TWO TO DIE FOR

by Allison Brennan

  Jim nodded. “Give me a few minutes.”

  “This is your call,” Sean said to Cyrus, remembering what JT had told him. “You can go to your house and get the money. Wait for the call at four.”

  “Your theory is logical,” Cyrus said. He was beginning to lose his calm. “I can give this a little time, but I’ll admit, Sean, I’m worried. Gracie is a smart girl, but she’s emotional and on the delicate side. If he hurt her—I keep seeing her hurt. I make hard decisions every day, but this time—I have never had these emotions.”

  “It’s natural, Cyrus. She’s your daughter. You love her.”

  Cyrus nodded and sat on the couch. He put his head in his hands and took a deep breath.

  Sean walked over to the window and looked out. It was a beautiful day, a day he should have been spending with Lucy.

  This would be over before dark, he was pretty certain.

  Bandit licked his hand and Sean scratched him. Sean wished he was trained—golden retrievers were among the best at search and rescue. They had keen instincts and were among the smartest dogs out there. But Sean had no idea how to explain to the animal how to find a person.

  Dammit, Kyle, what are you doing? Why didn’t you tell me the truth? Do you know where Martin went? Did you suspect he was going to grab Gracie?

  Had he known Trevor wanted to do something like this? Doubtful ... kidnapping was not only a federal offense, but Kyle cared for Gracie. Would he risk everything to come up with such a scheme?

  Sean didn’t know Kyle, but Trevor was desperate for money, and desperation bred stupidity. Kyle was from Vail, but Trevor wasn’t ... if Kyle wasn’t here, looking for Gracie, he might have another idea about where to look.

  He sent Lucy a text message.

  Find Kyle—I think he knows where Martin is.

  Lucy responded almost immediately.

  We’re at the Vail PD. No sign of Martin. Will track Kyle.

  Sean responded. I think I know where Gracie is, will keep you in the loop.

  Jim returned ten minutes later. “I have a list of condos and ownership status. They wouldn’t give me a master key, however.”

  “I’ll take care of that,” Sean said. Breaking and entering was illegal, but he didn’t think Cyrus would turn him in. Besides, he had a feeling the apartment she was in would be obvious as soon as he saw it.

  Chapter Ten

  Lucy didn’t agree with the idea of civilians avoiding police in kidnapping cases, but she understood the reason. And Sean was right—this kidnapping wasn’t typical. The low ransom request was only one of the clues that whoever did this hadn’t thought things through. Sean was positive it was Trevor Martin, and Lucy didn’t disagree—but she wanted more evidence. One of the things Anita had been right about was that there was no physical evidence at this point tying Trevor to the illegal mining or Hank’s death, though the Sheriff was working on a search warrant for Trevor’s truck. They still needed to process the scene, talk to witnesses, put together what they knew as fact and what was merely theory.

  Lucy couldn’t say anything to Anita about Gracie, but she could definitely tell her they needed to find Kyle.

  “Sean said Kyle left the fair without telling anyone where he was going, and that he was worried and angry. Sean thinks Kyle knows where Martin is.”

  “He could be an accessory,” Anita reminded her.

  It was possible that Kyle knew about the mining, but would someone who had taken time off from college to help his grandparents move help a friend cover up a murder?

  Yet, he’d told Trevor to get out of town. Was that before or after Hank died?

  Anita had left Lucy in the bullpen while she went to talk in private to the chief of police. It didn’t take long. When she returned, she said, “I just spoke with Martin’s parents. They haven’t seen or heard from him in a week. He called last,” she checked her notes, “Monday morning to check in with them. However, they didn’t know why he was in Vail. He told them he was staying with Kyle’s family, but that he had a job in town. They didn’t know where, assumed it was with one of the resorts. After he graduated from college, he struggled to find work in his field and had taken a variety of service jobs. According to his last employer, a hotel in Denver, everyone liked Trevor, and he worked hard, but was habitually late, wanted a promotion almost immediately, felt he was underpaid. There was suspicion that he had stolen from guests, but no proof. He was fired for excessive tardiness, not for the suspected theft.”

  “Liability issues, perhaps,” Lucy said.

  “They couldn’t prove it, and fortunately had something else to pin on him. I didn’t want to tip off his parents, so told them we wanted to talk to him as a possible witness in an ongoing investigation, and if he called to tell him to contact me.”

  Lucy’s phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number and answered.

  “Kincaid.”

  “Lucy?”

  “Yes.”

  “This is Bob Cannon. Kyle just left—I told him to call you. He said he would, but I had the feeling he was lying to me. He never lies to me.”

  “What happened?”

  “He asked if we were okay, then he went to the cabin where Trevor was staying. I followed. He was searching it, seemed frantic. I asked him what was going on. He didn’t tell me at first. Then he said that Trevor had kidnapped Gracie and he had to find her. Is that true? Agent Kincaid, do you know what’s going on?”

  “No, but I’ll find out. Do you know where he went?”

  “I wanted to go with him, but he wouldn’t let me. He yelled at me—he has never done that. He was frantic. Scared. You need to find him before he does something he can’t fix.”

  “I’ll find him, Bob. I promise.”

  “He has a gun, Agent Kincaid. Please don’t hurt him.”

  She rubbed her eyes. This was quickly escalating. “Do you have any idea where he might be? Any idea at all, no matter how far-fetched?”

  Bob was silent for a minute, then he said, “I can’t think of any place. We don’t have any other property, and I don’t think Trevor has friends around here.”

  “What about a cabin on the lake? A storage unit? Warehouse? One of Kyle’s friends? Especially someone who doesn’t live here full time.”

  “We have a storage unit. A self-storage unit right off the interstate.”

  “Trevor knows where it is, I assume?”

  “Yes—he and Kyle have been moving stuff into the unit for the last two weeks as we get ready to move.”

  “I need the exact address and unit number.”

  When Lucy ended the call, she said to Longfellow, “Kyle grabbed a gun and went in search of Trevor. The Cannons have a storage unit and I think that’s where Trevor is hiding out.”

  “Non sequitor—why wouldn’t he just leave town?”

  “Kyle told Bob he thinks Trevor kidnapped his girlfriend.” Cyrus didn’t want the information getting out, but since Trevor said something to his grandfather, Lucy couldn’t very well withhold the information from Anita.

  “Shit. This has gone from bad to worse. I’ll send a deputy to the Cannon place. We’ll go to the storage unit as soon as I pull together back-up. Isn’t Cannon’s girlfriend Platt’s daughter? Your husband is with him. What does he know?”

  “I’ll find out,” Lucy said and called Sean. She hoped he had more information, and cleared that she could tell Anita about the ransom demand. Lucy didn’t lie well.

  #

  Sean, Jim, and Cyrus had gone through each vacant condo on the top floor and were heading to the third floor when Lucy called.

  “Kyle told his grandparents that Trevor kidnapped Gracie. Kyle has a gun and is looking for him,” Lucy said.

  “How the hell did he know?”

  “I don’t know. But the police now know—at least, they’re concerned for Gracie because of the accusation Kyle made.”

  “Tell them what I told you. We’re searching vacant condos. There’s no evidence that Gracie left the building
. She has to be here somewhere, but we’re on the clock.”

  “How much time?”

  “Forty-five minutes. We know Trevor left and Gracie didn’t, so be careful. I’ll call you when I find her.”

  “Anita and I are following up on a lead. A storage unit that both Trevor and Kyle know about.”

  “Be careful,” Sean repeated. “Love you.”

  He ended the call. Time was running out. Not for Gracie—Sean didn’t think she was in any real danger—but Kyle was going to ruin his life if he shot Trevor.

  Bandit seemed to think he was in the middle of a game. Sean had grabbed a dirty shirt out of Gracie’s laundry pile and kept having Bandit sniff it. He didn’t know if the dog understood, but he seemed engaged.

  Outside each elevator was a garbage can, and out of the corner of Sean’s eye he saw a coffee cup on the top of the pile. It was from the same place that Gracie had her tea. Not uncommon—probably half the people in town went to the place. But it was the Gracie written on the cup that caught Sean’s eye. Here, on the third floor—not the fourth.

  “Jim, do you have a paper bag or something? Grab that coffee cup.”

  Jim frowned, but didn’t question Sean. He used a tissue to pick it up. He smelled inside. “Coffee, not tea.”

  There were only three condos on this floor that were currently unoccupied. Sean picked the lock of the first place—yes, it was illegal, but Cyrus hadn’t said anything about the four apartments upstairs. Empty. He checked the second place. It was the mirror image of Gracie’s apartment above.

  At first this place also appeared empty. Jim and Cyrus were growing frustrated by Sean’s methodical approach, but he wasn’t wrong. If it wasn’t this place, it was the third apartment on this floor.

  “Mr. Rogan, it might benefit us to retrieve the money rather than wasting more time here. You are free to continue to look—if someone questions you, I’ll talk to the manager. I know him well.”

  Bandit’s ears perked up.

  “Bandit? Do you hear something?” Sean released Bandit from his leash. He ran through the apartment and into the bedroom, where he barked once.

  Sean pulled his gun and followed the dog. He sat outside the closed bathroom door. He tried the knob. It was unlocked.

  “Gracie? Are you there?”

  He heard a thump.

  Sean opened the door. Gracie was in the bathtub, bound by the wrists and ankles, and gagged with duct tape. Her face was red and stained with tears and black mascara.

  He knelt next to her and said, “This is going to hurt.” He pulled off the duct tape before she could think about it.

  Cyrus was at the door. “Gracie!” His voice cracked and his expression was shock and relief. “Dear God, thank you. Thank you.”

  At that moment, Cyrus had shown more emotion than he had since Sean met him.

  Sean said to Jim, “Avoid touching anything, and we’ll want to keep the binds for evidence—in case we need it.”

  “I’m sorry, Daddy, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, it’s all my fault!”

  Cyrus pushed Sean aside and helped his daughter up. He was at a loss for how to get off the duct tape.

  Sean pulled out his knife and cut through the tape on her ankles and wrists. The girl was shaking uncontrollably.

  “Everything is going to be okay,” Cyrus said.

  “You don’t understand, Daddy. I’m so sorry. It’s my fault.” Gracie started crying gain.

  “This isn’t your fault.” Cyrus helped Gracie out of the bathtub and into the living room. “We need to get a doctor,” Cyrus said.

  “No, no, I’m fine.” Gracie rubbed the tears from her face, then massaged her wrists.

  “You have a bruise on your eye. Did he hit you?”

  “Please don’t be mad at me, Daddy.”

  “I’m not. Tell me what happened, honey.”

  Sean wanted to know too—because Gracie’s tone, and her words, were interesting.

  “Yesterday I was so mad when you rejected my business plan. Kyle wasn’t listening, he just said he’d help me give you the plan you wanted. I didn’t want to hear that! I didn’t want to hear that I had to wait. All I could think about was that I was going to lose the space I wanted and no one understood … but I was selfish.”

  “And then?” Cyrus asked. His emotions were gone; here was the businessman Sean had met earlier. Gracie seemed to notice the shift, too. She wiped her face with the back of her hands again and straightened her spine.

  Sean knew the truth, before Gracie even said it. It had been in the back of his mind, and she simply confirmed his suspicions.

  “I, well, I got mad at Kyle and talked to Trevor, and he listened and seemed to understand how I felt. He said we could get the money by faking a kidnapping. At first I was humoring him—I was mad. I came up with all these ideas on how to fake my own kidnapping. I wasn’t serious—it was just talk, really! And Kyle came in and overheard and got so mad at Trevor. He told him to leave and he never wanted to see him again. I told Kyle he was overreacting, that I wouldn’t do anything like that, but then I didn’t know if he really believed me, and I got mad at him all over again. My emotions are up and down. I don’t know why. I had to go to preview night, and when Kyle found out that Trevor was there he snapped and went after him, yelled at him in public, followed him out. I was so embarrassed.

  “Then today—I saw Trevor when I was going into the coffeehouse. He started talking about the plan again. I said no, but that I was sorry that he and Kyle had a fight and I offered to let him stay at my place. So we came here. But he didn’t want to listen to me, and he got angry and said things I don’t understand. Something about how he only got fifty thousand dollars in gold and there’s so much more but it’s my fault he can’t get to it. That made no sense, I told him, and told him to leave, and he hit me. I hit my head and woke up in this bathtub when he was tying me up. He said if I told anyone it was him that he would tell everyone I was in on the whole thing. I … I have a key to this place. My friends Margie and Sam own it and they said I could use it for friends whenever they’re not in town. And when I was humoring Trevor, I told him all that, and about how much money you have in your safe, Daddy, and I didn’t mean to. It was just talk. I would never, never hurt you like this. I’m so sorry. Please believe me, Daddy. I didn’t mean any of this!”

  Sean couldn’t tell whether Cyrus believed her. Sean wasn’t certain he believed her, either … except she really did have a nasty cut on her face. If she had been knocked unconscious, she should go to the hospital and get checked out.

  Sean glanced at Jim. He seemed to read Sean’s mind and said, “Let’s get you to the hospital and call the police. They need to know what happened.”

  “Trevor Martin is wanted for questioning in the death of Hank Henderson,” Sean said. “Did he say anything about that to you?”

  “Who? Hank? I don’t know—he didn’t say anything. He talked about gold, that was it, and how Kyle ruined his life. Oh, God, Kyle—what if he goes after Kyle?”

  “In your plan,” Sean asked, “how was the exchange going to work?”

  “It wasn’t my plan!” she exclaimed. She looked from Sean to her father and realized Sean might be her only ally here. “It didn’t get that far. He was going to text my dad and give him two hours. When he got the money and got away, he’d text my dad where to find me. But I swear, I wasn’t going to go through with it! That’s why he hit me. Please, Daddy, please believe me.” She was crying again, maybe because she knew she’d blown it.

  “I do,” Cyrus said and stood. “I believe you, Gracie. What I can’t believe is that you considered the idea in the first place. Even for a minute. I—I have never been so scared in my life as when I thought you were really kidnapped and being held for ransom. When I saw you—tied up—my heart—you’re my daughter. My child. And now—” He shook his head. “Jim, take her to the hospital and contact the police. I’ll remain in Gracie’s apartment until you return.”

  “Are yo
u certain—?”

  Cyrus gave him a look and Jim never finished his sentence. Cyrus walked out.

  Gracie buried her head in her hands and sobbed.

  #

  Kyle typed in the code to his grandparents’ storage unit. His hand was shaking. He was worried about Gracie, he was worried about Hank Henderson, and he wanted to pummel Trevor into the ground. How could he have ever trusted him? How could he have thought Trevor was his friend?

  He didn’t know if Trevor was here, but where else could he be if he wasn’t at Gracie’s? Where could he take Gracie that no one would notice?

  Gracie had told him the stupid conversation was all talk, that she would never go through with it, that she didn’t mean any of it. She was just angry and Trevor had played on that.

  Kyle couldn’t believe Gracie would fake her own kidnapping. He loved her. God, he loved her, but how could she even think to do such a thing?

  Trevor did it. Gracie said no, and Trevor grabbed her. If he hurt her ...

  He drove through the outdoor facility to the last row and turned left. Trevor’s truck was there, and the rolling door of the storage unit was open.

  Kyle slammed his truck into park, jumped out, and ran to the opening.

  Trevor stepped out. He must have heard his truck.

  “Where is she?” Kyle demanded. “Where is Gracie?”

  “I don’t know, dude. Calm down.”

  “Don’t lie to me! I know you kidnapped her! If you hurt her, I will kill you.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Trevor said. He looked smug, but he kept glancing down at the phone in his hand.

  Kyle tried to grab the phone away, but Trevor pulled back. “Hey, buddy, don’t be a jerk.”

  A jerk? “I heard you last night. You planned the whole thing. I can’t find Gracie anywhere. Where is she? Is she in there? Gracie!” he shouted.