Page 53 of Stormswept Colorado (Hart County #3)

FORTY-FIVE

Teller

Half an hour after I’d discovered Ayla was missing, I sat in a conference room at Silver Ridge PD with a hum of activity around me.

I could not afford to let myself fall apart.

Personnel had flooded the station. We had two murder investigations underway, that of Seth Duncan and Paul Ruxton. A kidnapped woman who happened to be a world-famous celebrity. A manhunt for the suspect, Finn, one of our own dispatchers. Someone who knew our procedures well.

And no leads.

I’d found Ayla’s cell phone discarded on my driveway. Finn’s appeared to be off. No way to track them using cell towers.

Ayla, I’m so sorry . I dug my fingers into my hair, yanking at the short strands. I swear I’m going to find you .

I’d been on and off the phone almost constantly.

Calling in every officer from every nearby department.

State authorities. The DA. Some of my reinforcements had arrived, while others were speeding toward Silver Ridge.

Several people were already tacking up all the info we had onto a board here in the conference room.

I stared at each piece of evidence, yet none of it gave me the answer I needed .

We’d already run a trace on Officer Duncan’s department vehicle. The GPS tracker had been disabled. I had no idea where Finn Mackie—Jarod Carpenter—had taken Ayla. They couldn’t have gotten very far yet. But Hart County was a big place.

Where would he take her? Where would he hide?

Finn had to know he’d be the top suspect in the murders and the kidnapping. What did he have planned for Ayla? What would he do to her?

When I thought of him hurting her, it was like being flayed alive. Like someone was tearing the skin from my body.

I had to get my shit together. Falling apart wasn’t going to bring Ayla home.

My personal phone rang, and I glanced at the screen. Ashford O’Neal. Piper and Ollie had gone over to his place, and I’d already confirmed they were secure. He had to be calling about Ayla.

I was surprised he, Callum, and Dane hadn’t stormed the station by now demanding to know what was happening. We hadn’t made any public statements about Finn Mackie’s one-man crime wave or Ayla going missing. But this was Silver Ridge. Word would spread fast that shit was going down.

I had to let Ashford’s call go to voicemail. I would check it in a moment, just to see if he had anything important. But otherwise, there was nothing he could do. If I’d needed somebody’s ass kicked, Ashford could’ve handled it with his martial arts skills. But this was a police operation.

When I spoke to Ashford next, it would be to tell him Ayla was safe.

Then Susan tapped on my shoulder. I hadn’t even noticed she had entered the conference room. “Chief, Sheriff Douglas just arrived, along with some friends of his. River Kwon and Aiden Shelborne?”

“Take them to my office. I’ll be right there.”

After a few more words to the people in the conference room, I strode to my office. Three large men waited inside.

“Chief Landry.” Sheriff Owen Douglas wore his signature cowboy hat. He held out his hand. “I’m so sorry. River and Aiden filled me in.” They stood behind the sheriff, nodding at me in sympathy.

“Owen’s deputized us,” River said. “I usually love when that happens, but these are not the kind of circumstances I would call fun.”

“Riv, please shut your yap for once,” Aiden muttered.

The sheriff ignored them. “Deputy Keira Marsh was already keeping me posted on the break-in at your sister’s. Is it true you suspect the same guy of kidnapping Ayla? One of your dispatchers, the same guy River was investigating for you?”

I quickly updated them on everything else we knew. It sounded worse the more I repeated it. Finding Seth Duncan’s body. Then the horrifying shrine to Ayla in Finn’s closet, along with the photos of the vandalism scenes.

The red flowers had been the link all along. Though I still couldn’t begin to fathom Finn’s motivations for everything he’d done.

All this time, Ayla’s true stalker had been here. Working in my building. A man I’d taken under my wing. Sharing laughs, coffee breaks…

“He’s taken Ayla somewhere,” I said. “Finn has no family in Hart County. He was driving Officer Duncan’s vehicle, not his own. He’ll know we’ve put out an APB and that state patrol will be looking for him. So he must’ve holed up somewhere.”

Sheriff Douglas nodded. “Just tell us what we can do.”

Having the sheriff and the guys from Hartley here reminded me of all the assets I had at my disposal.

Ayla, sweetheart, I’m coming for you .

“I need your eyes,” I said.

I took them to the conference room. We went over the evidence yet again. Step by step. There had to be some clue. Some small hint of where Finn would go.

But it was Officer Susan Nichols who gasped, finally making the connection we needed.

“Chief. I have an idea. You remember Donna Zanetti? The young mom whose husband was out of town, and the vandal struck her place about a month ago.”

“Of course.” I thought of sitting with Donna and her baby at their kitchen table. “That was the first time he’d broken into the home instead of just vandalizing the outside.”

Finn had done that. It was still a shock to imagine.

The break-in at Donna’s had been just a couple of weeks after Emma and Ashford’s wedding weekend. Had Finn heard the rumors about me and Ayla? Had he been jealous, and that was why he’d escalated? But why strike out at an innocent woman like Donna?

“Well, I spoke to Donna last week,” Susan said.

“I was checking in on her, making sure she was doing okay. She said she’d been having trouble sleeping, and her family was going away for a while.

They took off over the weekend. Finn could’ve heard about that.

He might be drawn back there. We know suspects are often compelled to return to the scenes of previous crimes. ”

“Seems worth a check,” Sheriff Douglas said. River nodded along.

“I agree.” Then I remembered a certain feature of Donna’s home. I’d seen it when I was there after the vandalism.

An unfinished basement. A cellar, really. Not uncommon around here.

But Ayla’s home in New York had one too, when she’d lived next door to the Carpenters. Maybe… Could that have reminded Finn of his former home, when Ayla was his neighbor?

“That’s it. Susan, you’re a damn miracle.”

“I am?”

I jumped up, heading for the door. “I need as many people as we can mobilize in the next five minutes.”