Love Inspired Suspense July 2015 #1 (37 page)

“Which guy? I showed you a lot of pictures.”

“The guy.” Eddie tugged at his hair as if trying to pull more information from his brain. “The guy.”

Cole whipped out his phone to pull up the pictures he had on it of Sherri's former partner and of Zeke's nephew.

“I followed him out,” Eddie went on, “to see where he'd go. He veered behind the store and when I rounded the corner, he zapped me.”

“Zapped you?” Cole stopped thumbing through the photos and met Eddie's gaze. “He had a stun gun?”

“I guess.” Eddie stroked the back of his neck and turning, showed them the mark it left. “Next thing I knew, he was propping me up in a car and pouring whiskey down my throat.” Tears leaked from the corners of Eddie's eyes. “I tried to stop him, but I couldn't make my arms work right. Then he untied a rubber tube from my arm and said I did good and left.”

Dad grabbed Eddie's arm, exposing a nasty bruise on the inside of his elbow. “He shot him up.”

Cole quickly thumbed through the rest of his pictures. If this guy had just been worried about Eddie identifying him, he'd have drugged him in some back alley to make it look like he OD'd. This was meant to be more—another dig at him. Cole showed Eddie the photo he'd snapped of Zeke's nephew. “Is this the guy?”

Eddie blinked away tears, trembling viciously. “No, not him. The other guy.”

Cole sprang to his feet, his mind veering to the look on Sherri's face when the deputy had handed him the suicide note. She'd been the target, not him. He flipped back to the photo he'd snapped of Joe in the coffee shop. “Him?”

“Yeah, him.”

Forcing calm into his voice, Cole gave Eddie's shoulder a squeeze. “You did good. I'll call and have a deputy pick him up. Be right back.” Cole stepped into the hall, cell phone to his ear, his heart galloping ahead to the next call he needed to make. To Sherri.

Zeke, in uniform, strode toward him. “How's your brother? I just heard.”

Cole swallowed his surprise that Zeke would make a special trip to the hospital to check on him. Sure they were partners, but it wasn't as if Zeke liked him. “He's going to be okay.” Cole filled him in on the assault and the arrest warrant he'd been about to request for Joe Martello.

Zeke squeezed Cole's shoulder supportively. “I'll pick him up myself. It's still crazy at the station, handling calls on the missing infant. I'm glad your brother's okay.” Zeke must've sensed Cole's stunned reaction to his sudden show of support. “I might not have wanted you to get this job, but I lost my sister to drugs,” he explained. “I wouldn't wish it on anyone.”

“I'm sorry. I didn't know.”

Zeke flinched. “Some pothead lured her to Seattle, got her hooked on harder stuff, so she resorted to turning tricks to pay for her habit. By the time I tracked her down...”

His voice trailed off, and Cole's mind flipped back to Zeke's seething anger when they'd caught up to the kids outside the schoolyard. Cole swiped his hand over his face, ashamed by how seriously he'd misjudged the man.

Zeke shook off the dark mask that had fallen over his face. “I'll go pick this guy up before he can do any more damage.”

“I appreciate it.” Cole dialed Sherri's cell phone to update her on the situation and to warn her to stay at her parents' until they had Joe in custody. Her phone went straight to voice mail, and an uneasy feeling rippled through his stomach. She'd intended to drive her car back to her parents', but would she have driven it after finding Eddie inside?

He disconnected without leaving a message and called her folks' number. “Mrs. Steele, this is Cole Donovan. Is—”

“Oh, how's your brother?”

“Good.” Her voice sounded sleepy, and he glanced at his watch. Five in the morning. He probably should've waited to call.

“We haven't stopped praying since Sherri told us what happened.”

Cole relaxed at the news that she was there. “Thank you. I appreciate that. He should recover fine, thanks to Sherri. She was amazing last night. She refused to give up on him.”

“Yes, that's our Sherri.”

Cole could hear the smile in her voice. “Is she up yet? May I speak to her?”

“Isn't she with you?”

His heart lightened. “No. How long ago did she leave?”

“Leave?” Concern rippled through Mrs. Steele's voice. “She never came home last night. She called and told us what happened. I assumed...”

“It's okay. She must be at her apartment. I didn't think to try there. I rode to the hospital on the ambulance and assumed she'd head back to your place after the deputies finished with her car.” But of course, she wouldn't have wanted to drive it. Probably wouldn't have wanted to face a night in her parents' house after almost losing Eddie. He hated to imagine the nightmares that must've haunted her last night. He'd been so consumed with guilt. He hadn't thought about how finding Eddie like that had to be eating away at her.

He scrolled through his contact list, highlighted her apartment's home phone number and hit Connect. After five rings, it went to voicemail. “Hey, Sherri. It's Cole. Call me as soon as you get this message. It's important.”
Please, Lord, let her just be screening her calls.
But even as the prayer whispered past his lips, a chill shivered down his spine. If Joe had a key to Sherri's car, he could have a key to her apartment, too. Cole hurried back to his brother's room. “Do you remember how Joe got into Sherri's car? Did he have a key?”

Eddie shook his head. “I don't know. I didn't come to until he'd already shoved me inside.”

“Is Sherri okay?” The concern in Dad's voice stirred up the acid already burning Cole's gut.

“I don't know. I couldn't—” Her keys were found on the mall floor.
Joe must've
borrowed
them to make an imprint.
Or Zeke's nephew had.
Cole shot a look toward the hall, suddenly doubting Zeke's kid-sister story. “I couldn't get a hold of her.”

“Then you need to go find her.”

Everything in him was already halfway out the door, but— Cole looked to Eddie.

“Go!”

He raced out to the parking lot and searched the lot for where the deputy had parked his truck. He punched the button on his fob and ran toward the sound of the horn. Swinging into the driver's seat, he tried Sherri's cell phone number again, slid the phone into its holder and swerved out of the lot.

On the third ring, the phone clicked on.

“Sherri? Sherri, are you there?”

“Cole, is that you? I'm sorry the reception's terrible here.”

“Where are you?”

“What's wrong? Is Eddie—?”

He mentally kicked himself for causing her more panic. “He's awake. He's going to be okay.” Cole explained how Joe drugged him, and assured her that Eddie wasn't jealous of her. “We've issued an arrest warrant. But he's still at large. Where are you?”

“I'm running on the trail along the river.”

Cole cranked a U-turn at the next intersection and sped toward the trailhead. “Get back to the parking lot now. I'm coming to get you. I'll be there in seven minutes.”

“You don't have to do that. I'll be fine. I'll go back to my parents'. Your brother needs you.”

“You may be fine, but I won't be until I know you're safe and that psycho ex-partner of yours is behind bars.” The phone crackled. “Sherri? Did you hear me? Get back to the trailhead now. And be careful.”

“Cole? I hear a baby crying?” The phone garbled.

“Sherri.
Sherri!
”

“I'm just going to—” The phone cut out.

Cole floored the gas pedal.

FIFTEEN

S
herri cocked her ear toward the path ahead, every muscle primed to rush into action. The sound of the river's rushing water. Songbirds welcoming the day.
There it was again.
Definitely a baby's cry. She jogged ahead a few paces and the sound shifted. Coming from the riverbank. She peered down at the tangled vegetation hiding the river's edge from view. “Hello, is someone there? Do you need help?”

An image of baby Moses, floating downriver in a little boat sprang to mind, only this river was no gentle stream and with the snow still melting off the mountain peaks, it was frigid. If the child's parent had fallen in... The cries grew louder. More desperate.

She scrambled down the riverbank, slipping and sliding on the precarious slope. “It's okay, baby, I'm coming.” She clawed through the brambles at the bottom, landing her first step out the other side right into icy water. She jerked back, clinging to the prickly bushes to keep from teetering off the edge.

The cries rose up to her right. Very close.

“Shh, now, it's okay.” Sherri dropped to her knees and crawled toward the inconsolable whimpers. She swept aside rotted leaves and twigs, exposing a small animal's den cut into the bank. Her stomach flip-flopped. Had it been a baby fox or other wild animal she'd heard?

The cries sounded again.

Very human.

What kind of monster would leave a child in a fox's den? She clawed at the dirt to reach the poor dear. “It's okay. It's okay. I've got you.” She stretched her arm inside. Her fingers grazed fabric. She stretched farther, caught the edge of the fabric between her fingertips. The baby kicked, tugging the fabric from her clasp. She tunneled the opening wider and tried again.

A twig snapped behind her.

“Shush, shush, shush,” she cooed to the infant, her fingers closing around a tiny foot.

Something smashed into the back of her knee.

“Ouch!” Releasing her grip, she jerked her arm out of the hole and rolled to her back. She shrank from the stranger looming over her, her hands grappling for a stick, a rock, something. “Who are you? What do you want?”

The man thumbed up the brim of his cowboy hat, his unnaturally blue eyes laughing at her, his mouth curving into a smile as broad as his hat. “Don't you recognize me, darlin'?” The question oozed from his lips in a sickeningly sweet drawl.

She squinted at him. There was something familiar about his voice, but she couldn't place—

Her heart jolted. Bald, blue eyes, goatee, paunch belly. “You're...you're Eddie's friend.”

He threw his head back and laughed. “I wouldn't call us friends.”

She flipped onto her belly to push to her feet.

He yanked her hair and snapped back her head, silencing her scream with a slash of duct tape. “Just like I wouldn't call you and I
friends
.”

He'd dropped the drawl, and her veins iced at the familiar voice.
Joe.
She reared to her knees to ease the pain screaming through her scalp and hoofed back a foot.

He deflected it with his shin.

Screaming uselessly, she lifted a hand to rip the tape from her mouth.

He yanked her head back farther, and something cold dug into her neck. “I wouldn't do that if I were you.”

She didn't listen to him and as she yanked on the tape, electricity jolted through her body.

She fell to her back, and Joe's meaty hand, sheathed in a latex glove, silenced her cry of agony. Her muscles spasmed uncontrollably.

Grinning wickedly, he twisted the stun gun in front of her face and then pushed it back into her neck. “You going to be a good girl or do we need another lesson?”

She recoiled from the pressure.

He chuckled. “I thought you'd see it my way. It's a shame, though. I do enjoy hearing you scream.” He bared his teeth in a sick leer.

“I'm sorry I cost you your job, Joe. Really I am.”

“Yeah, just like my wife'll be sorry. You women are so predictable. I watched you go for a run last night after your boyfriend left,” he rambled. “You'd think someone was chasing you from the way you flew.”

Her skin crawled at the thought of him watching her. Stalking her. Cole had warned her not to run alone, but after finding Eddie in her car, she hadn't been able to shut the images out of her brain.

Joe's hot breath whispered over her ears. “Your inner demons chasing you? You can't escape them, you know.” His voice lifted to a sympathetic falsetto. “Letting Luke die. Driving Eddie to suicide. Those'll haunt you until the day you die.” He grabbed her upper arm and yanked her to her feet. “So really...I'm doing you a favor.” He shoved her toward the river.

He was going to kill her.
Drown her.

Her mind scrambled for a plan. Cole had said it would take him seven minutes to get to the parking lot. Maybe another five to reach her here...if he headed the right direction on the path and didn't race right past. If she could stall Joe, keep him talking so Cole would hear them. Joe couldn't have heard her phone call. If he'd known Cole was on his way, he wouldn't have risked showing himself here.

She started to ask about the baby, but then thought better of it. If he was focused on her, he wouldn't be hurting the baby and Cole would find the infant in time if...he was still crying.

The baby wailed, and Joe flashed a caustic glance toward the foxhole. “Shut up, kid. Be happy I saved you from that no good whore of a mother.”

Sherri gasped. He'd kidnapped the baby? From his ex-wife? “You set up the attack in the mall?” Sherri blurted to distract him from the infant's cry.

“You sound surprised.” He slanted her an oily smile. “But you had to suspect. The police came to see me, after all. Seemed to think I might still be sore at you. Sore enough to hurt you.”

“I didn't send them. I swear. I didn't think—” Her voice broke. How'd he know how to scuttle the security? Let alone convince all those teens to risk their necks?

“You didn't think I'd still hate you?” he asked snidely. They broke through the bushes to the river's edge and, wrenching her arm behind her back, he pressed her to her knees.

She resisted the impulse to fight him, knowing another zap of the stun gun would end any chance of stalling him long enough for Cole to get to her. “I thought...I thought you were happy now.”

“You of all people should know appearances are deceptive.”

“Me? Why?” She strained to listen over the sound of rushing water. Was that a car door? She needed to stall him. “I...I don't know what you mean.”

He chuckled. “Acting like nothing bothers you. Acting like everything that's happened to you doesn't scare you to death. Kind of hypocritical, don't you think? Telling me I need help but refusing it yourself.”

“Is that what this is about? You wanted to see me break?”

He cackled. “No. My ex-wife I wanted to break. You—” he shoved her face under the water “—I wanted to
kill
.”

She clawed at his hand with her only free hand, flailed her head wildly to try and escape his grip. Her lungs burned. And just when she thought she'd black out, he yanked her out. She gasped, inhaled the air in hungry gulps.

He trailed his finger along her jaw and tipped up her chin. “But tormenting you proved to be way more fun than I'd ever imagined.” His maniacal gaze held hers in a chilling grip.

She swallowed hard. Somehow she needed to keep him talking. “The dispatcher. How'd you get her to help you?”

He threw his head back and laughed. “Your boyfriend figured that much out, did he? But not that she's an addict?”

“You supplied her with drugs?”

He clucked victoriously. “An addict'll do anything for a fix. And seeing your face when Atkins ranted at you at Luke's funeral was priceless.”

She slipped her hand into the water. “You're sick.”

“It's called justice, honey. Only right you should experience firsthand what it feels like to have someone screw around with your life.” He wrenched her arm higher behind her back. “This is what you get for turning me down for that date. If you hadn't, I would've put you out of your misery that night.” He shoved her face back into the water. “Instead, you gave me plenty of time to think of better ways to make you pay.”

Fighting not to panic, she grappled for a rock she could pull free from the riverbed. But they were big. They were all too big. Black dots bounced in front of her eyes as the oxygen seeped from her lungs. She lurched forward and her fingers closed around a football-sized rock. Blackness crept along the edges of her vision. She levered the rock over her shoulder.

His grip broke. He fell back, clutching his head and cursing.

She scrambled downriver. But the baby's cry stopped her. She couldn't leave him alone with the baby.

“Sherri!” Cole's faint shout filtered through trees. “Where are you?”

She clambered up the riverbank. “Cole! Over here!”

Joe grabbed her foot, and she went down hard. He shoved something into her side and excruciating pain jolted through her body. “Nice try,” he sneered, as a whimpered “please” dribbled from her lips and everything went black.

Sherri startled to consciousness at the bite of icy water seeping through her shoes.

“Your boyfriend's spoiling my fun,” Joe hissed into her ear, his arm hooked under her armpits and around her chest as he dragged her across a shallow part of the river. He paused in the center and planted her on her feet.

A roar filled her ears. She swayed, straining to gain her bearings.

He clutched the back of her head and forced her gaze to the ground.

Her heart dropped. They stood on the precipice of a ten-foot waterfall.

“But I'm thinking he'll dive in after you.” He cackled. “Make for some good target practice.”

Sherri jerked back her head, felt the moment it connected with his nose.

The next instant his shove sent her free-falling.