Page 30 of Scorched (Killer #2)

Paul couldn’t find her. He’d searched the thinning crowd several times but couldn’t find Elise.

He turned to the parking lot and searched through the cars to find her little gray sedan with the Minnesota Vikings bumper sticker.

It had been there earlier when he’d arrived at the school.

The automobile service had gone the extra mile, had the car’s windshield fixed and delivered the car to her school today, as good as new.

Of all the times for an automobile service to be efficient.

Why couldn’t they have taken more time? Then Elise would have been stranded at the high school, and she would have had to rely on him to get her where she needed to go.

The only place she could be was back home.

Something must be wrong with the boys. The other more disturbing thought, he brushed aside, refusing to entertain .

The killer had not taken Elise. He couldn’t have.

Paul dug in his jacket pocket to find his cell phone. He cursed at the broken screen. He must have fallen on it. He tried calling Elise but couldn’t even get a dial tone. His cell phone was dead.

Mounting dread pressed against his chest. The explosion in the high school hadn’t been an accident. The firefighters might not know that yet, but Paul did. It had been a diversion. A chance for someone to lure Elise away from the grounds, maybe even kidnap her.

Without a cell phone, Paul had only one choice; he had to get to Elise’s house.

Worst-case scenario, he’d find Melissa and a telephone.

Best case, Elise had gotten tired of waiting for him and had gone home.

He’d find her there tucking Luke and Brandon into bed, kissing them good night, just like every other night. Just like normal.

This day had been anything but normal so far; why should that change now? Paul inched his truck around the emergency vehicles and out into the street, where he slammed the gas pedal to the floorboard.

The two miles to Elise’s little house on Highland passed too slowly and filled him with terrifying possibilities. What if Elise had been taken by the killer? What if Melissa and the boys were hurt? What if Paul was too late?

Even without a firm suspect, Paul couldn’t believe the Dakota Strangler had survived the fire and flood.

His gut told him to look elsewhere. But who would want to hurt Elise and why?

The witness had reported a black SUV leaving the bridge access road.

An image of a black SUV popped into his mind as clearly as if he’d seen it. And he had, but where?

Then he remembered. One had been parked next to his truck in the parking lot of the Bureau building the day this all began.

Paul shook his head. No, it was just a coincidence. There were hundreds of black SUVs all over San Antonio.

Could someone in the Bureau have gotten the information of Elise’s whereabouts? Someone who knew how the witness protection program worked.

He skidded around the corner a block away from Highland Street and almost ran into Melissa on foot, waving at him from the sidewalk.

Jamming his foot on the brake, he slid to a halt, popping the automatic door locks open.

Melissa slid in, rain dripping off her jacket onto the seat, breathing hard, her face screwed into a scared frown. “Luke is gone.”

“What?” The bottom fell out of Paul’s stomach. Luke was a bright, active little boy with an imagination and charm that had endeared him to Paul. He’d be proud to have such a little boy as his son. “How did that happen?”

Agent Bradley shrugged, shaking her wet head. “I don’t know. One minute he was there, the next, he was gone.”

“Does Elise know?” How would she react? God, she needed someone to be with her. Paul needed to be with her.

“I called her as soon as I realized he was gone. She came within fifteen minutes.”

A cold tingling sensation began at the back of Paul’s neck and snaked its way down his spine. “Where is Elise now?”

“I left Elise and Brandon at the house while I searched the neighborhood. I called the police, but they’re tied up at the school fire.

Geez, Paul, why haven’t you answered your phone?

” She took a deep breath, her brown hair hanging in lank, wet ropes along the sides of her face.

“I lost the kid, Paul. I can’t believe I lost the kid.

It was just like you said, he slipped out the back door when I wasn’t looking. ”

Paul took the corner onto Highland Street too fast for the rain-slicked road. The rear tires fishtailed on the slippery surface and straightened.

Light shone on Elise’s porch, but that didn’t make Paul feel any better. Not until he saw Elise, Brandon and Luke all standing in their living room, safe, well and happy, would he feel better.

Mel’s red truck stood in the driveway. Alone.

“Oh, God, her car’s gone. I shouldn’t have left her.” Mel jumped from Paul’s truck before it came to a complete halt and ran for the house. Paul wasn’t far behind and caught her as she reached the door. It was unlocked and easily swung open when given a gentle push .

Lights blazed from all the rooms in the house, but it stood eerily silent. A few toy cars littered the floor, lying neglected and forgotten.

Paul ran from room to room, knowing before he completed his search that he wouldn’t find them. He’d let Elise and her boys down. He hadn’t been there to stop a crazed killer from taking them from their home.

“What now?” Melissa stood by the door, her face glum, her lips pressed into a tight line.

“Ms. Johnson!” A voice drifted through the open door. “Ms. Johnson?” The sound of light metal clashing against concrete was followed by Elise’s students, Kendall and Alex, bursting through the door.

“Where’s Ms. Johnson?” Kendall blurted, then sucked in a deep breath. Her hair clung to her cheeks in wet strands and water ran in rivulets down her jacket onto the tile entrance.

“She’s missing,” Paul answered, his tone as flat as his heart.

“Oh, no! We were afraid someone might hurt her.” Kendall pulled at Alex’s coat. “Give them the disk.”

Alex frowned and jerked away from Kendall’s hands. “Let me unzip my jacket, will ya?” He ripped the zipper down and a DVD fell to the floor.

“What’s this?” Paul grabbed the disk.

“It’s the disk that was in Ms. Johnson’s audio-visual equipment this morning. It had film clips from news reports of the Dakota Strangler on it. ”

“Why do you have it?” Paul carried it to the DVD player above the television and fed it into the machine.

Kendall’s cheeks reddened. “When Ms. Johnson passed out in her room, we got scared. We promised we wouldn’t let anyone else see the disk, so we took it.”

“Then the bright one here,” Alex jerked his thumb toward Kendall, “decided we should see if we could come up with some clues as to who put it there.”

“We just know it had something to do with the writing on the wall in Ms. Johnson’s house, so we spent the day asking around?—”

Alex rolled his eyes. “Ditching class, you mean.”

“I wanted to find out if anyone saw someone coming in or out of Ms. Johnson’s room. I couldn’t go to class, knowing someone wanted to scare her like that. Heck, I was scared, too.”

“And did you?” Melissa asked. “Find anyone who saw something?”

Kendall’s face brightened. “Yeah, we sure did.” She grinned at Alex. “Thanks to Alex, who can speak fluent Spanish.”

Alex shrugged, his cheeks turning a ruddy red. “No problem.”

“There’s a cafeteria worker who doesn’t speak English very well,” Kendall said. “Anyway, she confessed to letting a man in the cafeteria door early this morning and also two days ago.”

Paul grabbed Alex by the arms, past his level of endurance. Past the need for patience. “Did she give a description of the man?”

“Not much of one. Brown hair, brown eyes, so high.” Alex raised his hand to somewhere between Melissa’s and Paul’s height. “Could be anyone.”

Kendall nudged Alex. “Oh, but when Alex asked her why she let him in when it was against the rules, she got all shaky. We had to promise we wouldn’t tell anyone before she’d tell us why.” Kendall frowned. “I guess we’re gonna have to break that promise.”

Alex picked up where Kendall stopped. “She said the man threatened her. He said he’d fixed her background check and could unfix it if she didn’t help him.”

Kendall looked to Alex. “We weren’t sure what that meant, but anything could be important in a case, right? Even the smallest detail?” She gave Paul a weak smile.

Paul’s glance clashed with Melissa's. “What does Cain drive?”

Melissa frowned. “He bought a black SUV about the same time as I bought my truck.”

His chest tightened. “A witness saw a black SUV leaving the scene of the second murder. It all makes sense now.” Paul’s eyes squeezed shut. “This isn’t about Elise at all. It’s about me. Why didn’t I see it?”

“Who would have thought someone on our own team would be behind this? We’re supposed to be the good guys.” Melissa snorted. “I knew there was a reason I didn’t like that guy. ”

Paul pulled his thoughts together. “Have Brian run the GPS tracker on Cain’s cell phone.”

Thank goodness each of their department cell phones was equipped with the ability to track them via the global positioning system.

He didn’t know where Elise had gone or how long it would take to find her.

But he did know Cain wouldn’t hesitate to kill again.

Why hadn’t he heeded the warning signs? Why hadn’t he put a tail on Cain when he first suspected something fishy?

Melissa placed a hand over his forearm, the other holding her cell phone to her ear. “You can’t blame yourself.”

Paul’s back teeth ground together. He sure as hell could. “Tell Brian to hurry.”

When Elise reached the bridge spanning the Guadalupe River, she slowed, scanning the bridge for Luke and his captor.

“Where is he, Mom? Where’s Luke?” Brandon’s breath warmed her shoulder.