by Cynthia Eden
I know she has nightmares, too.
“I want you to recover. Hell, I’m not letting Emma Castille work this case, either. I gave strict instructions for her to recover, too, and keeping her from joining us here at the station was damn hard.”
Emma . . . Emma was Dean’s new fiancée and a woman with an uncanny ability to read others. She picked up on the smallest of tells. Emma could read body language like no one Victoria had ever encountered before . . . but, like Victoria, she’d also just gotten out of the hospital.
Only Emma hadn’t just been sliced with a knife. She’d been shot.
“I want you both to recover.” Gabe gave a hard nod. “And we don’t have a body, Viki. We can find this girl, alive. If she’s just gone missing, then the odds can finally be in our favor.”
And Viki didn’t help with the living. Only the dead.
“I’ll get your plane ticket,” Gabe told her. His gaze softened as he studied her. “I can have you out of the Big Easy in hours.”
One of the detectives called his name and Gabe stepped away from her. Victoria stared after him. He was right, though. The team didn’t need her. They didn’t have a body.
Just find the girl alive.
Chapter 5
IT WAS ONLY NOON, BUT BOURBON STREET WAS ALready packed with people. Men and women walked down the street, their hands wrapped around their drinks. Mimosas. Hurricanes. The folks out there were all laughing and talking.
Many of the bars were open, but Voodoo Night . . . its doors were shut.
Sarah leaned forward, nearly pressing her nose to the glass as she tried to look inside the bar. But she didn’t see anyone in there. The chairs had been placed on top of the tables and the interior was dim.
“It’s called Voodoo Night for a reason,” Jax murmured. “The place doesn’t get going until the sun sets.”
And he’d known that—but still brought her there? “I don’t have time to waste,” Sarah said. Didn’t he understand? Every moment, Molly was in danger. The man holding her had taunted Sarah, saying that she had to come and find the other woman. But what if Sarah didn’t find her in time? Adrenaline pumped through her blood as she whirled from that building. “I need to get the addresses of the folks who work here. I can go to their houses and talk to them. Maybe one of them remembers seeing Molly leave last night.”
Sighing, Jax stepped into her path. “Have a little faith in me, would you?” Then he walked around to the back of the building. Sarah hurried to keep up with his fast steps. When they got to the back of the bar—a place that smelled of piss and alcohol—the door there was shut, too, but Jax slammed his fist against that door. Once, twice, three times—
And the door opened.
“What the fuck?” an angry bald man snarled. “We’re closed, asshole. Closed until sunset—” The guy broke off, swallowed, and squeaked out, “Jax?”
Jax smiled. “Figured you’d be here, Ron. I knew you kept your place in the back.”
Ron lifted his hands. “I don’t want any trouble.”
Everyone seemed to expect trouble from Jax. That couldn’t be good. Sarah glanced at Jax from the corner of her eye. His features were set, almost grim, and she realized then—yes, he looks like he’s here to kick ass.
“I’m looking for a girl,” Jax told him.
Ron’s eyes darted toward Sarah. “Why? You’ve got a pretty one right here.” He flashed a nervous smile at Sarah. “Hey there, sweet thing.”
Jax moved, putting his body in front of Sarah’s. “Molly Guthrie,” Jax enunciated slowly. “The girl you’ve got washing dishes here at night. I need to find her.”
Sarah craned so that she could see around Jax.
Ron backed up a step. “Little M? She’s not here. Haven’t seen her since her shift ended last night.” He was sweating a bit. “Go try her house. Or the college. She’s got day classes. Go look there.”
But Jax shook his head. “I want to come in the bar, Ron.”
“Wh-Why?”
“Because Molly is missing. You said she was here last night—”
“She left around four! I swear!”
“But Ron, you and I both know . . . you can get a little . . . rough sometimes.” And an even darker note had entered Jax’s voice.
Sarah moved a few steps forward and glanced between the two men. The air seemed to vibrate with tension.
“I told you what would happen,” Jax continued, and she saw that his hands had fisted, “if I heard that you hurt another lady.”
“I didn’t hurt her, I swear!” Ron said. He was sweating buckets then. “I didn’t touch Molly!”
Sarah wished that she had her phone so she could show the guy that someone had hurt Molly. “When she left,” Sarah said, “was she by herself? Was she taking a cab? A—”
Ron snapped his fingers together. “Her brother!” He beamed at them. “That brother of hers . . . I heard her say that he was coming to meet her. Eddie always comes when she has the late shift.” His lips twisted. “Something about wanting to make sure she gets home safe.” He stroked his chin. “Her mom was murdered, by that sadistic fuck Murphy.”
Sarah kept her gaze on him.
“So the brother walks her home when she stays late. I know, the kid’s younger than Molly. The guy probably doesn’t intimidate any damn one, but he’s usually around, dogging her steps at night.”
Only her brother hadn’t been there to walk Molly home last night. Because he’d been in jail. He came to attack me, and got locked up . . . so Eddie wasn’t there to see Molly home safely.
And had that been just what the abductor wanted?
He told me where you’d be. Her breathing came faster. Maybe . . . maybe it had all been a diversion.
“Talk to the brother!” Ron said again, his voice growing stronger as he seemed to become more confident. “He knows everything about her.” He swiped his sweaty forehead. When his hand moved like that, Sarah saw the bruises on his knuckles. “If you ask me,” Ron muttered. “That creepy kid has too much interest in his sister, if you know what I mean.” His hand started to drop down.
But Jax caught Ron’s wrist. He’d obviously seen the bruises, too. “Been fighting, Ron?”
Ron tried to pull away. Jax wasn’t letting him go.
“Why won’t you let me in the bar?” Jax murmured.
Ron’s breath was panting out. “I-It’s closed!”
Jax shook his head. “I told you what would happen if I found out you’d hurt another girl . . .” His voice had turned absolutely arctic.
“Uh, Jax,” Sarah began.
“You should have listened,” Jax said. Then he shoved Ron back, hard enough to send the guy sprawling right onto his ass. Then Jax leapt forward, even as Sarah lunged after him.
But he was so fast. In an instant, he was crouched over Ron. His left hand had clenched around the guy’s shirt, and his right was a tight fist, a fist poised to drive into Ron’s face.
Sarah grabbed Jax’s arm. “Stop it!” she yelled at him. “You can’t do this!”
Pulling against him was like pulling against steel. There was absolutely no give in the man at all.
“I can do plenty,” Jax murmured. “And I will.”
“No!” Ron screamed.
And . . . the door to the right, the door marked private—flew open. A woman shot out, a woman with long red hair. A woman armed with a knife. She yelled and came right at Sarah.
But Jax pushed Sarah out of the way. He shot toward the woman and yanked the knife right out of her hand. The woman attacked him with her nails then. Hitting and punching and—
Ron was crawling for the door. He was trying to make a break for it while that woman did her best to claw into Jax.
Is that Molly? The woman’s red hair hid her face. She looked to be the right size, the right age . . .
She’s fighting so hard.
Only . . . Jax wasn’t fighting back. He was holding the woman, but not hurting her. He was talking, saying over and over, “It’s okay. He won�
��t hurt you. It’s okay.”
The redhead stilled. Her head lifted and Sarah saw her face. Not Molly. But . . . the woman had a black eye. Bruises were on her neck. Purple, blue marks that sure looked like fingerprints against her too pale skin.
Rage poured through Sarah’s body and she ran toward the door. She put her body there, blocking Ron before he could escape. “You’re not going anyplace! I’m getting the cops out here!” She yanked out her phone—a backup that Gabe had given her because the cops had confiscated Sarah’s original phone at the station—and she started calling 911—
“Stop!” It was the redhead’s desperate voice. “No cops! Don’t call them!” She wasn’t fighting Jax any longer. She just stood there, looking terrified.
Ron glared up at Sarah. “Bitch, you need to get out of my way.”
Sarah shook her head.
In a flash, Ron surged up toward her. His fist was clenched and—
Jax tackled him. They both hit the floor, hard, and Ron’s face smashed down into the tile. He howled when he made contact, and Sarah was pretty sure he’d broken something. Maybe even a couple of somethings.
She finished calling 911. She told them to send a patrol, to contact Detective Brent West, and to get there right away.
When she looked up again, Ron was swinging a fist at Jax. Jax dodged the blow and delivered a sharp right hook that connected with stunning impact. When Ron went down that time, he didn’t get up.
“Baby, no!” the redhead screamed. She ran toward Ron and cradled him in her arms. “Baby, baby, look at me!”
After a long moment, Ron’s eyes opened. He spat out some blood. “When . . . when the cops get here . . . tell ’em you like rough sex.”
The redhead flinched.
“Tell ’em . . .” Ron had blood on his chin. “Tell ’em you asked for it.”
Very slowly, the redhead nodded.
“You’re done in this town.” Jax’s voice was lethal. “Pack your bags and run. Because if you don’t . . .”
Fear flashed on Ron’s face.
Jax just smiled. “You know what will happen.” He straightened his shirt. Wiped dust off his pants. “This bar is mine. Everything you have is mine.” Then Jax looked at the redhead. “You want free of him, then you say it now. You aren’t the first one he’s hurt. Maybe he fed you some bull about you being special, but he’s lying. If you stay with him, he’ll just hurt you again.”
The redhead’s knuckles were white as she clung to Ron. “He . . . loves me.”
“No,” Sarah said, her voice soft and sad. “He doesn’t.”
The woman stared back down at her lover.
Sarah inched closer to Jax. His body was so tense. Fury was stamped on his face. And the way he was staring at Ron . . .
Jax looks as if he wants to kill the other man.
Ron grabbed a nearby table and heaved himself up. “C-Cops won’t hold me . . .”
Jax nodded. “Then you run.”
Ron’s eyes darted around the room, as if already seeking an escape.
“Run fast,” Jax said. “And run far.”
Sarah heard the sound of a police siren.
The redhead started to cry.
THEY WERE BACK at the police station. Only this time, Jax was being arrested.
“This is insane!” Sarah said for what had to be the tenth time. “Jax was defending me! You can’t lock him up!”
Detective West sighed. “Ma’am, we have procedures to follow. A witness accused Fontaine here of throwing the first punch, and with his history . . . that man isn’t going anyplace but to holding right now.”
She shook her head, frantic. “But I need him!”
And at her words, Jax’s head snapped up. He’d been standing about five feet away from her, talking with two uniformed cops. His face was grim, his eyes narrowed, but when he looked at her, a heat seemed to light his blue eyes.
Sarah sucked in a breath because that heat was scorching. “A woman is missing, and Jax knows this city. He can help us to find her!”
“Time is of the essence,” Wade said from beside Sarah. “We checked the woman’s house. She wasn’t there. None of her neighbors remembered seeing her, and she didn’t show up for classes today. That guy—he has her, and he’s hurting her, right now.”
Brent glanced over at Jax.
“My lawyer is already on the way,” Jax murmured. The guy didn’t seem to have a care in the world. It was like he wasn’t even standing there, cuffed, with cops all around him. “I’ll be out within the hour. But, Detective, by all means . . .” He inclined his head toward Brent. “Do lock me up until then.”
What? He wanted to be locked up?
“That guy is one crazy bastard,” Wade muttered.
Brent hesitated, but then he reached for Jax’s elbow. “Procedures,” he muttered. “Sorry.” And then he led Jax away.
“No!” Sarah cried out.
Jax glanced back at her. “Don’t worry, Sarah. I’ll be out before you know it.”
But Molly needed him. Sarah needed him.
And . . . she didn’t usually need anyone.
Then Jax was just . . . gone.
Sarah straightened her shoulders. Something was happening to her. Her control was splintering. It was this case. Eddie, Molly—the tie to her own past. She was remembering too much about her father and not focusing enough on this criminal. This man who’d abducted Molly. She needed to get into his head.
“We should talk to Eddie,” Wade said as he rubbed the back of his neck. His golden eyes glinted. “Gabe is already trying to get the guy to agree to a sit-down with us, but so far, the kid won’t say a word. His lawyer is stonewalling things. Maybe Gabe can use his influence with the captain here in order to make him talk.”
Sarah glanced over at the captain’s office. His door was shut. Gabe was in there with him. A real closed-door meeting. But with every moment that passed, the seriousness of the situation seemed to grow.
This was no prank. No ploy for attention. A woman had been abducted, and they needed to be searching the city for her.
“Dean is at the college campus, talking with Molly’s friends and following up leads there,” Wade said. “He’s got Emma with him. That woman refused to be benched and she’s riding shotgun with him. So if there’s any intel to find there, you can count on them.”
Yes, she could. “I need my phone back,” Sarah said.
Wade’s brows shot up.
“He contacted me before. He had my number. He’ll do it again.” Because it was a game to the perp. A game he wanted to play with her. “The cops should be done with the phone by now. I want it back.” Because when he called again, she’d be ready for him. She glanced up at Wade. “I know Gabe sent that picture back to our headquarters in Atlanta. Has the tech team found anything on it?” Because they had a guy on staff who was an absolute genius with his computers. He could enhance and enlarge photos, find the smallest specks of evidence in a picture that others had completely overlooked. Leo had a true gift at enhancements.
“No word from Leo yet.”
Everything was moving too slowly. She looked back over at the door that led to holding. Jax was gone. Ron was gone, too. Ron Tate. He’d been dragged off to interrogation.
The redhead was slumped in a nearby chair, crying.
She’s the one who said Jax threw the first punch. That woman’s claim was the reason Jax had just been locked up.
Sarah strode toward her.
“Uh, Sarah . . .” Wade began. He sounded nervous, unusual for him.
Sarah slapped her hands on the desk near the woman. The redhead jumped.
“You know Molly Guthrie,” Sarah said flatly.
The woman nodded.
“Sarah,” Wade hissed out her name.
“Someone took Molly. Tied her up, and sliced her with a knife.”
Fear filled the woman’s big, blue eyes. Ella Jane. That was the woman’s name. She’d heard Ron tell Ella Jane to wait for him.
&n
bsp; No, Ella Jane, you need to get the hell away from him.
“Uh, Sarah, I don’t think you’re supposed to be talking with her. Witness tampering and all that,” Wade said softly.
She almost rolled her eyes. Sometimes, Wade was such a cop. A rule follower. She’d learned early on that it paid to break rules. “Ella Jane here is going to tell the truth.”
Ella Jane hunched back into her chair.
“Because she knows just how powerful Jax is in this city.” It was something Sarah was learning. The whispers about him were true. “She knows that he can get searches organized right now—searches that the cops would never be able to conduct.” Searches that would lead into the city’s underworld. “And we can find Molly, before it’s too late.”
The bruises on Ella Jane’s neck were darkening even more.
But Ella Jane wasn’t speaking.
“Ron buys you something afterwards, doesn’t he?” Sarah asked as her gaze slid to the pretty rings that sparkled on Ella Jane’s fingers. “He’s so sorry, and he wants to make it up to you.” Classic.
“I . . . it was just rough sex.” Ella Jane’s voice was a monotone. Her eyes appeared dead. “I wanted it.”
“No, you didn’t.” Sarah leaned toward her. “Was Ron with you last night? Or did he slip away so he could see if Molly liked a bit of rough sex, too?”
“What?” Horror flashed on Ella Jane’s face. “No! H-He was with me. The whole time! I know because . . . he wouldn’t let me leave his sight.” She swallowed and glanced down at the rings on her fingers. “Not even for a second.”
That’s because he wants to control you. Ron, oh, yes, she understood him. Far too well. Her father would understand him, too. Her father would have taken Ron and— Sarah slammed the door shut on that thought. “Ella Jane . . .”
Ella glanced up at her.
“Ron is going to leave town the minute Jax gets out of this police station.” She’d seen the fear in his eyes when the guy looked at Jax. “He’s going to run, and he won’t look back.”
And there it was . . . the faintest flicker of hope in the other woman’s stare.
“If you want to be free of Ron, then you need to tell the truth. Because Jax can help you. He can—”