by Marci Bolden
She needed a man who would, as her superiors in the Army had, treat her as an equal. So far, Jack had done that. But she had to wonder, how long would that last?
“What are you looking at, Princess?” he asked.
She narrowed her eyes. “One of these times you’re going to call me that and I’m going to punch your balls all the way up to your navel.”
“Sounds fun. Do I get to shove my fist into your genitals, too?”
She pretended to consider his words before shaking her head. “Tempting as that is, no, you may not.”
He tore his focus from the television and met her gaze. His teasing smile faded into something more somber. “What’s on your mind?”
“Who said anything was on my mind?”
“I actually have peripheral vision. I could see you staring at me.”
“Peripheral vision, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Is that your superpower?”
He smirked. “One of them. You okay, baby?”
She drew a breath as she fondled her necklace and nodded toward the notes and photos spread across her comforter. “I’d be better if we could find them.”
Jack rubbed his hand over her knee. “I know we’ve talked about this before, Hol, but the likelihood—”
“Yeah,” she said, cutting him off before he could once again remind her that these women were probably already dead. She stared at Julia Fredrickson, dreading the day her husband found out what Holly and Jack already suspected to be true. She wasn’t coming home.
“Hey,” Jack said as he nudged her. “Answer that.”
She looked at her phone, surprised to realize it was ringing. “Holly Austin,” she answered.
“Ms. Austin. My name is Neil Adams. I found your card on my kitchen table.”
She creased her brow. “How can I help you, Mr. Adams?”
He exhaled. “Do you know my wife? Susan?”
Holly instantly pictured the woman from the landscaping office. “Yes.”
“Do you know where she is? She isn’t answering her phone.”
Holly checked the clock on her nightstand. It was close to nine in the evening. Sitting up, she shook her head as if the man could see her. “No, I don’t.”
He sighed again. “This isn’t like her. She doesn’t disappear without telling me where she is. Are you the woman who offered to help her find work?”
“Yes.” She looked at Jack, who was clearly confused. After putting the call on speakerphone, she asked, “Mr. Adams, when is the last time you saw Susan?”
“When I left for work this morning.”
Jack’s face sagged along with Holly’s heart.
“What time was that?” she asked.
“About seven thirty.”
“She e-mailed her résumé to me at about noon. That’s the last I heard from her. Do you know if she was planning to run errands?”
“Not that I know of, but she was pretty excited about getting a new job. She wanted to buy a few outfits. I told her to go for it. She deserved something new after the stress that asshole had been putting her through.”
Holly closed her eyes. Shit. “Do you know where she would go?”
He exhaled loudly enough for Holly to hear his misery through the phone. “No. I never paid attention to where she shopped. How could I not know that?”
“Hey,” Holly soothed. “That’s not usually something men think about. Call a few of her friends. Ask where she might have gone to buy some new clothes. My co-workers and I will start looking for her now.”
This time his exhale sounded a bit relieved. “Thank you.”
She ended the call and looked at Jack. “Shit,” she said under her breath and dragged her hand over her hair. “We’re going to have to take this to Meyer. We have to bring the police in. If Pearson has her…”
Jack grabbed his phone. “I’ll call him now.”
“You stay out of it. Let me take the heat.”
“No.”
“Listen.” She leaned forward to hold his gaze so he knew how serious she was. “I’ll go to Meyer. Tell him what I have found and that Susan is now missing. You go to HEARTS and get everyone up to speed so you guys can start looking for this woman. You know I’m going to have to walk through fire to get Meyer to listen after the bartender was cleared. Who knows how long it will take me to convince him to go look for Susan. She doesn’t have that kind of time. You guys get out there and start looking for her ASAP.”
She tapped her pointer finger on the documents she’d been examining. After a moment, she looked at him. “Tell me we’re going to find her.”
He put his hands to her face and kissed her lightly. “We’re going to find her. Now go.”
Jack glanced at Eva in the passenger seat of his car. “Where to next?”
Jack and the HEARTS—minus Holly and Rene—had split up to search the list of shopping centers Neil Adams had texted to Holly. Holly, of course, was walking into the lion’s den by going to Meyer. He was going to be furious, but Jack thought he’d listen to her. As egotistical as the man could be, he wouldn’t risk Susan Adams’s life to make a point.
Rene had taken her intimidating stare straight to the unlisted home address of John Middleton—owner of the landscaping business and jackoff who’d let Susan be sexually harassed. She was going to find out exactly what had happened, how to find Vance, and—as she said while admiring her .45—let him know what she’d do to him the next time he let one of his employees be harassed on his watch. Alexa reminded Rene of her rule to never go anywhere alone. She insisted she wasn’t the least bit concerned—at least not for her safety.
Jack hoped she was kidding, but he doubted it. Rene didn’t seem to have much of a sense of humor. He just pretended that he hadn’t heard her underlying threat so he wouldn’t be obligated to warn her against using her own brand of harassment.
Eva used the tip of her pointer finger to nudge the rim of her thick-framed glasses as she looked over the map on her tablet. “Let’s hit the Target on Main and Beaker. That’s closest. Turn right—”
“I got it.” He sped out of the parking lot of the latest dead end and turned toward the next location.
She looked at her phone and frowned. “Still no message from Holly.”
“She’ll get Meyer on board. Don’t worry.” He sensed Eva staring at him and glanced at her. “What?”
“What’s going on with you two?”
“Well, Meyer might act like he isn’t in love with me, but really—”
“Holly,” she snapped. “What is going on with you and Holly?”
He chuckled but didn’t answer. He didn’t think Holly would appreciate him adding to the gossip he had no doubt her office was tossing about.
“Okay. Beyond the obvious intense sexual attraction. What’s going on?”
“Shouldn’t you be asking Holly this?”
She lifted her hands, palms up, and looked around. “You see her anywhere? Me either. I’m asking you.”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure we know each other well enough for it to be more than attraction. I think she’s pretty damn amazing. I’d like to think she has the same opinion of me, but I can’t say for sure.”
“So…sleep with her yet?”
“Private.”
“Taking that as a yes.”
He cast her a sideways glance.
“So that must also mean you know she lost her mom and her dad’s a drunk.”
He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, not appreciating her approach.
“Also taking that as a yes. So you know that she’s fragile even if she would never admit it.”
“Eva. Just say what you are trying to say so we can move on.”
“Fine. If you break her heart, HEARTS will break you. And I mean that in every sense of the word. Your life will be shit if you hurt her. We’ll ruin every minute of your life until we forgive you. And we don’t forgive easily.”
“Good to know. Thanks for the warning.”<
br />
“I’m serious.”
“So am I. And listen.” He finally caught her gaze, but just for a moment—staring her down to make his point wasn’t worth rear-ending the car in front of them. “Holly and I have known each other for like two weeks. I really like her. I do. But that doesn’t mean we’re in some deep, spiritual relationship. It means we’re still feeling things out to see if we even want to see if there’s some deep, spiritual relationship to be had. We’re just floating right now.”
“Floating?”
“Floating. Cruising. Testing the waters.”
She seemed to ponder his words for moment before taking her laser-sharp stare off him. “I know people look at me with my laid-back style and think I’m too chill to kick ass. I’m not. I’m a brown belt in Krav Maga. Know what that is?”
“Martial arts of some kind.”
“The martial arts to end all martial arts. Someday, someone will rise to power and rule the world with Krav Maga alone.”
“You’re a Lord of the Rings fan, aren’t you?”
“Holly is my dear, dear friend,” Eva stated.
“Anime?” he continued.
“I will be the first in line to inflict a severe amount of pain if you hurt her.”
He pressed his lips together to contain his desire to continue with his sarcastic replies and simply nodded. “Got it,” he finally said. “And for the record, Holly is just as capable of breaking my heart as I am of breaking hers. This isn’t a one-sided relationship. You know that, right? Women can break hearts as easily as men.”
He glanced at her and found her red-painted lips twisted into a frown and something like self-inflicted culpability flashing across her face. She didn’t look nearly as threatening as she sat there wiping her glasses on her shirt. In fact, she looked a little sad.
“Hey,” he said more genuinely. “I’m going to look out for Holly. I know we just started seeing each other, but I care about her. I have no desire to hurt her. And I don’t think she has any desire to hurt me. We’re just going to see how this thing plays out. Okay?”
“Yeah. Cool.” She shoved her glasses back onto her face and looked out the passenger window. “Nice chat, Jack.”
“Nice chat, Eva.”
He pulled into the Target parking lot and screeched to a stop by the front doors. As before, he headed straight to the customer-service desk to flash his badge and ask to speak to the manager right away while Eva shoved a photo of Susan in front of every person she could find wearing a name badge.
Jack hoped to hell they got some kind of lead. Susan had last been heard from when she’d e-mailed Holly nearly ten hours before. If Pearson had snapped and taken her, that was more than enough time for him to hide her away and do whatever he intended. Nothing good, Jack knew. He just needed to get to her before Pearson did something so horrific Susan would never recover.
He couldn’t imagine the kind of blame Holly would heap on herself if Susan were killed. She’d convince herself that Pearson had snapped because Susan left. And Susan had left because Holly insisted on it. She’d carry that with her for a long time, if not forever.
He had to find this woman for Holly’s sanity almost as much as he had to find her for her own sake.
Showing his badge to the approaching manager and explaining the situation, Jack requested the man check the day’s sales to see if Susan had made a charge at the store. As he waited, he checked his phone. Still nothing from Holly.
Damn it.
“Detective?”
He looked at the manager.
“A sale for Susan Adams cleared at 1:32 this afternoon.”
“I need to see your parking lot surveillance for that time.”
“Yes, sir. Follow me, please.”
As he did, he called Eva. She met them at the back of the store, where the management offices were tucked away behind a red door. Moments later, they were watching security footage on multiple screens.
“There.” Jack tapped a screen. “That’s her.”
They watched as a man approached her. Same as before. White male. Face shadowed by a baseball cap. Only Susan didn’t seem nearly as friendly as the last two women he’d approached. She turned on her heels as if she were going to run back to the store, but she didn’t get a chance. He was on her, his hand gripping her arm…and there it was. The gun they hadn’t been able to clearly see in the other camera footage.
This time, it was obvious he was threatening her. He steered her to her car, and a moment later the trunk popped open. She put her bags inside, and he slammed it shut. Even as they watched him walk away with her, Jack was calling Meyer. He no longer cared about getting his ass ripped for involving himself in someone else’s case.
There was no doubt in his mind that Susan Adams’s life was in immediate danger.
He frowned when Meyer didn’t answer. He called Holly. “Hey.” He didn’t give her a chance to respond. “Target on Main and Beaker. We’ve got surveillance video of Susan being taken.”
She must have taken the phone from her ear, because when she spoke, her voice was muffled. A moment later, though, she came back clear as could be. “We’re on our way. And I’m sorry.”
He smiled slightly, understanding that her apology was because there was no way he could hide his involvement now. Even if he left, the police would find out why the manager had shown him video. Because Detective Tarek had asked to see it. “Don’t be. We’re going to find her. That’s the most important thing.”
Hanging up, he looked at Eva. “They’re on the way.”
“Should you skedaddle?”
“Too late for that, I’m afraid. Can you play that again?” He and Eva leaned closer to the monitor, doing their best to compare the shadowy figure on the screen to the one in the photo they’d taken off the landscaper’s website.
Holly stood ramrod straight, hands clutched behind her back, as she listened to Jack getting his ass ripped from behind the police captain’s office door. They should be out there, looking for Susan, but Holly hadn’t been permitted to leave the police department as they awaited Jack’s arrival. She hadn’t been arrested—yet—but the threat had been made. She wasn’t scared to go to jail—Tika could get her out—but she couldn’t waste the time.
Susan couldn’t spare the time.
Holly had done her best to convince the captain Jack hadn’t been involved in her continued effort to locate Penelope Nelson, which had led her to Susan Adams, but the captain wasn’t having it. He insisted that Tarek had been warned. And that was what Jack was being told again.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Captain Reinhart yelled.
Jack’s answer, which was spoken in a normal tone of voice, was indiscernible, but the fact that he had to sit there and answer twisted her gut.
“Don’t give me that personal time bullshit, Tarek! You flashed your badge outside of our jurisdiction. That makes it my time!”
Holly exhaled slowly. Jack might have abused his power…slightly…but he’d only done so because no one believed these cases were tied together or that all these missing women could be tied back to Vance Pearson.
Three missing women. All with the same appearance. All taken in the same way. And their only lead was out there, and Holly had no idea if Meyer actually believed anything she’d told him.
When she’d asked if he was going to follow up on Vance Pearson, Meyer had just sneered at her and marched away, cursing her under his breath for interfering. She wasn’t sure if it was because she was encroaching on his case or because she had found information that he hadn’t. It was hard to tell with some people.
She relaxed her stance when her phone rang, but the name on her caller ID made her stomach knot. Joshua Simmons. Josh was the county coroner and Eva’s ex-boyfriend. She’d warned both of them when it was obvious they were interested in each other that the agency came first. HEARTS needed Josh’s brilliance and, in times like these, his connections to the police department. She’d asked him to keep an eye o
ut for anyone fitting Julia’s description. His phone call made every nerve in her body light with dread. “Hey, Josh.”
“Holly.”
His solemn tone made goose pimples rise on Holly’s flesh. “What is it?”
“You said you wanted to know if…”
“You got a body that matches my case?”
“I’m headed to a scene right now. Two bodies. A third woman is barely hanging on. She’s on her way to the hospital.”
She swallowed the acidic taste of raw emotion that had risen to her throat. “Where?”
“Acer Park. Buried in the woods out there. Thought you should know. I’m heading there now. I’ll tell you what I can.”
“I’m headed that way, too. See you there.”
“Holly—” he warned.
She didn’t need him to tell her that he couldn’t grant her access to a crime scene. She didn’t need access. She just needed to be there. “Joshua. If one of those women is my case…I should be there.”
“You can’t do anything. The police won’t let you near the scene.”
“I know. I just want to be there.”
He was quiet for a moment. “It sounds gruesome.”
She closed her eyes, silently thanking him for the warning. She didn’t need it, though. Julia had been missing for weeks. Penelope had been missing for weeks. Neither had likely been alive recently. “I’ll see you there.” She looked at the office door, where Jack’s muffled voice was drifting. Swallowing, she knocked on the door as she opened it. “I’m sorry to interrupt.”
“You’d damn well better be,” Reinhart snapped. “You’re lucky you’re not in jail right now.”
“Captain,” Jack said with a shake of his head.
“Don’t you—”
“Three women were found at Acer Park. In the woods. One is still alive. The other two—they match the descriptions for Julia Fredrickson and Penelope Nelson.”
