her disappointment. She handed the drawing to Warner.
Gage joined them to look over the deputy’s shoulder. Gage’s head shot up, fierce anger radiating from his eyes as he met her gaze and locked on.
“It doesn’t matter if you don’t know him.” The words came out through Gage’s clenched teeth. “Because I do.”
11
“Sigmund Daniels,” Gage said, his gut churning as the three of them settled into a small conference room. “I have no idea if Sig is still in the service or not, but last I heard he was a recruiter.”
Hannah peered at him from across the table. “I heard Nick mention that name once when he was hanging with his teammates. I don’t remember why they were talking about him, though.”
“You sure it was Sigmund?” Warner asked from his spot at the end of the table.
She nodded. “Hard to forget a name like Sigmund. But some of the guys called him Sig.”
“Most of us did when he was on the SEAL teams,” Gage said. “I lost touch with him when he was injured and took modified duty as a recruiter.”
Warner frowned. “So the guy clearly knew Nick. The question is—is he a killer?”
“And is he the guy who attacked me?” Hannah added.
Gage didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but this looked like a solid lead. “He fits the suspect we’re looking for. Right physical build. Has the skills to break into a cottage without making a sound and evade my men at the compound. Even track Hannah without being seen. And here’s the kicker…he took shrapnel to the leg.”
Hannah sat forward. “He has a limp.”
“Sometimes, yeah. He had good days and bad days. On the bad ones it was very pronounced.”
“We need to find him,” Warner said. “Hannah’s sketch is good, but now that we know his identity, a photograph would be better for issuing an alert.”
“Odds aren’t good that we’ll find one easily,” Gage said. “As a former SEAL he’ll be camera shy, and it’s doubtful you’ll find any public photos.”
“I’ll request his service records then,” Warner offered.
Gage shook his head. “That’ll take too long. I can contact my tech person. I’m sure she’ll find one faster than that.”
Warner frowned. “And I suspect she won’t be working through channels I want to know about.”
Gage grinned. “Likely not.”
Warner pushed to his feet. “Better I don’t know about it. I’ll leave you alone to contact her. When you have the photo, I’ll issue an alert.”
Gage wasted no time, but dialed Eryn and put her on speakerphone, allowing Hannah to listen in. He explained the situation. “I need Sig’s picture ASAP.”
“Shouldn’t be a problem. Anything else?”
“Yeah. How long would it take to find out if Sig’s still in the navy?”
“I can get that info in a flash if you want to hold on.”
“Sure.” Gage sat back and glanced at Hannah to see how she was handling the latest revelation.
“Did you know this Sig guy very well?” she asked.
“He wasn’t on my team, so not real well, but we trained together. He seemed like an okay guy.”
“Then you don’t think he’s a killer?”
“If only that was true. He has the skills and training to end a life. And sometimes the rigors of war make men lose the appreciation for life and killing is easier.”
“Okay, got what you need.” Eryn’s voice came over the phone. “He left the navy three years ago, and get this—he’s in prison for agg
ravated assault. Nearly killed a guy in a barroom brawl.”
“When exactly did this happen?”
Eryn rattled off a date.
“That’s the week after Nick died.” Hannah shot a look at Gage. “Means he’s been in prison since then and can’t be the guy who attacked me.”
“Not unless he got out,” Gage said. “Eryn, did you confirm he was still incarcerated?”
“No. Let me check on it and get back to you.” Eryn disconnected.
Hannah sighed. “Now what?”
Gage glanced at his watch. “It’s too late to get Coop out here tonight. We’ll grab dinner at a local takeout and then head back to the house to eat.”
After a quick stop at the detective’s desk to say their goodbyes, Gage escorted Hannah to the car, and looked for Sig in the shadows. Not that Gage would spot him if he was there. Stalking was a big part of SEAL training, and he knew how to conceal himself.
Gage quickly picked up a dinner of grilled fish and vegetables, and after searching the house to make sure they were secure, he sat with Hannah at the table on a deck overlooking the river. A cool breeze. The trickle of running water. An owl hooting in the distance. A perfect setting for them to relax, but the night air was drenched with tension.
Life had once been easy with them. Once. Way back then, but not tonight. Still, he kept up the conversation by discussing the weather and the flight back home in the morning. Her replies were only one or two words. Okay, fine. She didn’t want to talk. But he did and he wouldn’t give up. He continued talking for the rest of the meal.
He pushed back from the table. “Want to sit out here a bit longer?”
She seemed to weigh the question, then nodded. They moved to reclining lounge chairs. Settling in place, he felt the remaining tension as black as the darkness, and he couldn’t stand it any longer.
He faced her. “You okay?”
She didn’t respond and didn’t look at him.
“Are you thinking of Nick?”
She sighed heavily. “Yes, Nick… regrets… David…”
Gage didn’t know how to help her, but he had to try. “I wish I could make things better for you, but all I know to do is catch the killer. On that front, I’m doing everything I can.”
She turned and looked at him. “I know you are.” Her voice was soft. “I appreciate it. All of it—everything you’ve done for me.”
He nodded and held her gaze.
“We used to be so comfortable together,” he said, hoping now that she responded to him they could talk through their past.
“We did.” She stared off in the distance.
He continued to watch her, the moon breaking free and casting a soft glow on her face. “I know you want me to leave you alone, but I can’t do that.”
“Because you’re protecting me.”
He swiveled on his chair to face her and hoped to draw her attention, but she didn’t look at him. “You know it’s more than that.”
“I don’t want it to be.”
He would have backed off, but her tone belied her words.
“Don’t you?” He prodded.
No response.
Her unwillingness to look at him and engage in conversation frustrated him, so he slipped over to her chair and sat on the leg rest. That got her attention. Only for a moment.
She gazed over his shoulder. “I should turn in.”
“It’s only eight o’clock.”
“It was an exhausting day.”
“Is that all, or are you running away from me?”
She shot him a fiery look. “Like you did?”
Instinct almost had him pulling back, but he wouldn’t let her run him off without discussing it. “I deserve that. More. All the anger you can throw at me, and all I can do is apologize for the way I acted back then. I’m not proud of it, and my only excuse is I was young. Immature. Wanted something else.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I get that, really I do. If you’d only asked just once what I thought about you leaving instead of throwing it out there and shutting down.”
He grabbed her hand, a sense of urgency to resolve this once and for all filling his heart. “I couldn’t ask. Don’t you see? You would have asked me to stay. Tried to work things out. But I wasn’t able to commit, and no amount of working on it would have changed my mind.”
He waited for her to look at him, but she didn’t.
“I loved you, Hannah. Totally loved you. I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t think it was best for you.”
She met his gaze then, her eyes dark and liquid with emotion. Despite knowing better, he scooted closer and reached up to touch her cheek. “You said you forgave me, but have you really? It would be amazing if you have.”
She took a long breath. Let it out, her skin whispering against his fingertips, tempting him.
“For years, I imagined the day I would see you again,” she said, her voice low and throaty. “How I imagined it. You would be so sorry for leaving. You’d say your life had been awful because of it, and you’d beg me to forgive you.” She sighed. “Now that the day is here, it’s nothing like that. Nothing at all.”
“I am sorry for leaving. So sorry. The rotten way I handled the breakup was all my fault, and I desperately want your forgiveness.”
She sat silently for the longest time, then sighed and met his gaze. “I was partly to blame, too. I should have recognized that you couldn’t commit and not have given you that ultimatum… just loved you and took what you could offer. So yes, I accept your apology and forgive you.” She leaned her cheek into his hand.
Was that a signal of real forgiveness or simply desire?
He pressed even closer to kiss her, but paused and waited for her to push him away. When she didn’t, he slid his fingers into her silky hair and drew her close.
“Hannah.” Her name came out on a breath.
He lowered his head. Their lips touched, igniting a fire in him that he hadn’t felt in years. She moaned and moved closer to lift her arms around his neck. He deepened the kiss and never wanted it to end. Never. The thought shocked him and still he couldn’t pull away. He lost all ability to reason and kissed her with abandon. She returned the kiss, firing off even more senses.
His phone chimed in the tone assigned to Eryn, cutting through his brain fog, and yet it took a few rings before he reluctantly pulled back to answer. “What’s up?”
“First, I have info on Sig Daniels. Before he went to prison, he worked as an independent contractor for the NSA.”
“The NSA—as in the National Security Agency?” Gage asked, his mind now fully alert.
“Yep, as an IT specialist. And before you ask, he got out of prison two weeks ago.”
Information technology. Interesting. “So he could be our guy.”
“Yes.”
“You have an address for him?”
“Yeah, but you won’t like it. He left the address for a cheap weekly apartment rental in Portland with the prison. But when I called the manager to see if he still lived there, she said he took off for the coast on Monday.”
“The day of Hannah’s attack.” Gage gritted his teeth and couldn’t even look at Hannah until he knew what else Eryn had found. “You had something else, too?”
“I think I figured out how the attacker is tracking Hannah. If I’m right, he knows where you are right this minute.”
Now? Here?
Gage didn’t wait for Eryn to explain, but grabbed Hannah’s hand and pulled her to her feet. He rushed her inside, away from the windows, flipping off lights as they went. He led her to a windowless media room and settled her in a large recliner.
“What’s going on?” Her voice was filled with terror.
Gage stayed by the door to keep his eyes and ears open. “First, Sig has been out of prison for two weeks and headed for the coast three days ago.”
Hannah gasped.
“Worse, Eryn thinks he knows where we are.” Gage put his phone on speaker. “You’re on speaker, E
ryn, so you can explain to both of us.”
“Right. Hi, Hannah,” Eryn said. “When we dumped out your purse I noticed you had a cross on your keychain. Is it still there?”
“Yes.” Hannah twisted her fingers together.
“Where did you get it?”
“My church mailed them out to us.”
“Are you sure it’s from your church?” Eryn asked.
“Yes. I mean, the letter inside was on church stationary. It explained that we were to carry it with us as a reminder to pray for our church’s building fund.”
“Did you ever hear about anyone else getting one or see anything in the church news?”
“I don’t know. It came right before I left for vacation, so I didn’t see or talk to anyone from church.”
“Get the cross, Gage,” Eryn demanded. “Check it out to see if it’s solid or if it can be opened.”
Gage didn’t want to leave Hannah alone, but her purse was on the dining table. “I’ll be right back with your keys.”
He quickly slipped through the house, searching the inky darkness for any sign of an intruder as he moved. Satisfied they were alone, he grabbed the purse and returned it to Hannah. He closed the door, making sure the sweep at the bottom was fully in place to keep light from seeping into the hallway, and flipped on a small lamp.
She dug out her keys and turned over the cross. She pointed at a narrow slot. Gage knelt beside her to put his phone on the table and opened the Leatherman he carried. A quick pry of a blade, and the cross’s back popped off.
He pointed at a miniscule device. “An electronic tracking bug.”
Hannah’s face paled. “No. No. How?”
“How’d you know it was there, Eryn?” Gage got to his feet.
“Remember that old hoax about key fobs that keeps popping up on Facebook?”
“You mean the one where they were given out to unsuspecting people at gas stations and malls so they could be tracked?”
“That’s the one. I saw it again today and remembered the cross. I thought the attacker could have specifically targeted Hannah that way. Looks like I was right.”
Cold Terror Page 10
