In a Heartbeat

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“I don’t like upsetting her either, sir, but we have to do everything possible to stop this maniac.”

“But how could Lisa possibly help you? She told you everything at that blasted trial.”

“We think this man might have known White. Maybe he was a cell mate or buddy, someone who White confided in. He might know where White took his victims—”

“My daughter has a name, goddamn you,” Langley snarled. “Use it.”

Brad cleared his throat, his own patience teetering on a thin line. “You don’t need to remind me,” he said in a warning voice. “But if this copycat is taking his victims to the same place White used, it would help if we could find that building, and Lisa might know where it is.”

“Like I said, my daughter has been through enough, Booker. If she’s buried that memory, it’s for a good reason. Now I don’t want her involved in this at all.” He heaved a breath. “In fact, I tried to talk her into coming here to stay. If not, I’ll hire a bodyguard for her.”

“Dr. Langley, I don’t know if that’s necessary now—”

“If he’s a copycat, following White, why wouldn’t he come after Lisa? As you pointed out when you forced her to testify, she’s White’s only surviving victim. For all we know she may be the reason this psycho started up again.”

Brad clenched his jaw, unable to argue the point. It was, perhaps in reality, the very reason he had driven here himself. “I swear, Dr. Langley, I will protect her this time.”

“You expect me to trust you with Lisa’s safety?” Langley shouted. “You sure as hell didn’t protect her the first time.”

“I know that.” Anger mounted within Brad. Every day he wrestled with the guilt that ate at him. It was like a sore that wouldn’t heal. But he angled his head away from Lisa, refusing to upset her any more than necessary. “If this lunatic comes after Lisa, he won’t get her. I’ll give my life before I’ll let that happen.”

“Your life won’t be worth anything if he succeeds,” Langley said. “Because if one hair on my daughter’s head is harmed again, I’ll kill you with my bare hands.”

LIAM LANGLEY STARED at his perfectly manicured hands. The hands of a surgeon. A man who saved lives.

A man who had failed to protect his daughter.

Gripping his desk with a shaky sigh, he forced the rage that had eaten at him for four long years at bay, rage that had only slightly dissipated with White’s death.

Anxious now that the police might make some connection between him and Mindy and the night White had died, he accessed the only file that could condemn him and deleted the information, then fed the printout on his desk into the shredder.

He should have destroyed the papers a long time ago, but no one had asked any questions at the time.

Now, with Mindy missing and this copycat killer dredging up the past, he couldn’t be too cautious.

He had carefully constructed his career, had built his reputation on a genius IQ and refined surgical techniques, always acutely attuned to the latest cutting edge procedures.

Nothing would destroy the name he had built.

But he’d had to take action against White.

Lisa’s bruised body and anguished voice floated back in the dark recesses of his mind. That trial…no, the abduction had changed things for him. Had given him a different perspective on human life.

People claimed that doctors shouldn’t play God. He usually agreed. But the opportunity had presented itself for revenge, and he’d craved it.

White had deserved the fate that had been bestowed on him.

Liam refused to feel an ounce of guilt for it whatsoever.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE my father’s reacting this way, Brad,” Lisa said. “I haven’t spoken to him in months, and now he wants to call and boss me around like I’m a child.”

Brad adopted a smile, although it was tight. “Your father is just worried about you, Lisa. I can’t blame him for that. If I were in his shoes, I’d feel the same way.”

He meant if he really cared for her. She struggled to stave off the hurt his comment triggered.

And her father’s attitude toward Brad disturbed her. He’d bad-mouthed the agent after the trial, insisted Brad was no better than a criminal himself. They’d argued about Brad more than once, creating a wedge between them. But she couldn’t tell Brad. “I still refuse to stay with him,” Lisa said.

“It might not be a bad idea,” Brad stated. “His place is secure. He wants to hire a bodyguard.”

“No.” Lisa spun away, desperately grappling for control. “You don’t understand…it hasn’t been the same with us, not since…the kidnapping.”

The silence stretched taut between them, reverberating with the harsh truth.

“I’m sorry, Lisa.”

She closed her eyes, letting his deep voice wash over her, soothe her as she had all those days during the trial. Funny how Brad hadn’t been doting, had barely said anything specific, but his presence and quiet air of command had grounded her, given her comfort, hope for normalcy one day. And here in Ellijay, she’d thought she’d found it.

Gathering her strength, she turned back to face him. “I’m happy here, Brad. I like teaching, the mountains. I won’t allow another crazy person to rob me again.”

“Then help me, Lisa. I don’t want you or any other woman to suffer at this copycat’s hands.”

Willing her courage to sustain her, she nodded and moved back to the sofa. Her nerves still on edge, she picked up the small needlepoint pillow and crushed it in her hands. “All right. But I’m warning you, I still don’t remember where William kept me.”

Brad’s steadfast gaze didn’t waver. “Maybe if we talk through everything one more time, you might remember something new. If not the place, maybe a friend of William’s, a neighbor, an old roommate, someone who White might have confided in.”

“Okay,” Lisa said, grim but determined, “where do you want me to start?”

Brad hesitated. “At the beginning. When you first met White.”

She inhaled sharply, averting her gaze as the memories flooded her. “I was enrolled at Georgia State. I had seen William around campus. He played intramural hockey, said he was interested in sports medicine. We hung out at the Library—”

“The student library?”

“No, the Library, on Marietta Street. You know—the local hangout bar for college students. They serve drinks, play recorded music.”

“That’s right, now I remember us discussing the place.”

“One night he approached our table. I was sitting with two girls in my study group when he started talking to all of us, and he seemed…nice.” Lisa hesitated, remembering his act changing so abruptly.

“He fooled a lot of people, Lisa.”

She gave a wan smile, but shook her head as if she still blamed herself for not seeing through him.

“You two started seeing each other then?”

She nodded. “We didn’t really date exactly, just met at the bar, hung out at basketball games, attended a couple of concerts together.” She paused, struggling to recall the progression of their romance. Why she’d been attracted to William, when now just the thought of him made her skin crawl. When she’d taken off her blinders and first suspected that he had a dark side.

“Like I told you before, we saw each other for about six months. The last few weeks he changed. He was moody, charming one minute, then secretive the next. And he exploded a couple of times when I questioned why he was late.”

“But he never hit you before the abduction?”

Lisa shook her head, studying the stitching on the pillow, avoiding looking at him. “He raised his hand one time, but I shrank back, and when he looked at me and saw what he was about to do, something snapped, and he left the room. I didn’t hear from him for a week that time.”