Bait, page 5
The flames crackled and spat. He stayed there, crouched in front of it and let the heat warm his body. He might have turned his past into fuel for the novels he wrote, but his books were also about apologizing. He’d hoped it would help ease some of—
There was an almighty crash out in the living area. Gabe stood up as booted feet thumped across the rug and back onto wood. The bedroom door flung open, hit the wall, and two big men with guns rushed in. Gabe was grabbed and tossed on the floor, but caught a glimpse of the bigger man’s hat.
“Sheriff?” The word cut off when his cheek hit the floor. Gabe’s hands were wrenched back, causing his spine to bow. Ice cold cuffs clicked around his wrists.
“I ain’t the sheriff right now, boy.” The bedroom light flicked on and hot breath blew across the side of his face. “Where is she?”
Gabe tried to breathe, but only managed half a lungful. “Who?”
“I said, where is she?”
“I heard you. I just don’t know what you’re talking about.” Gabe was lifted up and dropped. His chest thumped the floor, but he managed to keep his chin from slamming the wood.
“Cut the crap, Thompson, and tell me where my niece is!”
Gabe tried to roll on the floor enough to see the Sheriff’s face. “Why would I know where Emma is?”
“She was at your store today.”
“That was hours ago.” Gabe tried to suck in another breath while the muscles his shoulders shook. “I helped her with her history assignment.”
There was silence. Then, “You helped her with her history assignment.” Like the idea of Gabe being useful was akin to believing aliens built the pyramids.
Gabe was hauled to his feet—which hurt a lot—and shoved to sit on the bed. The sheriff towered over him; his gun put away, hands folded across his chest. Over six foot, Frank Allens didn’t hesitate to use his size as a weapon. His head was covered with a hat with flaps that hung down cover his ears, his eyes were so dark they were almost black and the lines around his face bespoke a permanent frown.
Gabe mostly tried to give him slack. Being the uncle to a girl with looks like Emma’s—and who apparently had a secret boyfriend—likely wasn’t easy. Was that why the sheriff always assumed the worst? Having a cheerleader for a niece that every boy in the county had eyes for would probably make Gabe hostile too.
Behind Sheriff Allens was Deputy Bud Paulson. In his twenties, Bud would have fit the role of bumbling sidekick were it not for the fact that in high school he’d achieved some kind of football record for running a lot, or something. His hair was crusted with frozen styling product and his nose rivaled Rudolph’s.
A teenage girl might find a twenty-something, good looking, former football star an attractive prospect, right? Gabe scrutinized the kid’s face, but since he wasn’t so in touch with his inner teenage girl—perish the thought—he called it at a maybe.
“Talk.”
Gabe glanced at the sheriff. Not happy. Right.
“Emma was assigned a paper on the historical validity of the Trojan war for her AP history class. She came into the store asking for books on ancient history and I pointed her to an online resource. It’s an author’s website where he puts up all his research information, but fictionalizes it so it’s fun to read. There’s tons of info on what it means, and links to other websites where you can do further research—”
The sheriff cleared his throat.
“She asked me if I’d look over her paper after she finished it. It was really quite good.”
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed.
Gabe sighed and carried on. “Today she stopped by to tell me she got an A.”
Bud huffed. “Of course she did. She’s smart.”
The sheriff turned back to look at Bud. The kid was redder now. Apparently he’d suddenly decided not to add anything else to the conversation.
“Can we take these cuffs off?”
“No.” The sheriff sniffed. “Then what happened?”
“We talked for a minute and she left to walk over to her dad’s office.”
“Time?”
“Four thirty-five.”
“You’re sure?”
Gabe nodded. “I got a call right after.”
The sheriff stared at him for a minute. “We’ll need to verify this call of yours, and I’ll need your alibi for the rest of the day if you hope to prove you didn’t dally with my niece.”
An alibi? “What happened?”
“Emma never showed up at my brother’s office.”
“Did you try to call her?”
The sheriff’s mouth twisted. “The only thing you need to worry about right now is you.”
Gabe opened his mouth, and then closed it again. “The call came on my computer.”
“A phone call?”
Gabe half-shrugged. “A video call.”
The sheriff’s eyes narrowed. “We’ll need access to your computer, and who knows what we’re going to find.”
And have some sheriff’s office tech person rummaging through the files on Gabe’s computer? No way.
“You think you’re going to stop us?” The sheriff sneered. “You’re coming back to the station.” He grabbed Gabe’s elbow and yanked him to his feet.
Gabe glanced between the two men. “Why? I’m sorry she’s missing, but I don’t know where Emma is.”
“A single man who lives alone in a mountain town, never talks to anyone—except my niece apparently—and runs a bookstore that acts more like a lending library? Nothing about you makes sense, and until I know you ain’t a killer, you’re coming with us.”
“Surely it’d be a waste of time to arrest me when you could be out there finding her.”
Bud chimed in. “You’re not under arrest, we just have more questions.”
“I don’t even know anything.”
Gabe looked left and then right like a spectator at a tennis game. Neither man acknowledged him. Instead they walked him through the cabin and Gabe halted at the door long enough to slip his feet into shoes before he was pulled outside, where they marched down the salted steps and crunched in the snow to the Jeep with flashing lights illuminating the clearing in flashes of red and blue. The frozen air cut through his t-shirt and pajama pants like they weren’t even there. Thick redwood trees surrounded Gabe’s home like an army of giants that hemmed him in on all sides.
All these years trying to live under the radar and now he was the prime suspect in the disappearance of a sweet young girl.
God let this all be a mistake, let Emma be safe.
Chapter 7
THE COUPLE ON screen kissed each other with all the pent up tension of the first hour and a half of the movie. Caisey rolled her eyes and beside her on the couch, Jenna laughed.
“I would have picked your type of movie, but I figured you didn’t want to watch a show where half the people in the movie were dead by the end.”
Caisey didn’t mind conceding that point. “True.”
There was enough death playing on repeat in her head, and not just when she dreamed. Those scenes featured the Chloroform Killer and she was the one dying, then it changed and Gabe’s uncle stood over her.
Caisey looked at Jenna. In the dark living room her face was lit by the light from the TV. Jenna’s jaw flexed but her eyes stayed on the movie. “I worry about you, you know?”
“I’ll be okay.”
“Don’t—”
Caisey reached over and squeezed Jenna’s hand. “I’m not dismissing it, or diminishing it. I’m saying it’ll take time, but I’ll be fine.”
“Did you talk to the shrink again yet?”
“I made an appointment for next week.”
Not that Caisey particularly wanted to talk to Doctor Amanda about how she was doing. What helped last time was the major distraction of Jake’s birth. It’d been hard to get depressed at two a.m. holding a squalling little body in her arms with no clue how to make him quiet down.
“Listen I’m sorry I signed you up for that dating service. It’s probably the last thing you need right now.”
Caisey nudged Jenna’s shoulder. “I might have…logged on. Just to check it out.”
The regret on Jenna’s face morphed as her eyes widened and she smiled. “And?”
“You didn’t do a horrible job of it.”
“Using British phrasing doesn’t make it less obvious that you’re hedging, you know. You liked it.”
Caisey smiled. “Yeah, okay. I liked it. You did pretty good making me sound cool, working in federal law enforcement, and not like a desperate sad case who hasn’t had a decent date in ten years.”
“We should form a club.”
Caisey arched a brow. “Desperate thirty-something sad-cases-R-us?”
Jenna smiled. “Something like that.”
“I looked at your profile too.”
“And?”
“I didn’t change too much.”
Jenna’s jaw dropped. “What did you put?”
“Just more about how awesome you are being a businesswoman and the mom of a great kid. That type of thing.” She nudged Jenna’s shoulder. “Where was that picture of me from?”
“Jake’s last birthday when we went all went to Caliente for dinner. I love that it’s not posed. It’s totally natural with your eyes bright and laughing at something Grams said. I wanted a picture of you in a dress, but since that would mean the moon had spun out of its orbit and crashed into the sun thereby ending life as we know it, I had to make do.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that shirt was so sparkly?”
Jenna’s lips twitched. “It was better that you didn’t know it shimmered like that when the light hit it a certain way. It’s a great top for you.”
“I did look pretty good.”
Jenna’s head tipped back and she laughed full out.
“What?”
“Sometimes it’s like you crack open and a little bit of girl spills out.”
Caisey grabbed a pillow and slammed it into Jenna’s face. “Take that back!”
Jenna put her hands up, laughing again. The sound of it swept through Caisey like warm caramel.
“How old are the two of you?” Jake stood in the doorway in black sweat pants with a white stripe down the side of the leg and a t-shirt that showed off his man-boy muscles. His face was all smooth skin and big brown eyes. It was no wonder his cell phone constantly beeped. “Can you keep it down? I’m trying to write my English paper.”
Caisey snorted. “Don’t ask your mom for help. She got a C in that class.”
Jenna gasped. “So did you. We worked on that paper together.”
“Grams already helped me.” Jake held up Caisey’s cell phone. “This was ringing, like five times. You might wanna check your messages or whatever.”
Caisey got up and took it from him. The kid might act put out, but he’d still brought her BlackBerry downstairs to her. He was the only one who hadn’t thought it necessary to have a talk with her about her going undercover. Probably because he knew family was everything. And you did everything to keep them safe.
“Sorry we were loud.”
He shrugged. “I’m gonna get back to it.”
Caisey nodded. “Goodnight”
Jake rolled his eyes, tagged her shoulders with one arm and leaned down to kiss her forehead. He looked at Jenna. “Night, Mom.”
“Goodnight, honey.”
Caisey watched him leave; struck at his action because it was the same thing she did with Jenna. She’d done the side-hug/forehead-kiss to Jake back when he was little enough he didn’t mind displays of affection. Apparently it sank in.
The phone rang. She looked down and saw it was Liam. “Hey, partner. What’s up?”
“Where’ve you been? I’ve been calling you for half an hour.”
“I was watching a movie with Jenna, I didn’t hear the phone.”
“We think the Chloroform Killer struck again.”
Her whole body went solid. “What?”
Jenna came to stand beside her. “What is it?”
Caisey held up one finger to her friend and asked Liam, “What happened?”
“We got a hit from a report of an abduction in a small town about three hours west of here. A teenage girl is missing and there’s a folded cloth on her pillow. We think its chloroform.”
Caisey sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly, focusing on the texture of the carpet under her bare feet.
She wasn’t in that mine, she was home.
“Everyone is being called in. Burkot is sending Tanners and his team and I’m going with them. Local law enforcement has a suspect in custody.”
Caisey was already halfway up the stairs, ignoring the ache in her leg. That was just because it was late. “So they have him?”
She heard Jenna follow her up, but ignored it. There was no way it was all over this easily. If they had a suspect and he was the one who abducted this missing girl, it likely wasn’t their guy. Probably just a copycat.
“That’s what we’re going to find out.”
“I should come in.”
“No.” Liam’s voice was hard, like when he tensed his jaw. “You’re still on vacation. Burkot’s orders, remember?”
She didn’t much care that he was frustrated. “Every pair of hands is going to help, like you said. I’m the one who let him get away. If he’s killed again, it’s on me.”
There was a pause and she imagined he was digesting her guilt. Thankfully he didn’t comment on it. Instead he said, “Case, you’re injured.”
“I’m not going to go chase through the backwoods of Colorado after him. But I can sit at my desk and type.”
Liam sighed, long and loud. “You can make the coffee.”
**
The Chloroform Killer, that’s what they called him. Someone to be feared. Not even the Federal Bureau of Investigation could outwit him, no sir. Power coursed through his veins, heightening his already significant intelligence. He was unstoppable, or so each of his previous subjects could testify.
He picked up the hatchet he had purchased after his dagger was disposed of so judiciously. That little tidbit would keep the not-so-special agents running in circles for weeks.
The laughter that spilled from his mouth was high pitched.
Whimpering behind him made his head snap around. This one had turned out to be pitiful. All he could think about was the special agent he had taken. She would not have acted like this. He should have killed her; it would have been a sweet victory.
Now all he had was regret.
And dissatisfaction.
**
Despite the fact it was after eleven at night, Caisey arrived to find the office lit up and everyone at their desk. Phones all around the room rang while agents talked and typed. Their profiler stood in front of the boards on the wall to the right. To the left was a wall of windows and Burkot’s office was at the far end. It could have been any other office, except for the fact there were at least two dozen firearms in this one room. Those who’d been there all day wore suits that were now rumpled and their eyes tired, and everyone else—including Caisey—was in jeans.
Caisey put her coat on the back of her chair but didn’t bother to turn on her computer. Liam’s desk was opposite hers. He was on the phone, making furious notes on the pad in front of him. When he saw her, she pointed to the profiler. Liam’s eyes flicked to the Doc and he nodded.
Caisey poured two cups of coffee. She held one in front of the profiler’s face until he blinked and looked at her. His gray hair had undertaken a coup and emerged victorious over the dark color it used to be, and coupled with the bushy beard it made him look more like an old prospector than a doctor of psychology. And if he stared at her much longer, she was going to shift her stance and he’d know he was making her nervous.
“Doc.”
“Agent Lyons, how are you?”
“Same old.” Liar, liar…
The board on the wall was covered with papers. She stepped closer to study what they knew—which wasn’t a whole lot beneath the supposition—and took a sip of coffee. It was thick like treacle which meant Liam hadn’t made it, not that anyone in the office would let him. They knew better.
“We still don’t know who he is.”
It wasn’t a question, because Caisey knew the answer full well. Her foray into the world of undercover operations hadn’t yielded much beyond a vague description, a dagger no one could place…and a van they could add to the one impounded when Andrea’s sister was abducted. She stared at the picture of the vehicle she’d been transported in and the deep freezer that had been in the back. “Fingerprints?”
“Just the partial from the door handle. We had the test rushed, but still no results in IAFIS. No ID on him. The van was registered to an old lady in Kansas.”
“Any connection?”
“Not that we can see, except she used to run a flower shop and used the van for deliveries.”
“Stolen?”
He nodded. “Wasn’t reported since the old lady died of a heart attack six months ago.”
“Of course she did.” The death of an old lady was a sad thing, but it was also a little coincidental in this case.
“It’s being looked into by the local Kansas office.”
Caisey sighed, unable to shake the image of the Chloroform Killer looking her up and down while she was tied to a chair. She’d had enough of that to last a lifetime. “So basically we have nothing?”
The Doc took a sip of his coffee. “It’s never nothing. But it certainly isn’t a lot at this point. Still, we drew him out once not knowing who he was, thanks to you.”
Caisey met his eyes, saw the admiration there. The tension in her shoulders eased and she nodded.
“Lyons!”
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