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“I hope so, but maybe not. I know she’d rather live in a single-family home where she could play her music louder.”
Memories of Sydney living with his friend Adam brought a smile to his face. He could still picture her lounging on the sofa, flipping through a magazine, while music blared through the house.
Maybe he could lighten this conversation. “I remember when you liked to crank up your tunes in the summer, and Adam’s mom got on your case.”
She sighed, a faraway look filling her eyes. “What I wouldn’t give for those carefree summers at Aunt Lana’s place, when all I thought about were music and boys.”
She’d said boys, but he knew there had been one boy in particular she’d thought about back then. Him. Now he wondered what would’ve happened had he pursued those feelings. Would his life have taken a much different road? Maybe he’d never have left Logan Lake to go to Portland. Willie would be alive. Russ wouldn’t have hurt the people he loved.
“Don’t worry,” she said as she peered into his eyes, which he knew exposed his inner turmoil. “I might’ve had a crush on you, but that was a long time ago. If you can believe it, I’m over you.” She offered a smart-aleck grin, washing away his angst.
“Tell me it isn’t so.” He faked pulling a knife from his chest.
She laughed along with him, lifting his spirits. With their history, he’d thought he’d feel awkward around her. Instead, everything he’d seen so far intrigued him. He wanted to get to know her better. To find out the kind of person she’d become. Especially after the sad story of her parents. She really was fragile and vulnerable, despite the tough exterior she’d tried to portray all night.
Fragile and vulnerable.
Two things that didn’t jibe well with being targeted by a murderer. And two things he shouldn’t even be thinking about when he felt responsible for keeping this beautiful woman alive.
Sydney peered at Russ’s shuttered expression. She’d said something wrong but what, she didn’t know. Something special had flashed between them during the light, flirtatious banter. The exact situation she’d hoped for back in high school. Now it felt as if all the light had gone out of him, and he’d put up an invisible barrier.
Just as well. They were law-enforcement officers now, not a couple of teenagers. She wasn’t interested in a relationship with another man who’d lead her on, then balk at the responsibility of helping her raise a teen. Relationships were off-limits until Nikki was on her own.
As they finished eating, their conversation drifted back to the case. They rehashed the arrest and murder. Talked about how Garber thought the pictures of the motorcycle would lead somewhere. At Russ’s office tomorrow, they’d transfer them from her phone and enlarge them.
As if on cue, her phone chimed a text.
“Excuse me a minute.” She called up the message screen.
You seem to be avoiding my request, Deputy. Maybe I should have a conversation with that cute little sister of yours instead.
“Nikki.” Sydney dropped the phone and bolted from the table. “He’s after Nikki.”
“What?” Russ called after her.
She fled down the hall and shoved open Nikki’s door. Hoping to find her sister sitting behind the computer, Sydney stopped short. The room was empty, the window cracked open.
He had her. The killer had her.
Oh, God, no. Please, anything but this. Don’t let my baby sister be harmed. Help me find her, please, Lord. Please…
She charged back to the breakfast area and gazed desperately at Russ, who still sat at the table holding her phone. “Nikki’s not in her room. The window’s open. He must have her.”
“You’re jumping to conclusions, Syd. Why don’t you try calling her?” he said calmly, holding out her phone.
She snatched it and punched in Nikki’s speed-dial number. “Straight to voice mail. What’re we gonna do?” Panic seared along her nerve endings.
Russ crossed over to her and placed his hands on her arms. She felt the warmth of his fingers through her sleeves and wished the heat would still the alarm threatening to overwhelm her.
“Take a deep breath and calm down,” he said. “It’s not likely this creep has Nikki. She’s a tough kid. She wouldn’t let him take her without making so much noise we would’ve heard them. Maybe she snuck out.”
“She wouldn’t do that. Not after I warned her about the killer.”
“She’s a teenager, Syd. They think they’re invincible and do dumb things all the time. We should go to her room and see if we can find a lead.”
Sydney jerked away from Russ and raced back down the hall. She heard him follow. In the room, her eyes lit on the computer.
“Her life revolves around her computer. Maybe I can find something there.” She dropped into the chair and lifted the lid. After it woke up, Facebook filled the screen, followed by the little chat window with a transcript of a conversation with Emily.
Russ came up behind her and leaned over her shoulder.
Nikki had typed, Things changed. I can go. Emily responded, Seriously? Thought the warden said you had to stay with her tonight.
Sydney cringed at the “warden” comment. So what? She wasn’t Nikki’s friend or just her sister. She was her legal guardian. For all practical purposes her mother. And mothers had to be wardens at times.
Don’t care what she says. I’m going, Nikki added.
It’ll be crazy fun. Nick scored two kegs.
K. Pick me up at the corner so S doesn’t see me leave.
Be there in 5, Emily had typed before signing off.
“See,” Russ said, his tone meant to soothe but doing nothing to still her anxiety. “She went to a party. Now all we have to do is figure out where they are and bring her home.”
It was good to know the killer hadn’t abducted Nikki, but his message said he knew she wasn’t home. Her life could still be in danger.
A wave of nausea rolled through Sydney’s stomach. “The killer’s watching us. That’s how he knew she snuck out. What if he followed her?”
Russ didn’t say anything, but the concern in his eyes said he agreed. “Any idea where the party might be?”
“I’m guessing the pit.” She referred to a gravel pit just out of town. “At least that’s where most of the parties around here are held.”
“Then let’s go. We’ll issue a BOLO for her friend’s car on the way.” A Be On the Look Out would alert all officers in the area to watch for Nikki.
“You can call it in while I get my gun. I’ll meet you at the car.” She didn’t wait for agreement but ran to her bedroom, where Nikki had dropped Sydney’s backpack after bringing it in from the car.
Sydney jerked out her duty belt and reached for the gun to load it. It wasn’t there. She clawed through the pack, came up empty-handed. Her backup gun was here, but her service weapon was missing.
What had happened to it?
It couldn’t have fallen out of the bag. Someone had to have taken it. The only person with unrestricted access since Sydney dropped the gun into the backpack was Nikki. She was mad enough about not being able to go to Emily’s party to take the gun, just to rile Sydney. Yeah, her sister knew the right buttons to push to make Sydney freak out. This was the exact thing that would do it.
Sydney grabbed her backup gun from the pack. She slipped out of her shirt and removed her bulletproof vest. When she found Nikki alive, and she would find her, Nikki would need the vest more than Sydney would.
If the text was true, the killer wanted something from Sydney and he wouldn’t kill her until she provided it. Not so with Nikki. He seemed very willing to put a bullet in Nikki to get Sydney to produce this mysterious item.
She slipped the vest on over her shirt then ran for the car. By the time she arrived, Russ had it turned around and the light bar turning.
She jumped in. Before she closed the door, Russ took off. He flipped on the siren and she sat back, finally feeling the strain running had placed on her injured knee. She’d been so consumed with fear for Nikki she hadn’t even noticed the pain. Now it throbbed in time with the wails of the siren.
But a little pain didn’t matter, Nikki did. And what they both needed right now was God’s intervention.
Dear Lord, please wrap Your arms around Nikki and keep her safe. Help us to rescue her and let no one be harmed in the process.
She breathed out her distress and let God’s peace take over before opening her eyes.
Russ glanced at her, his eyebrow raised.
“What?” she asked.
“What’s with the vest over your shirt?”
She hadn’t expected him to question her, but he had to know from when he held her at the murder scene that she’d had the vest on under her shirt, so she explained her reason for the change. “When we get there, you can wait in the car. I’ll go in after her.”
Russ cocked an eyebrow. “Your logic is full of holes, Syd. Did you take something from Dixon’s house?”
“No.”
“Then this could just be a ploy to get you out in the open to take you out.”
She exhaled sharply. “I’m willing to take that risk to save my sister.”
“This’s exactly what I was warning you about earlier when you followed Dixon. You have an emotional investment in this. You can’t simply bypass everything you’ve learned about safety and act irrationally.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“We follow protocol and stay together. The area outside the pit is so wide-open we’ll be sitting ducks if this guy has a rifle. Our only chance is going in there together and working as a team.”
She peered out the window. “It’s overcast so that’ll help.”
“But we’re too far from the lake to count on fog hiding us.”
“I still think you should stay in the car.”
He snorted. “Not a chance.”
“I told you—he’s not gonna shoot me. He might try to take you out or even Nikki, but not me.”
“I’ll risk it. I’m not letting you go alone.”
She knew by his tight expression that this wasn’t negotiable, so she stopped arguing.
“I’ll need the phone number from that text so I can have Baker run it down,” he said.
She picked up her notebook from the console and jotted it down. She ripped off the paper and gave it to Russ. “We should also check to see if it came from the same phone as the text we received on Dixon’s cell.”
“I’ll have Baker cross-reference it,” he answered then fell silent.
She figured he was thinking about how crafty their killer was. Using Dixon’s cell when he must have had her phone number, just to add a little more emphasis to the message.
Or maybe the killer used Dixon’s cell for another reason?
“You think he sent the message on Dixon’s cell to make sure we found the phone?”
“Maybe. Though I don’t know why the killer would want us to find Dixon’s phone. He might’ve used it to show us how creative he is. Or maybe he didn’t have your cell number yet.”
“We may never know.” She focused on the road as they neared the pit. She took out her gun. “We should go in silent so we don’t scare a bunch of inebriated teens into cars and onto the road.”
He flipped off the lights and siren. As they turned onto the driveway, he killed the headlights and slowly drove them to the far end of the lot. He shifted into Park and faced her, uncertainly filling his eyes. “No cars. You think we were wrong?”
“I hope not.” She tried to sound confident, but her stomach clenched into a tight ball. Because with no cars in sight, it was unlikely that a party was going on.
Concern for Nikki gnawed at her. She looked away from Russ and sent up a prayer.
If they were wrong, Nikki might have set out for a party somewhere else. Or the killer could already have her and she was at his mercy as he tried to recover something from Sydney that she couldn’t possibly produce.
FIVE
Sydney and Russ crept toward the mounds of gravel. As they’d suspected, fog wasn’t a factor and the moon had emerged from heavy cloud cover. If the teens were here, they would congregate in the back area of the pit, ringed on three sides by mounds of soil with only one way out.
Worry for Nikki forced Sydney to up her speed, but her feet faltered in deep ruts, slowing her down. She wished a whole cavalry of officers were advancing with them, but they’d agreed not to call in backup, putting other officers in a potential sniper situation. Once they got Nikki out safely, they’d request other units to break up the party.
Finally at the opening, she heard voices and music drifting into the night.
“They are here,” she whispered to Russ, who stopped next to her.
She peered at a small bonfire casting a flickering light on the group. Approximately twenty-five teens hung in small clusters.
“There’s Nikki.” She pointed to where her sister, cup in hand, stood talking to Emily.
Russ knelt beside her, and she saw him search the landscape. “Looks like we’re alone, but I don’t think we should take any chances.”
Sydney had almost forgotten about the killer. Seeing Nikki alive and laughing had consumed her thoughts. But Russ was right. They weren’t out of the woods yet. Still, she took the time to breathe, slowing her racing pulse. To think this through when all she wanted to do was rush over and throw her arms around her sister. To hold her and plant kisses all over her sweet face.
But that wouldn’t teach her what she’d done was wrong. Besides, there was still the issue of the missing gun. And another episode of drinking. Nikki had to learn her actions had consequences. Plus the killer could still end her life if he lurked in the woods.
“I’m going in after her,” Sydney said, hating the way her voice wobbled from stress. “Watch our backs. I’ll bring her out.”
Russ clamped a hand on her arm. “We never agreed to that. I have more experience. I’ll go.”
Sydney shook off his hand. “We’ve been through this. You have experience, but the killer would be more than happy to plug you. He wants me alive so I have less to lose.”
“I’ll cover you.” His words came out in a grudging tone, but Sydney had no doubt that he’d do his best to keep her safe.
She gave him a smile, got a flat-lipped one from him. She pushed off and crept to the opening. Once inside the area where walls of gravel kept them out of a shooter’s range, she marched into the group.
Nikki’s friends looked up. Anxiety spread across their faces.
