No matter who or what she ran into, it couldn’t be worse than waiting for Ramsey to kill her. Once onto the asphalt she started to run, continually scanning both sides of the road for a convenience store, gas station or some place with a phone. Whistles sounded behind her along with a car engine but Kate didn’t look back. She ran across an empty parking lot belonging to a store that had gone out of business a long time ago.
The sight of a phone booth gave her hope but seconds later she realized the phone had been removed. She rounded the store and picked up the pace, her feet carrying her down a street with white clapboard houses and chain-link fences. Music blared from a few of the homes but as she reached the stop sign a house on the corner provided a beacon.
Soft yellow light from the picture window fell across the neatly manicured lawn and, as Kate limped closer, she caught a glimpse of an older lady wearing hair curlers seated inside the living room.
Desperation propelled her across the grass and up the front steps. She banged on the front door and a frantic dog began barking wildly inside.
“Who is it?” The reedy voice barely filtered past the door.
“I need to call the police. I was kidnapped. Please help me.” Kate sandwiched herself between the hard wood and the screen door. “My name is Kate Elliott. I’m a newspaper reporter. I’m alone. No one is with me and I don’t have anything with me. I just need help.”
The door didn’t open but the woman’s reply offered some comfort. “You wait right there. I’m calling the police.”
Kate sank to her knees, resting her forehead against the decorated wood. “Thank you.”
The next sentence sounded like a warning. “I’m giving them your name.”
“That’s good. Thank you again.” She couldn’t hear the phone call the woman made, but only minutes later blue lights illuminated the yard. She pushed herself to her feet and staggered down the steps.
“Hands where we can see them!”
She held up her hands but continued to walk forward. “I’m Kate Elliott. I was kidnapped this morning. The police should be looking for me by now.” She collapsed into the nearest police officer’s arms, elation giving way to exhaustion.
He picked her up, carried her to his car. Kate barely paid attention to what happened next, though she did appreciate the blanket the cop gave her. Seated in the back of the police cruiser with the door firmly shut, she knew she was safe…at least for now, but she didn’t know how close Ramsey was or if Downing was nearby.
Her eyes popped open and she smacked her palm on the window, drawing the attention of a female officer, who approached the car immediately.
“Ms. Elliott, did you need something?”
“A phone. Could I use your phone, please?”
Without question, the officer handed over her cell phone.
Kate’s hands shook as she dialed the number she didn’t think she had memorized already.
Brad answered the phone without looking at the caller ID. His attention stayed focused on David Downing’s three-bedroom house from his vantage point across the street. David’s wife wasn’t home, and the house had been deserted since he’d arrived. But he wasn’t quite ready to give up.
“Brad, it’s me. Kate.”
The house faded into the distance as blood pounded in Brad’s ears. “Kate? Are you all right?” He started the engine. “Where are you?”
“I’m with the police. I escaped.”
Relief, as sweet as water to a man dying of thirst, poured through him. “Tell me where you are. I’ll come to you.” He heard her ask someone where she was, then a deep voice responding. Moisture stung his eyes and he closed them, fighting off his body’s natural response to the resolution of immense stress.
When Kate told him her location, he jammed the car into drive and accelerated away from Downing’s house. The neighborhood gave way to a long, winding road that took him out onto a major highway vein. He stomped the gas and put in a call to his captain.
He hadn’t wanted to let Kate hang up but the police officer had needed her phone. She’d assured him Kate would be safe. They wouldn’t take her anywhere. He was about five miles away, but it might as well have been a hundred.
All of this time, he’d been that close to her. His chest tightening, he kept hearing the shake in her voice, the soft way she said his name. She’d been terrified, and if he found out David Downing had anything to do with this, he’d be returning to the man’s house that night. And this time he wouldn’t wait outside.
Kate saw him and the tears she’d been holding back fell in streams down her cheeks. As though reading her mind, the female officer opened the back door of the cruiser and she climbed out just as Brad reached the side of the vehicle.
Then she was in his arms, crushed against his chest, and though the pressure hurt the cuts and bruises on her body, she didn’t try to pull away. She needed this closeness, this reminder that she was safe now.
Brad cupped her face with both hands, leaned back so he could see her. “Are you okay? Were you hurt?”
She lifted up one hand to pull a strand of hair away and Brad caught hold of her wrist. “Your hands. They’re a mess. We need to get you to the hospital.” He picked several strands of debris out of her hair.
“No, I’m okay. I don’t need to go to the hospital.” She didn’t want to leave his arms.
“Honey, you need to go. Your hands need stitches and you need to be checked out.” He touched a bump on her forehead. “This looks pretty nasty.”
Kate rested her head on his shoulder for a moment, then looked up. “It was your assistant warden, Brad. He told me he was taking me to your house, that you had asked him to. Instead he took me to this old abandoned house. It was all boarded up and I didn’t think I was going to get free.” The words tumbled over each other and she began to shake.
Brad hugged her closer. “You’re in shock. I’m taking you to the hospital now.”
She didn’t have any more energy to protest, and once Brad had settled her in the front seat of his car she dropped her head back against the rest while he talked to the cops.
Her teeth chattered and tears ran down her cheeks, which didn’t make any sense. Why cry now? She was rescued, safe. She wrapped her arms around her body and rocked forward as she began to sob in earnest.
From somewhere in the recesses of her mind she heard the truck door open, then a curse from Brad. Before she realized what was happening he was in the driver’s seat and had lifted her across the console and into his lap. He held her while she cried, just stroking her back with one hand and offering quiet words of comfort occasionally.
When the storm subsided, Kate hiccupped and swiped at her damp cheeks. “I’ve never been a crier.”
“You’ve never been through what you just went through.” He ran one hand down the length of her hair. “Let’s get you to that doctor.”
“Brad, please.” She caught hold of his hand. “I just want a shower and some clean clothes. The cuts aren’t that deep but I’ll go to the doctor after I’ve had a chance to get cleaned up. Please.”
“Okay.” He helped her back to her seat. “A shower and a change of clothes, then we go to the hospital.”
Kate fastened her seat belt, then studied her hands. The blood had dried between her fingers and though the gouges looked angry, they didn’t look deep enough to require stitches. Maybe after a shower Brad would see that too. All she wanted to do was take a long, hot bath, curl up on the sofa with a cup of hot coffee and try to forget the day had ever happened.
“Does Aaron know that I was missing?” She hadn’t even thought about her boss, could only imagine what had been going through his mind if he knew about her disappearance.
“He does, but I called him on the way to get you. He told me to tell you to call him when you’re ready and to not worry about the newspaper or anything else. I believe his exact words were ‘just focus on you’.”
Kate summoned a smile. “Sounds like something he heard from his wife.” Without asking, she reached across the short distance between them and captured his hand, needing to feel the human connection.
Though she hadn’t been alone that long, she’d been waiting for her executioner no thanks to Dave. Like a light bulb going off, she sat up straighter in the car. “It was Dave. He’s the one helping Ramsey. He said Ramsey had his family.”
Brad squeezed her hand gently but his jaw tightened. “I had my suspicions.” He released her long enough to dial the captain’s number. “I have Kate Elliott. It was David Downing who took her.”
“Units are rolling on his house now. Is Ms. Elliott safe?”
“Safe doesn’t mean all right.”
“Yeah. We’ll get him.”
“You’d better do it before I do.” He ended the call before Roddingham could issue another warning. Taking hold of Kate’s hand again, he gave her a smile. “The police are on the way to get Downing now. So you just concentrate on being safe.”
He might as well have read her mind. She closed her eyes and just clung to his hand as the SUV ate up the miles to his house. In a matter of minutes she’d be in a hot shower and she could wash off the remnants of the day.
The police would catch Downing now that they knew who Ramsey’s partner was, and once Ramsey had been moved from the hospital back to his prison cell she could resume her life without the fear of the unknown hanging over her head.
Tears pricked her eyes again and she turned her head toward the window, looking out into the darkness. Tears had exhausted her. She was so tired of crying. The trauma was over and, as her father would say, it was time to do what needs to be done.
She was safe again. Downing couldn’t hurt her now. Not as long as she was with Brad. When his fingers contracted around hers again she looked at his profile in the dark interior. He wasn’t looking at her but his presence surrounded her.
He’d come for her, had been looking for her. And Kate didn’t want to lose the feeling inside, the sense of belonging the knowledge gave her.
Her chest tightened and, in spite of her silent instructions, the tears flowed again.
“I shouldn’t be here. Do you know the police are watching me? Brad obviously didn’t believe the story I gave him at the hospital.” Downing ran a hand through his hair, most of which was stuck to his head with sweat. “I’ve done all I can do to help you anyway. Just tell me where my family is and we can call this a day.”
Ramsey smirked. Stupid son of a bitch actually believed his wife and kids were still alive. No need to disillusion him just yet, not when he still needed him for a little while longer.
“I need to know where Warden Jericho lives.” His lips curled at the name.
Downing’s eyes threatened to pop from their sockets. “You’re going to Jericho’s house? He’s the one who arrested you! You think he can’t take you down again?”
“You let that be my problem. Now, where does he live?”
His gaze flicked to the right and Downing wet his lips. “You’ve dragged me into enough.”
Ramsey took a step forward, closing the distance between them. He could smell the man’s fear dripping from every pore. Though they’d met in a lighted area, the parking lot of a local grocery store, Ramsey figured Downing knew better than to assume he was safe. “Don’t even think about lying to me. I tell you what.” He slapped a hand on the smaller man’s shoulder. “Why don’t we go get Kate first, then we’ll head on over to Jericho’s house together. He might like to see the show.”
The deputy warden turned a little green and Ramsey grinned in response. “I’ll even let you drive.”
“I just want my family.”
“The job isn’t over yet.” Ramsey strolled to the black sedan Downing drove and settled himself into the passenger seat. Once Downing slid in beside him Ramsey clicked his seat belt into place. “Safety first.”
More sweat poured off Downing’s brow, and his hand trembled so much he had difficulty putting the key in the ignition.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Ramsey snatched the keys. “Pull yourself together, man. I don’t know about you but I’m in no hurry to die. And the way you’re acting, you’re going to be too dangerous behind the wheel. So get it together, or do you need me to drive?”
The solicitous tone of his voice obviously didn’t fool the deputy warden but Ramsey hadn’t wanted it to. The words were thinly veiled warnings, a reminder that Ramsey always had the upper hand.
“Now let’s try this again. We don’t want to keep Kate waiting anymore. Poor thing has been stuck in that house long enough.”
As Downing put the car into drive, Ramsey began whispering Kate’s name over and over and drawing hearts on the passenger side window.
Once Kate was in the shower Brad put in another call to Captain Roddingham. “Any word on Downing?”
“I was about to call you. He wasn’t home. We found him at the prison but he was on to us. Gave the officers the slip.” Roddingham sounded as exhausted as Brad felt.
Brad didn’t waste time giving vent to his anger. Most cops had lost a suspect at least once in their careers, and if Downing had been determined enough to escape, the prison was the best way to do it.
“You should keep Ms. Elliott there with you.”
“I will. I’m calling the hospital now to check in with the guards. Ramsey was sedated when I left and I want to make sure they’re standing over him when he wakes up.”
“We’re establishing a search perimeter now. We’ll find Downing. Don’t you worry about that.”
Brad crossed the floor to the trunk in front of the sofa. “I’m not worried, Captain.” As he ended the call he tucked the 9mm Luger into the waistband of his slacks and secured the latch on the trunk.
Kate came down the hallway minutes later, her hair in a towel, wearing his dark blue robe. He walked her to the sofa.
“I’m going to fix you some hot tea.” Before he could walk away, she reached out to him. He sat down beside her.
“My hands are fine.” She extended them for his review. “The rest are just cuts and scrapes, and I didn’t hit my head hard enough to cause a concussion.”
He rubbed his thumb across her cheekbone. “You’re trying to talk me out of taking you to the hospital, aren’t you?”
“I’m here now, and I don’t want to go anywhere else.” Her hazel eyes seemed larger in the depths of her pale face, and Brad knew before his gaze connected with hers he’d give in.
He took both her hands in his and inspected the palms before turning them over. “What caused the cuts?”
“Nails. And before you ask, they were rusty, but I’m up to date with my tetanus shot.”
“You think you have everything figured out, don’t you?” His insides shook a little when she smiled at him. Some of the sparkle had returned to her eyes. “Fine.” He dropped a kiss to the inside of one hand. “No doctors tonight, but depending upon how you feel, I can’t promise anything for tomorrow.”
“Downing said Ramsey kidnapped his family. Do you know if that’s true?” Kate’s question followed Brad into the kitchen.
“No, but we’ll find out.” He gripped the handle of the teakettle tightly as he poured hot water into a mug and added a tea bag. No matter what Ramsey might have done with Downing’s family, it didn’t erase the guy’s culpability. He’d had choices and he’d made the wrong ones. Brad gritted his teeth to keep from slamming his fist into the wall next to the stove.
After all this time, Downing couldn’t have come to him, asked for help? Did he not think Brad would help find his family?
He removed a tray from the overhead cabinet and thumped it onto the granite counter. How could Downing have put Kate in danger, knowing Ramsey couldn’t be trusted? Did he really think the guy was going to send his family back to him?
Odds were good if Ramsey really had taken Downing’s wife and kids, he hadn’t left them alive. They were loose ends, and a killer never left those untied. He made another quick phone call to add the search for the deputy warden’s family to Roddingham’s list of necessary duties.
He heard Kate moving around in the living room and looked over his shoulder. She’d walked to the window, had moved the curtain aside and was now watching the darkness.
His gut clenched. He could only imagine the hell she’d endured in those hours and how frantically she’d fought to survive. And she’d done it with the threat of a serial killer approaching hanging over her shoulder. His father would call her a “keeper”.
Kate’s gasp yanked his attention back to where she stood. “What is it?” He rounded the divider.
“Nothing. I’m just seeing things.”
“What kind of things?” Brad edged the curtain aside to look out. The streetlights provided adequate illumination for the cul-de-sac, deterring any potential burglars, but others wouldn’t be so easily put off.
Kate touched the gun at his back. “Why are you carrying that around?”