Page 66 of Secrets Beneath the Waves (Beach Read Thrillers #2)

CHAPTER

TWENTY

Dante checked the rearview mirror before hitting the brakes and easing the car onto the shoulder of the road. According to the little dot on his screen, Jules’ phone and, please God , possibly Jules herself, should be right around here.

After making sure no traffic was coming up behind him, he shoved open the car door and climbed out. Dusk was falling rapidly. Already stars were beginning to poke through the cloud cover to glitter golden against the indigo sky.

He strode around to the front of the car and started along the shoulder.

He’d only walked a few yards when he spotted it lying on the gravel a few feet ahead.

His heart sank. Obviously, their suspect had tossed it out the window, just far enough to hit the dirt and not get lost in the grass.

No doubt he had hoped someone would stop and pick it up.

Valuable PD time and resources would have been wasted as officers chased after that false lead, thinking they were following him and his prisoner.

At least he could spare his colleagues—and Jules—that. He tugged on gloves and tossed the device into a plastic bag.

Why had none of the tech guys called him? How long did it take to run a sketch through facial recognition anyway? Maybe he had missed the call. He started to reach for the phone in his shirt pocket just as it vibrated. Dante snatched it free and hit the button to light up the screen.

The message was terse. Not surprising, as the lab techs weren’t known for being overly sociable.

Richard Morin. Outstanding warrants in Ontario and Nova Scotia. NSOR since 2014. Linked to three addresses.

The tech listed all three with a note next to each. The first was Morin’s last known primary address. The second was a home owned by an acquaintance Morin was known to interact with. Third was the place where he had grown up, although the deed was in the name of a cousin.

No more information was forthcoming. All right then. NSOR. Not surprising that Morin was listed on the National Sex Offender Registry, although seeing it in black and white made the protein bar Dante had grabbed thirty minutes ago lurch around in his stomach.

He sent back a quick thanks, along with a request to send a minimum of two squad cars and an ambulance to each address. Now he had to figure out which one was Morin’s most likely destination, so he knew where to head himself.

He contemplated the addresses. All sounded rural. One was definitely located in the country. Wilson Sideroad. That name rang a bell in Dante’s mind, although he wasn’t sure why. Was that a sign from God that he should go there? Make it clear, please.

Since he was technically the one who had gotten Jules into this mess, he needed to be the one to show up, to help free her. Not to mention that he had far more to lose than any other officer on the scene. He’d gladly sacrifice his own life if it meant Jules would be safe.

He closed his eyes briefly, sent up a fervent plea for guidance and courage.

Then, with the Wilson Sideroad address—Morin’s childhood home—still calling to him, he jumped in his car and squealed onto the road, flipping on the lights and siren so he could accelerate well past the speed limit.

When he got close to the property he’d shut down both, but for now he was thankful for the clear path they provided.

In fourteen minutes, he had turned onto Wilson.

Given that there was little traffic in the stillness of the countryside, he’d silenced the siren a few minutes earlier, and he flicked off the lights now.

If Morin was on this property, Dante wanted to retain the element of surprise as long as possible.

He slowed as he approached the laneway, passing by the house before pulling onto the side of the road.

No other units appeared to have arrived yet, which suited Dante.

He made the trek by foot up the long, treed drive, thankful for the gathering darkness and the jeans and long-sleeved black T-shirt he wore that allowed him to blend into the shadows.

The stretch from the last tree to the side of the house was a dark slough he picked his way across cautiously before slamming a shoulder against the side of the house.

A silver SUV was parked in front of the garage.

Someone was here. Was it their guy? Dante waited a moment, listening for any movement or sign that his presence had been detected.

Would an old place like this have security cameras?

With Jules possibly holed up inside with a murderer, Dante wasn’t about to take the time to look.

He did a quick perimeter check, peering into every window.

Several of the rooms were too dark to see inside, although with one near the rear corner and a second one around the back fitted with metal bars, Dante’s heart rate picked up.

This had to be the place. Was that the room where Morin was holding Jules?

Until he knew for sure where the perp was in the house, Dante couldn’t do anything to try and get her attention.

He continued his sweep of the place. Not until he had come nearly around the entire building did he peer through the bottom corner of a window to spot a tall, white guy limp to the stove and pick up a wooden spoon to stir something in a pot.

Why was he limping? Had Jules done something to him? Dante wouldn’t put it past her.

When the guy set a tomato on a cutting board and reached for a knife, Dante caught a glimpse of his face. Definitely Morin. Startlingly close to how Jules had described him. A flash of pride shot through him before Dante shut it down.

No emotions. Only focus. A light crunching of boots on gravel suggested his backup had arrived. Dante tore his gaze from the perpetrator to go fill in his colleagues on what was happening.

When he returned to the kitchen window—his fellow officers splitting up to cover the front and back entrances—Morin was gone. The pot had overturned on the stove and some kind of red sauce dripped down the front of it, pooling on the floor below.

Dante’s muscles tensed. What had happened? Had Jules made a noise or done something to attract the man’s attention?

If so, and given how much whatever had happened had startled him, they needed to get inside fast before he took out his wrath on Jules and there was nothing they could do to stop him.