“What’s up, Davis?” His old pal Ed Sheffield walked up the path toward him. With his overcoat hunched around his shoulders and billowing out from his sides, his silhouette looked as if he was wearing some kind of cape. The glare of the lights sparkled in the gray threading his hair, and his mustache was covered with frost.
“Have they shoveled out the body?” Ty craned his neck to see. Impossible from this angle.
“Don’t know. The coroner just went down into the pool.”
Ty stepped forward, and Ed angled his body slightly to block his path.
Ty nodded toward the pool. “Oh, come on, Ed. You don’t really mind if I take a look?”
“You know how it works, Ty.”
“I found the damn body. My footprints are already all over the place.”
“And that’s a reason I should let you trample the scene a little more?”
“I won’t trample anything. The body was under a load of snow. There aren’t going to be any tracks that mean anything. Besides, I’m a cop, remember?”
“Then you should understand.”
Ty glanced to the other side of the house. Trevor stood near the far corner, staring out at the lake. Just his luck to have approached from Ed’s side. He could probably get past the younger cop.
His breath billowed in front of him and then whipped away in the wind curling and swirling around the corner of the house. Damn, it was cold. “You really going to make me stand here and wait until Leo or Jess decide to amble this way?”
“Life’s a bitch sometimes.”
“You’re a cruel man.”
Ed nodded, as if he was a bit proud of that fact.
Ty let out a dramatic sigh. “I guess I should aim to be more like you, shouldn’t I?”
Ed gave him a suspicious look.
“And with that in mind, on my very next shift, I’ll rededicate myself to stopping speeders on Massing Road. One mile an hour over, and they get a ticket. Wait, that’s in your neighborhood, isn’t it, Ed?” Ty let his words sink in. Ed’s teenage son had a talent for collecting speeding tickets even though most patrol cops in Lake Hubbard tried to take it easy on the kid. It was an unfair threat, maybe even cruel, like Ty promised. But he would bet the thought of driving the kid around after his license was revoked wouldn’t make Ed’s night.
Ed rubbed his mustache. “If anyone asks, it was Trevor who let you through.”
Ty grinned. “Thanks, man. And tell your kid to slow down anyway.”
Ed nodded. “I’ll tell him you’re a manipulative SOB.”
Ty tried to laugh, but it wouldn’t come. Megan would probably agree with that statement about now.
Ty slipped past Ed and traced the path he and Megan had walked when they’d first arrived, when they’d been looking for a live woman, not a dead one. He could still feel Megan’s very live body snugged into his, leaning against him. It was simple, he knew, but the way he felt whenever she let him hold her or when she leaned on him…as if he was strong enough to take on anything.
There was no better feeling in the world.
It seemed so long ago since he’d experienced that high, even though only barely over an hour had passed since they’d found the body.
An hour which had changed everything.
He pulled a frigid breath into his lungs. At least they knew Connor was with Doug. That he had never been in danger. That alone was enough for him to hold on to. The rest…he would just have to hope Megan would see reason once she realized he hadn’t meant any harm.
But he wouldn’t bet on it.
Leo looked up as he approached. The bright lights glared down on him. The wind had really picked up on this side of the house and its chill showed in Leo’s face, his cheeks a dark shade of pink that looked like sunburn. “Davis? What are you doing here?”
“How is everything going?” He tried to make his voice sound casual, but he wasn’t sure he’d succeeded.
“Not well.” Leo exchanged looks with Sergeant Jessica Taylor.
She stepped out, as if to bar Ty’s way. “Where is Megan Garvey?”
“She’s back by the cars.”
“You need to go back by the cars, too.” She glanced back toward the pool.
“So let me get a look at what’s going on, and I will.” They’d found something. Something Leo and Jess were nervous about letting him see. “I’m going to find out sooner or later.”
The sergeant glanced back at Leo.
He nodded his blond head. “He’s right. Might as well let him see for himself.”
Sergeant Taylor moved to the side, making room for him to step to the pool’s edge.
For a moment, he couldn’t see anything, the lights were so bright. As his eyes adjusted, he focused on the body deep in the pool, lying at the deputy coroner’s feet.
He expected to see blond hair. Too much eyeliner. The face of the woman who’d called herself the Giftinator. But it wasn’t Samantha Vickery. It wasn’t a woman at all. The body at the bottom of the pool was a man. And his face…
The ground tilted and started to spin under Ty’s feet as he looked into the frozen eyes of Doug Burke.
Chapter Sixteen
Ty blinked. The bright light must be playing tricks on him. Yet he knew what he was seeing was real. Doug. Dead.
And if Megan’s ex-husband was here, where was Connor?
Ty looked over at Leo. “You said you talked to Doug last night. That you saw him.”
“I did. And yes, he was very much alive then.”
Ty sifted the facts through his mind. The body was totally covered with snow when he and Megan discovered it. That meant Doug had to be dead before the brunt of the storm hit Lake Hubbard. That didn’t give Leo much time to check up on him before he was killed. “When exactly did you see him?”
Leo waved the question away. “We don’t have time to discuss this, Ty. Where is Megan Garvey?”
An uneasy feeling pinched the back of Ty’s neck. “She’s back by the cars.”
Leo shook his head. “I just talked to Trevor. She’s not there.”
“Not there? Impossible. Where would she have gone?”
“You tell me. We need to talk to her. Now.”
He didn’t know. But he was damn well going to find her. But not so Leo could interrogate her. Doug being dead changed everything. It meant Connor was still out there. Still in danger. It meant they had to figure out what they were going to do about that and fast, before the kidnapper called. “Leave finding Megan to me. What are you going to do about Connor?”
Leo looked stunned, as if he hadn’t yet put together the fact that if Doug was here, he couldn’t have Connor any longer. He glanced at Sergeant Taylor. “We need to begin a search.”
“Where do we start?”
“The hotel. Here. Call the county, ask them to bring in dogs. It’s damn cold out here for a kid. Go, go, go.”
Sergeant Taylor raced up the path toward Ed, already barking orders.
“Ty?” Leo said.
Ty stopped midstride and turned around.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but we need to get to the bottom of it.” He glanced from Ty to the body then back again, as if not sure where to focus, his normally intense glare scattered.
It was the first time Ty had ever seen Leo look shaken.
Ty raced back around the house, past Taylor, Ed and Trevor, getting into their cars. He scanned the area where he’d last seen Megan. Nothing but cold and snow and wind.
Where the hell did she go?
The call. Maybe the kidnapper had already called. But if he had, wouldn’t she have told him about it? Even if she still thought the kidnapper was Doug, wouldn’t she at least ask for a ride back to his house to pick up her car? Or had he damaged her trust so badly, she wouldn’t accept his help even in this?
It didn’t matter. None of it did. Whether she wanted his help or not, she would get it. And if she hated him for it in the end, then that was just the way it was.
But f
irst, he had to find her.
He opened his car door and had the engine started almost the moment he slid behind the wheel. He shifted into gear and hit the accelerator. The car skidding on ice and snow, he powered out of the driveway and onto the road.
Where would she go? To his house? Downtown? Downtown was closer, just on the other side of the inlet. But how far could she get without a car?
He reached a branch in the road and took the street that led around the finger of lake and toward downtown. He’d just rounded a curve when he spotted her red hair in his headlight beam.
He’d found her. Thank God. He swung to the curb alongside her and exhaled a breath. Now he just had to figure out how to break the news.
MEGAN HEARD THE SOUND OF A CAR pulling to the curb, and without even looking, she knew it was Ty.
“Megan,” he called.
She spared him a glance but kept walking. She still had blocks to go, and time was ticking away too quickly. She couldn’t afford to slow down. “What is it?”
Driver’s door open, he propped himself half out of his seat and shouted to her over the windshield. “You’ve got to get in the car.”
“I can’t.”
“Listen to me, Megan. Everything has changed. Leo needs to talk to you. We need to figure out what to do next.”
“I know what I’m doing next. I’m going to get my son. As soon as he’s safe in my arms, I’ll listen to whatever you and anyone else has to say.”
“You’re going to get Connor?”
She hadn’t wanted to tell him. She knew he was going to insist on coming with her. The closer she got to Barisi Park, the less strong and more unsure she felt. But even so, she wasn’t certain having Ty around would do anything more than add confusion to the list. “This is between me and Doug. I’m handling it alone.”
“Doug?”
She didn’t know if Ty was just trying to be difficult, or if the wind had grown so loud he was having trouble hearing. But either way, she didn’t have time for this. “He called. I’m meeting him. I’m getting Connor back. I don’t need you, Ty.”
“Megan, get in.”
She shook her head and kept walking. “I’m handling this. I don’t need your help. I don’t want it.”
“Doug is dead, Meg.”
She couldn’t have heard him right. She stopped and stared at the car. “What?”
“The body in the pool. It wasn’t Samantha Vickery. It was Doug.”
Her mind stuttered. Doug? Dead? How was that possible? “I just talked to him. He has Connor. What are you saying?”
“He’s dead, Meg.”
Her vision spun. She was going to be sick. She was going to lose her balance and topple headlong into the snow. “The lieutenant said…”
“Doug must have been killed after he talked to Leo.”
She shook her head. “The body we found was totally covered with snow. How is that possible?”
“I don’t know.” Judging from the lines in his forehead, he was troubled by the timing and coincidence of it all as much as she was. “You said you talked to Doug?”
“He called. Only it wasn’t Doug, was it? It was a real kidnapper. And I told him…” The memory of how forceful and demanding she’d been lurched through her mind. She’d demanded he meet her now, here in Lake Hubbard. She insisted on ten minutes more so she’d have time to walk to the park. All that, and here she didn’t even have the files he wanted.
“What did you tell him?”
She filled him in on her brazen responses.
A smile of surprise and even admiration curled the corners of Ty’s lips. “When are you supposed to meet him?”
Time. They were running out of time. She looked at her watch. “Oh my God. I have to be there in five minutes.”
“Get in the car.”
She shook her head. “He said to come alone.”
“Get in the car. I’ll drive you part of the way. It’s the only way you’re going to make it.”
She reached for the door handle before she could re-think her decision. Now that she knew she wasn’t dealing with Doug, she hadn’t a clue what to do next. She yanked the door open and jumped into the seat. Strapping her seat belt on, she slammed the door and twisted to face him. “I’m supposed to meet him at the Lake Street entrance of Barisi Park.”
Ty pulled away from the curb.
“He said to come alone.”
“You’re not going to be able to do that. He’s killed two people we know of. Maybe Samantha Vickery, too. And you don’t have the files. He’s not going to let you or Connor walk out of that park.”
As he said the words, she knew they were true. “So what do I do? He has my baby.” She choked back a sob. She didn’t have time for emotion now. She had to think. They had to figure out a way to get Connor back unhurt.
“You have the flash drive?”
She patted the small bulge in her pocket, even though she knew it was there. “Yes.”
“You’re going to have to pretend it holds the files. Can you do that?”
“Yes.” She could. She had to. “What if he checks?”
“We hope I can get you and Connor out of there before he does.”
“Seems like a long shot. Seems like he won’t let me have Connor until he checks. I wouldn’t if I were him.”
“That’s why I’m calling for help.”
A tremor seized her stomach. “The police?”
“It’s the only way, Megan. It would be better if we had time to get into place, call for the county SWAT team. But this will have to do. At least they’ll be armed. We can even our odds a bit.”
“What if Connor gets shot?”
“Like you said, he’ll probably check the flash drive before he gives you Connor, that is, if he intends to give you Connor at all.”
“You don’t think he’ll have Connor in the park?”
“I wouldn’t.” He pressed his lips into a line.
“So how do we find out where he is?”
“I don’t know. We’ll figure something out. Play along with him as long as you can. And if he wants you to do anything or turn over the flash drive, insist on seeing Connor first.”
He swung to the curb and stopped the car. “I’d better let you out here. You can walk the rest of the way.”
“And you?”
“I’ll call it in. And I’ll be with you in the park.”
“But he said—”
“He won’t see me.” He grasped her arm, pulled her close and kissed her. The kiss wasn’t tender or sexy, but desperate. A promise. “I love you, Megan. I won’t let anything happen to you or to Connor. We’ll get him back. Just act as if you’re totally alone, just the way he wanted. I’ll do the rest.”
She nodded and brought her fingers to her lips, trying to catch her breath, trying to grasp the jumble of emotions turning her inside out.
She’d play along. She’d let Ty take care of the rest. There was no one she trusted as much.
Chapter Seventeen
Even though she was fully clothed and wrapped to the gills in a black wool coat and thick scarf, Samantha Vickery looked just like the picture on Derek Ernst’s computer. Megan marched up to the woman who had been in on Connor’s kidnapping from the beginning. The only thing keeping her from punching the blonde in the face was the pistol clutched in her black-gloved hand.
She smiled and pushed her hair back over one shoulder with her non-gun-holding hand. “You’ve brought the security files?”
Megan nodded, not trusting her voice to function.
“Then walk. That way.” She gestured down the sidewalk with her gun.
Megan glanced into the park. Moonlight glowed off the kids’ sledding hill. Snow lay thick on the play structure, making it look more like an igloo than slides and bridges. Swings moved in the wind, the creak of the chains eerie in the cold night. She didn’t know if Ty was in there or not. But she hoped that wherever he was, he noticed them moving. And she hoped the woman was taking her to Co
nnor.
They walked along a row of arborvitae, blocking the view of the park. More than once, Megan thought she heard the rustle of movement on the other side of the narrow yet dense evergreens. The crunch of a footstep in snow. The whisper of breath over the wind. Christmas lights sparkled from the storefronts ahead and along the back fence of Harris House. They crossed the street, leaving the park behind, and circled into the alley behind the shops.
There were no evergreens to hide behind here. No place to watch unseen, not unless Ty scaled the wrough iron fence. And still she didn’t see a single sign of him. Had she walked to meet the Vickery woman too quickly? Had she failed to give Ty enough time to park his car, call the police and get into place? Had they left him behind?
The woman’s footsteps slowed. “Stop. In here.” A hand closed around Megan’s arm and shoved her past a Dumpster and toward the back door of one of the shops.
Megan stumbled up the steps. Bracing her hands on the door, she looked up at the writing below the peephole expecting to see the Radiant Diamonds logo. At first her mind wouldn’t absorb the word that was there.
Julianne’s.
“You have the code. Get us in the door.”
This had to be some kind of mistake. Samantha Vickery must have gotten her signals crossed.
“You heard me.”
“You want me to break into a sex shop?”
“You know the codes, right? He said you would know the codes.”
“He said? Who?”
“Just do it.”
Megan scrambled for an answer. “I don’t have the codes memorized. They’re on a flash drive. I need a computer to read them.”
“There’s a computer inside. Open the door.”
“I can’t.”
“Then your son dies. How about that?”
Judging from the hard look on the woman’s face, she would be willing to carry out her threat herself.
Megan tamped down the panic bubbling deep inside. She stared at the door. There had to be some way to get in, didn’t there? It was an old building. And if she remembered correctly, the system Keating had installed was very simple. She had to think. She had to figure out a way.
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