Page 69 of Last Chance Christmas

Anthony’s hands fisted as Vaynes came on-screen. He wore a long black robe and faced Della. “Are you ready to tell the court what you’ve done?”

Della lifted her chin. “I said I would. Just turn yourself in and I will.”

“You know what you have to do.” Vaynes held a hammer over her hand, ready to strike.

“Let me go.” Della’s voice shook, sending a tremor of fury through Anthony.

“Where is this coming from?” he yelled over to Wilcox.

“It was sent to us. I’m trying to trace the email.” Savannah kept typing as the video played.

“Is it live?” Penny asked her.

“Maybe. I’m looking.”

A scream brought all attention back to the screen. Vaynes had done it. A third finger lay broken.

Anthony slammed his fist onto the desk.

She was at the mercy of a killer because he’d failed to do a simple job. He’d failed to protect her. Why wait for them to ask for his badge? He didn’t deserve it.

“Tell the court the truth. You promised to tell nothing but the truth.” Vaynes walked behind Della and yanked her head up by the hair. “Look into the camera and tell them.”

“The truth is you killed Lily.”

He lifted the hammer again with his free hand. “You know what I’m talking about. Tell them! I’m not going to stop until you tell them the truth.”

She looked straight into the camera, her voice wobbling. “I lied.” Tears mixed with blood ran down Della’s beautiful face. She dragged in a breath and continued. “I said that I saw him, but when I was abducted, I never saw his face.” She closed her eyes, and her shoulders drooped forward.

“So what you’re saying is, you committed perjury.” Vaynes let go of her head but stayed there, speaking right behind her ear. Loud enough for the camera to pick up. “You never saw your captor’s face. You were drugged the whole time. He wore a mask. Isn’t that right?” Everything within Anthony wanted to lunge through the screen and take Vaynes down himself. But it was the sight of the woman he was growing rather attached to being tortured that broke his heart. His failure had caused this. He never should’ve let her out of his sight.

Anthony was not a violent man, but he’d never wanted to hurt another human being more than he did right now. The darkness pressed in on his very soul.

God, where are You?

Suddenly Della opened her eyes. Narrowed them slightly. She lifted her chin and looked straight at the camera. “The only way you would know that I didn’t see his face, the only way you would know about being drugged or the mask is if you were there.” Her lips went tight a second before she threw her head back into Vaynes’s skull with a loud cry. Then the video cut out.

“Where’s the rest?” Anthony rushed over to Wilcox’s desk. “What happened?”

He needed to see, because suddenly, scenarios of Vaynes torturing Della in retaliation stormed all logic and clear thinking.

She pounded on the keyboard. “I don’t know. That’s it. It was cut off. In the email, Vaynes is demanding that his case be thrown out. He says he’ll be in touch.”

Penny sprinted over with the candy cane still in her mouth. “Play the video again. We need to look for clues. Figure out where they are.”

This time, when Savannah played the video, Anthony studied the background. But his eyes kept wandering back to Della. The pain, the terror there, left him shattered.

Oh God, keep her safe.

The final spark before she threw her head back gave him hope.

She was a fighter.

But she needed help, and he wasn’t there.

But I am.

A gentle voice inside pushed back the panic and despair. It didn’t get much worse than this kind of darkness, Della at the mercy of a killer. But what had Penny said?