Love Inspired Suspense September 2015 #1

by Margaret Daley

  He nodded. Since Lydia had come back into his life, he’d done way too much thinking about his past.

  Lydia brushed back a wayward strand of hair caught in the brisk breeze. “My mother didn’t die. She left us, but I kept wondering for years what did I do to make her go away.”

  “And?”

  “Finally my dad sat me down and explained I didn’t do anything wrong. She hated Alaska. Didn’t want to be a wife and mother. For a while after that I was so angry with her for leaving. Then again Dad asked me why I was so angry. I told him, and he said to me as long as I hold on to the anger I’ll never be totally free to enjoy life. I needed to forgive my mother.”

  “Did you?”

  “Yes. I have no idea where she is, but our family never moved. If she wanted to get hold of Kate and me, she knows where we are. Are you angry at your parents for dying?”

  His arms slid away from her, and he stepped back. He wanted to say, no. But he couldn’t. “My mother went looking for my dad. Why didn’t she wait until the search was organized? She went out alone. She knew better.” He glanced to the colors in the sky morphing into a darker orange-red. “So, yes, I guess I have been. She left me with a neighbor and never looked back. That was the last time I saw her.”

  “You know we both dealt with loss at a young age. Yours was more life changing than mine, but I still feel like I can relate to what you went through.”

  She was right. Instead of pulling away from her, he should be drawing closer. She knew what he’d gone through. What was stopping him? He took a step toward her.

  The loud sound of a large jet flying over them disrupted the moment.

  He glanced around at the dusk beginning to settle over the area. “I guess life intrudes. We better head back. It’s getting dark.”

  She remained still, clasping his hand. “I know what you went through as a child. Remember that.” Then she gave him a peck on his cheek before starting for the parking lot.

  He called Brutus and hooked his leash, then trailed after Lydia, unable to forget her words just now and her dad’s advice about letting the anger go. He’d never told anyone he’d been mad at his mother for going out and looking for his dad alone. Lydia was entangling her life into his again, and the thought scared him.

  *

  Later that night another dream awakened Lydia, her face drenched in sweat. She knew what happened between Melinda and her boyfriend, Todd, at the bistro. She glanced at Kate sleeping and knew she wasn’t going back to sleep for a while. She pulled on some comfortable clothes and crept from the bedroom to seek whoever was on guard. She didn’t think she would forget the dream, but she didn’t want to take a chance.

  In the living room Jesse held a mug, probably with coffee in it, and peeked out the side of the blackout blinds. He looked toward her while Brutus remained asleep on the couch.

  She chuckled. “He must not be too concerned about me being up.”

  “He’s been working hard lately. Why are you up? Something wrong?”

  “No, but I remembered something from the bistro.”

  Jesse turned from the window and closed the space between them. “What?”

  “I remember the man Melinda was arguing with. It was for sure her boyfriend. They’d been dating for a month. She was at the end of the counter with him. When he stormed away from her, Melinda had an angry expression on her face.” Relief washed over Lydia now that she’d told another person.

  “Where did he go?”

  “I don’t know. He walked past my table, but I was trying not to stare.”

  “What did he look like? Can you give our sketch artist a description? Do you know his last name?”

  “He had a black ball cap on with jeans and a blue T-shirt. Brown hair and gray eyes. He went right by me. I’d seen him one other time in the bistro a week before.”

  “Do you remember anything on the cap? A logo? Something that might help us ID him?”

  She shook her head. “No, I was focused on his furious look. I can give a description of him for a sketch. Melinda only referred to him as Todd. A few days earlier when I picked up some food for everyone at work, Melinda had just gotten off the phone with him. I tried to comfort her. They must have been having some problems.” Lydia thought back to that day. “The only thing she said was that maybe having a boyfriend wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be. She didn’t say anything else. The part I’m excited about is he had gray eyes. I keep seeing gray eyes. That’s got to mean something.” At least she prayed it did.

  “Yes. We’ll dig into Melinda’s personal life and see if we can discover who this boyfriend is.”

  “I remember two guys with gray eyes. Maybe it was one of them.”

  “We don’t know a lot about the man you ran into when you came in. We know he got into a truck but mud covered the license plate. We have a couple of people searching the traffic cams around town to see if they can catch it.” His thumb caressed her face under her eye. “You need to go back to sleep.”

  “Do I look that bad?”

  “On the contrary. You look great, but our lives aren’t ours right now. Not until this bomber is found.”

  She smiled, the reassurance in his touch comforting her. This situation would come to an end, and she would get her life back. “The worst part is, I’m bored. I’m not even at my own house where I could at least clean and organize things.”

  “Go right ahead. Feel free to do that here.”

  She laughed. “That’s okay. Although I am thinking of cooking a special dinner tomorrow. How about my made-from-scratch meatballs and spaghetti? It was my grandmother’s recipe. No sauce out of a bottle. I won’t go as far as she did and make my own spaghetti.”

  “You’re making me hungry at two o’clock in the morning. If you need me to pick up any ingredients, just make me a list and I can get them before I start working on the case.”

  “Is there a chance I can come with you? You know that boredom thing.”

  Their easy bantering ended as he firmed his mouth and stiffened. “No. Remember what happened at Sam Alexander’s house.”

  “But—”

  “End of discussion.”

  “I got to go to the shelters with you.”

  “That’s because Calvin knows you and responds to you better than me. I’m not taking you to a grocery store where you could be an easy target.”

  “I could argue the point—” he opened his mouth to say something, and she hurried to finish “—but I’m not going to. I don’t want to distract you from your job.” She spun on her heel and headed for her bedroom to the sounds of his chuckles.

  *

  While Don and Mary played a game of checkers at the kitchen table, Lydia finished up her homemade spaghetti sauce before she turned to making the meatballs. She would brown them and add them to the sauce. She’d already beat both officers and declared herself the checkers champion. Now they were deciding the runner-up.

  Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the screen. Jesse. She quickly wiped her hands off and answered it. “Tell me you’ve solved the case,” she said as she walked into the living room for some privacy.

  “I wish I could. I did find out Todd’s last name, and I’m heading to his apartment right now.”

  Her grasp on the phone tightened. “Be careful. He has a temper and could be the bomber.”

  “I’ll have backup. Thomas is working on a lead on the guy you ran into as you entered the bistro. One of the traffic cams found him turning into a housing development. So this is all good news. If they have to, they will go door-to-door to find the truck. They already checked on black trucks of that make and no license plates had addresses in the subdivision, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t there or working there.”

  “I love your optimism. Come home hungry. I’ve made a ton of spaghetti sauce and asked Don and Mary to dinner. They both said yes. I hope we have something to celebrate tonight.”

  “So do I, but unless one of them confesses, it will take a lot of po
lice work to get the evidence to convict the bomber.”

  When she hung up, she stood to the side of the picture window and peeked outside between the blind slats. She didn’t want to scan the street blatantly and make herself a target, but she probably did this several times an hour. Would she ever stop looking over her shoulder?

  She started for the kitchen when her phone rang again. This time it was the school. She hurried and answered it. Kate had been so upset when she went to class this morning.

  “Dr. McKenzie, this is Kate’s principal.”

  She hoped her sister didn’t get into a fight. “Yes?”

  “Kate didn’t go to her class after lunch. We’ve looked everywhere in the building but can’t find her.”

  “Someone kidnapped her?” Hysteria wormed its way through her.

  “All outside doors are locked. You have to use the main entrance, and it’s monitored so I don’t see how that could have happened.”

  “I’m coming up there, and I’m calling the police.” Lydia hit the end button.

  Her hands trembled as she punched in Jesse’s number and waited for what seemed like an eternity for him to answer. Before he could say hello, Lydia said, “Kate is missing at school. I’m going up there.”

  “No. Stay with Williams and Collins. I’ll take care of finding her and figure out what happened. You said she was upset this morning. Could she be hiding?”

  “I don’t know what my sister is thinking anymore. The school is locked down and the principal is sure someone didn’t come in and take her but…”

  “Lydia, I’ll handle this. Let the officers know and have them be extra vigilant.”

  “Okay.” But when she finished talking with Jesse, she sank down on a chair nearby, the trembling spreading through her whole body. She didn’t know if she could even walk into the kitchen.

  This whole mess had been hard enough for her, let alone a teenage girl. Maybe she should take Kate to Oklahoma until they found the bomber. She could probably leave without the man finding—

  The phone ringing again disrupted her thoughts. She quickly answered, thinking it was Jesse. “Did you hear something?”

  “I heard your sister was kidnapped and the bomber has her,” a chilling voice said, followed by hideous laughter.

  THIRTEEN

  Numb, Lydia nearly dropped her phone. “Who is this?”

  The same laughter she heard right before the bomb went off assaulted her ears. “You know who this is, and I have your sister. Have you told the police who I am?”

  “No, because I don’t know.”

  “Maybe not now. You’ll figure it out eventually. I can’t have that. I’ll let your sister go if you take her place. She hasn’t seen my face, but you have. If I see any police around when we make the trade, I’ll blow her up. You hold her life in your hands.”

  “Where do I go?” Lydia asked, a knot jamming her throat.

  He gave her a location of a warehouse. “It’s abandoned, and I’ll know if you tell the police.”

  Had he bugged Jesse’s house like hers? She scanned the living room, feeling as though she was being watched this very second. “I need to talk to Kate.”

  “Such a demanding person. Remember it’s easy for me to set off a bomb. I’ve done four so far.”

  Another blast of repulsive laughter petrified her. She couldn’t string two words together. She swallowed hard, trying to push the fear down so she could do this.

  “Don’t make me do a fifth one. When you get to the warehouse, I’ll give you a call for further instruction. Here’s your sister.”

  “Lydia, I’m so sorry.”

  She didn’t have to see her sister to know that tears were streaking down her face. “You’re going to be all right.”

  “Please—”

  “That’s all. You don’t have much time. Be here in an hour. Don’t let your bodyguards know anything. I know you have two sitting with you right now.”

  He had bugged the house! No, probably just watching it. “I’ll be there.”

  “Don’t even think about telling your boyfriend. I can be vindictive if you cross me.” The bomber hung up.

  The cell phone slipped from her hand and fell onto her lap.

  She looked around frantically. She couldn’t let her sister die because of her. The man was after her, not Kate. Lord, what do I do? How do I get out without Don and Mary knowing?

  “Lydia, do you want to play another checkers game? I beat Don,” Mary said from the kitchen, her voice sounding as if she was walking toward the living room.

  Lydia moved quickly, snatching up her phone and sticking it into her jeans pocket as she stood. She schooled her face into a mask of calm while inside she shook from head to toe.

  “Your spaghetti sauce smells wonderful,” Mary said as she came into the living room.

  Turned away from the officer, she inhaled a deep breath, then swung around. “Thanks. I was telling Jesse you two are staying for dinner tonight. I’m going to let the sauce simmer for an hour while I lie down. Getting up in the middle of the night is wreaking havoc on my sleeping schedule.”

  “I know what you mean. Do you want me to wake you up in an hour?”

  “Yes. Please.” Because by then she planned to be at the warehouse.

  Once her sister was let go, she intended to fight for her life.

  “Thanks.” Lydia walked out of the room at a normal pace. When she was out of sight, she disabled the house’s alarm system and rushed down the hallway to her bedroom.

  After calling for a cab to meet her at the corner, she stuck her car keys into her pocket with some money, then went to her medical bag and prepared a syringe with a heavy-duty tranquilizer that she hoped to use on the bomber. She should be able to conceal it in her long-sleeve T-shirt. She would save her sister and not go down easily.

  Please, Lord, let this work.

  She hurriedly scribbled a note to Jesse about what was happening and left it for Mary to find. She couldn’t risk saying anything before her sister was freed, but by the time Mary found the note, Kate should be safe.

  She moved to the window on the side of the house, unlocked it and raised it up. The screen popped out with a little encouragement from her, and she lowered herself to the ground. Without looking back, she ran for the end of the street and prayed the cab would be there soon. When she reached the corner, it wasn’t. She paced, checking her watch every moment. Finally after five minutes passed, she pulled her phone from her pocket to call the cab company. She punched in the first three numbers when she spied a taxi coming toward her.

  She chewed on her thumbnail while she watched it approach. Once the driver took her to her house, she would take her dad’s car, which was stored in the garage.

  The cab stopped a few feet from her. “Did you call for a taxi?”

  “Yes.” She climbed into the back and gave him her address. “I’ll double the fare if you’ll get there as fast as possible.”

  When she arrived at her place, she paid the driver, raced into the house and found the keys to the Buick. In the garage, she turned her key. A grinding noise filled the air. It hadn’t been driven in weeks, she suddenly realized. The car wouldn’t start. What now?

  *

  Several K-9 teams were scouring the high school after the dogs sniffed a sweater in Kate’s locker as well as her backpack. Jesse covered the area from the girl’s last class before lunch. Brutus trailed her scent to a side door. He went outside and followed his dog to the parking lot. He stopped at an empty space.

  She left and got into a car? Forcibly? Or on her own?

  He hurried back into the building and strode to the principal’s office. He’d met the man when he first came fifteen minutes ago. “Mr. Carver, are students allowed to go off campus to eat lunch?”

  “No. That would be a security nightmare.”

  “I traced Kate to the parking lot from her last class. She went out a side door. I need to know whose car she got into.”

  “We have
monitors on the parking lot. I can pull up the video feed and see if it caught anything.”

  Five minutes later, Jesse discovered that Kate had gone with Connor off campus and neither one had returned. “I need to talk to some of Kate’s and Connor’s closest friends. Maybe they know what the pair were doing.”

  When Jesse interviewed a couple of Kate’s friends, no one knew where she’d gone today, although the day before they’d snuck off campus and eaten at Bud’s Hamburger Joint. Jesse sent an officer to check in case they went back to the same place.

  The next student Jesse talked to was one of Connor’s buddies. Quinn came into the principal’s office with a closed look on his face.

  “Quinn, we discovered that both Kate and Connor are missing from their classes after lunch. I know they left campus. I need to know where they went.”

  Quinn dropped his gaze to the table. “Don’t know.”

  “You may not be aware, but Kate is being protected by the police because her sister is a witness in the third bombing. I’m concerned something has happened to both of them, so if you know anything you might be saving their lives if you tell me.”

  The teenager looked at Jesse. “Connor doesn’t live far from here. He took her to his house. They probably lost track of time. I was at the door to let them back in, but they didn’t show up. I figure they decided to cut this afternoon.”

  Jesse stood. “Thank you. We’ll check it out. What is Connor’s address?”

  Quinn wrote it on a piece of paper. “They’ll be okay, right?”

  “I hope so.” But he didn’t have a good feeling about this.

  After getting Connor’s address, Jesse left the others to continue searching the high school. He thought about calling Lydia to let her know where Kate went but decided he would wait until he had Kate under his protection. He tried not to think of why the two went to Connor’s house. Lydia already had enough problems. This would add to them.

  When he pulled into the driveway behind Connor’s car, he and Brutus approached the house. He’d get Kate and take her to Lydia. He figured she would want to see her with her own eyes. He would have a few words to say to the boy later.

  He rang the doorbell, and when no one came to the door, he peered into the front window. He tried the door. Locked. The car was still there so they had to be inside. He strode around the house, looking into every window he could. From a back window he saw Connor on the floor, not moving. There was no sign of Kate.