Page 18 of The Devoted Game

He’d found the kid. It was time to go.

“There you are.”

Ryan looked from the hot-pink boots to the smiling agent. “What’s up, Schaffer?”

“Everyone’s been a little busy.” She glanced over at where Worth was still chewing out Grace. “I just wanted to make sure someone mentioned what a good job you did here today.”

“Thanks, Schaffer.” He tried to work up the enthusiasm for a smile, but it didn’t happen.

She gave him a thumbs-up and headed back into the fray.

A good job. Yeah, right. One of the actors fromCSIcould have figured out this one.

The idea that there was something way, way off with this whole Devoted Fan scenario tugged at him. The clues for finding the kid had been a freaking joke. He’d expected someone to jump out of the bushes any second with a camera and the punch line from some new twisted reality show.

Fake ... not real. That was how it felt, even now.

But the missing child had been real. The possibility of her being sealed off from life-giving oxygen and dying had been real. If she had awakened and made sounds, someone might have been able to hear her if they happened to walk into the mausoleum. But not with that door locked. And she’d been heavily sedated, so the risk to her life had definitely been valid.

Why kidnap a child from a wealthy family, secure her in a public place with all the risks to exposure involved, then give her back with scarcely a contest? Why no ransom? If playing the game got this guy off, why not make it more challenging? Draw it out?

Your Devoted Fan.Didn’t add up. Except for the rat with Quinn’s name on it.

If Ryan was smart, he’d forget the whole damned thing.

“You ready to make a run for it?”

He glanced up as Grace approached. Even in the meager light that reached this far, she looked as exhausted as he felt.

“Past ready.” He tamped out his cigarette on the step and stuffed the butt into his pocket as he stood up. “You have a plan?”

The circus act around the gate had barely parted to allow the ambulance passage. Birmingham PD was having a hell of a time keeping the media behind the temporary barricade. Going out that way was the express lane for making front-page news. If anyone recognized him orif one of Grace’s colleagues leaked his participation, it would be three years ago all over again.

No, thanks.

Grace pushed a smile into place that he couldn’t say looked genuine, but the opportunity to watch those lips in action made him glad she did.

“There’s a car waiting for us on Seventeenth. We’re going over the wall behind the caretaker’s cottage.”

“Over the wall?”

“This way,” she said, heading into the darkness without further explanation.

Following her wouldn’t really be a chore, but he figured if he wanted that ride out of here, he’d better keep that comment to himself. So he fell into step with her without any more questions. She led the way across the dark cemetery, rarely bothering with the flashlight.

“Looks like you know your way around this place,” he said just to break the silence. He wasn’t big on conversation himself, but this was a little too quiet. He was used to all the noise on the beach outside his windows.

“I came here a lot as a kid,” she said as they passed the caretaker’s cottage. “I used to lie on the graves and pretend I was dead.” She went mute, as if she’d just realized that she had actually made the statement out loud.

“I guess that makes me a little strange,” she noted, her tone a degree or two chillier.

“No, Grace, that makes youa lotstrange.” His lips twitched with a smile, something they didn’t do often. “But a lot of people are strange, so I wouldn’t worry about it.”

Ryan’s mind conjured the image of Grace as a child skipping around the bleak headstones. Certainly didn’t fit with the uptight federal agent she had grown into.

At Seventeenth Street, they made their way across the lowest point in the brick wall to a waiting taxi.

“The paparazzi won’t be expecting a member of the investigating team to load into a taxi,” she explained as he opened the door.