by Gayle Wilson
He’d been the only one there. In the darkness. And whoever was coming…
Whoever.
Not whatever. Whoever. His subconscious had known that before he had consciously arrived at the phrase.
Whoever was coming…
He pushed up from the floor, feeling as if he’d been physically beaten. The flashbacks always left him dazed, almost hungover. This…this was something different. An alternative unpleasantness.
He’d been terrified again. A sick, bowel-tightening horror that revolved around whoever was going to appear out of that darkness. Despite the long years of his military career, through all the firefights and ambushes he’d survived, he couldn’t remember ever being that frightened.
Because there’s nothing you can do about what’s going to happen.
That was it exactly. Always before, he had felt that, no matter what they threw at him, he could hold his own. Maybe he would die, but if he did, it would be while giving as good as he got.
That wasn’t how he had felt crouching in that clammy darkness. He’d felt helpless. Far worse than that, he realized, he’d felt hopeless.
He took a breath, mentally fighting the return of those emotions. He put his forearm on the coffee table, using its support to push to his knees.
He waited for the room to steady before he got painfully to his feet. He had no recollection of how he’d ended up face-down on the carpet. No recollection even of why he’d been in this room.
He eased down on the couch, resisting the urge to lower his head into his hands. As much as he had hated the loss of control the flashbacks had represented, their horrific violence now seemed almost safe. Familiar. His.
The other wasn’t. And his reaction to whatever was happening there…wasn’t his reaction.
That realization was as unnerving as the reaction itself. The fact that he was somehow attuned to the feelings of the little girl he had glimpsed out of the corner of his eye.
By now he’d studied every newspaper photograph of Raine Nolan, memorizing the smiling face on the flyers that blanketed the town. And he still couldn’t decide if the child he’d seen cowering in that darkness was her.
Except, who else could it be? The timing of this, if nothing else, argued that whatever he’d experienced during the past three days must be connected to her abduction.
Or to the fact that somebody blew a good-size chuck of your brain to smithereens.
Had Eden Reddick’s question about whether there’d been someone else in the pit with the girl planted that notion in his head? Had his mind latched on to the suggestion, so that this time he’d imagined there was someone else there?
Angry with the possibility, he tried to stand. The resulting vertigo made him clutch the arm of the couch until the room righted itself.
He wasn’t crazy, he told himself fiercely. Maybe what was happening to him fell into that category, but he didn’t. And he wasn’t going to pretend he did, not to satisfy Reddick or anyone else.
Somewhere a terrified child was hiding in a darkness she didn’t understand. Hiding in fear from a horror she was only beginning to comprehend.
Through some quirk of a cruel universe, he’d been allowed to know that. To feel what she felt.
And now, no matter the cost, it was up to him to figure out what he could do about it.
Chapter Four
It’s on my way home, Eden justified as she pulled off the highway and onto the dirt road. And I’ll sleep better if I make sure.
Since she’d had a hard time keeping her eyes open during the last hour she’d spent at the office, that rationalization was an even bigger stretch than the “on my way” detour she’d just made. It was true, however, that this had been all she’d thought of as she’d tried to come up with anything they hadn’t checked out.
The caves at the end of this unpaved lane had played a role in the childhood of almost everyone who’d grown up in Waverly. And even in some who hadn’t. She’d learned about them almost as soon as she and her dad moved here.
And they’ve probably been searched a dozen times since Raine’s kidnapping. Still, since she herself hadn’t asked anyone from the department to do that, she needed to make certain it had been done.
It was only as she was climbing out of the car to begin the trek up the slope to the rocks above that she admitted the real reason she was here. The caves best fit the description Jake Underwood had given from his “vision.”
Like the Nolans, the ex-soldier had passed a voluntary lie-detector test. And the background check the Bureau had done revealed a service record impressive enough to merit the initial description of him that Winton and Dean had used.
Despite that, both the agents and her deputy chief had discounted Underwood’s story as being nothing more than the result of his head injury. After all, to think anything else would open them up to a belief system far beyond the narrow limits of their own.
Apparently, however, not beyond mine, Eden admitted, as she struggled up the last few yards to the first cave’s entrance. What was little more than a fissure in the face of the hillside hid a relatively large interior space. As she remembered it, the second nearby cavern was much smaller.
She waited a moment, giving her breathing a chance to steady. The sun was beginning to slip behind the rock face, casting the area where she stood into deep shadow.
She removed the flashlight from her utility belt, and then, the second motion more tentative than the first, her weapon from its holster. There was no telling what kind of wildlife might have taken refuge in the coolness of the cave.
Despite being armed with both a light and her Glock, still she hesitated, fighting a residual childhood fear of the dark she hadn’t thought about in years.
Check it out and then go home. Get into bed and sleep until morning. Something she hadn’t done since this case started.
She blew out a calming breath and then bent to slip though the crack. Once inside the cave, she directed the beam of her flashlight in a slow circle around its perimeter.
She could hear water dripping somewhere, its soft, regular plops the only sound in the rockbound stillness. She walked forward, redirecting her light, trying to locate the place where that moisture hit the floor. When she couldn’t find that, she raised the beam, allowing it to play over the ceiling, which was higher than she’d remembered from her one hurried, adolescent visit.
They’d gone in on a dare, she and Margaret Eames, the only two in the group who’d never been inside the caves. She’d always wondered if Margaret shared her slight sense of claustrophobia, since neither of them had remained longer than required by the taunts of their classmates.
She made one last slow circuit of the cave with her light, reassuring herself there were no hidden areas where a child could be concealed. She’d do the same in the smaller and then go home and crash.
Only when she turned toward the entrance did she realize she wasn’t alone. A dark shape obscured the narrow opening, blocking what little light had been coming in from outside.
She brought her weapon up, at the same time redirecting the focus of the flashlight. Jake Underwood flinched, lifting his hand to shield his eyes.
“Don’t.” Although Eden hadn’t been certain about the intent of his movement when she’d barked that command, she had been sure that, despite whatever lingering disabilities his wounds had left, she was physically no match for the ex-soldier.
“Then shut off that damn light.”
She didn’t obey, asking instead, “What are you doing here?”
Her mind raced through the possibilities, forced to reject those that had to do with his keeping Raine prisoner. Not only had she verified the cave was empty, if Underwood were the kidnapper, he’d have to be an idiot to confront her.
Something else that his service record had disproved.
“The same thing you are.”
Eden hesitated, knowing that if she admitted she’d been checking out a location that matched his “flashback,” she
would also be admitting that she’d given credence to that vision.
“Or am I wrong?” he asked into her silence.
“This is the only thing I could think of that we might not have covered.”
“You mean the possibility that what I told you did have something to do with the Nolan girl?” There was a trace of sarcasm in his question.
“Like I said, we’ve covered everything else.” She sounded defensive, yet she was only doing what her father had taught her. Leave no stone unturned—no matter how unlikely. “Coming here falls under the category of grasping at straws, I guess.”
He lowered his hand, his eyes apparently having adjusted to her light. “Sorry you went to the trouble, then. This isn’t it.”
“What?”
“This isn’t where she’s being held.”
Present tense, Eden noted. For some reason, her tired spirit responded to that.
“You’ve searched the other one? The other cave?” Maybe while she’d been searching this one?
He shook his head. “It’s not rock. I don’t know why I didn’t remember that until I came. Maybe I just didn’t notice.”
“Notice…?”
“Wherever she is—that place she’s in—it’s been dug out of the earth. I could see exposed roots in the dirt. Tree roots. The roots of shrubs. Just…no rock.”
Eden realized that she had been listening with her lips parted, seemingly willing to take in every word the guy said. Angry with that eagerness to believe, she closed her mouth and then lowered the flashlight so that it was no longer directed at him.
“Which means it could be anywhere.” She’d kept her tone flat, but he clearly read what she was feeling.
“Look, I don’t care whether you believe me or not. All I’m telling you is this isn’t the place.” Despite the fact her weapon was still trained on his chest, Underwood turned, shrugging broad shoulders through the opening in the rock.
Did she believe that he’d just happened to think of these caves and come to investigate? Or did he have some other, more sinister reason for being in this isolated location?
She shivered, unsure whether that thought or the natural chill of the cave was responsible. She listened, but couldn’t hear any sounds that would indicate Underwood was moving down the trail. Which meant…
Taking a breath, she switched off her light and then ducked through the opening. As she straightened, she saw him standing at the head of the path, looking down the slope. The evening shadows had elongated, reaching into the trees below.
“I’ll wait while you check the other one,” he said without looking at her.
In spite of the heat, the insects had started their evening song. She actually debated taking his word for it that this wasn’t the place before she turned and trudged up to the second cave. She didn’t bother going inside, simply directing her flashlight around the interior.
Nothing there. Just as she’d expected.
And just as he’d told her.
She switched off her light and realized only then that she still held her weapon. She shoved the Glock back into its holster, turning as she did to look at the ex-soldier. He hadn’t moved, his continued stillness unnerving.
“If the caves aren’t what you saw—” she began.
“She could be anywhere. Anywhere isolated enough that he could dig a hole and lower her into it without anyone seeing him.”
The despair in his voice echoed what she had felt all day. They were well beyond any time frame in which conventional wisdom suggested a kidnap victim might still be alive. And they were no closer to finding Raine than they had been when the 911 call came in.
“He?” She had finally grasped the significant part of what Underwood had just said.
“She’s terrified… It doesn’t seem like a woman could produce that level of fear.”
“But if she’s alone and in the dark—”
“It’s more than that. It’s him.”
It would be, of course. As she and Dean had speculated that first morning, whoever had taken Raine hadn’t done it for money.
You’re acting as if this guy knows what he’s talking about. As if he really is tuned into that little girl’s terror.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t say something like that to anyone in town.”
He turned, his eyes hard. “I did what I was told to do and look where it got me. Believe me, I’m not likely to talk up my ‘insanity’ around town. You ready?”
Should she consider his determination not to leave her alone up here a vestige of his upbringing or something more sinister? Except she hadn’t gotten that vibe from him. After the initial spurt of fear, she hadn’t been afraid to be alone with him. She wasn’t now.
And there was nothing else to examine up here. Another dead end. Another in a long, frustrating series of them. “I’m ready.”
She had expected him to let her lead the way, but he started down the trail, leaving her to follow. As she did, she realized that she wouldn’t have been comfortable with him trailing behind her through the growing darkness. And he had known that.
Just as he’d known why she was out here? Hell, maybe he was psychic.
Or maybe you’ve gone way too many hours without sleep.
They didn’t speak again until they reached her cruiser. She opened the door and then hesitated. In the gathering twilight, he had watched her every move.
She met his eyes, deciding that, since she’d come this far, she might as well go all the way. In for a penny…
“You think she’s still alive?”
He didn’t answer for a long heartbeat, his eyes focusing on something up the slope behind her. When he looked at her again, he shook his head. “I don’t have any reason to believe she isn’t.”
“Then…?”
“I can’t tell you anything else. Maybe if there’s another one…”
She nodded as if that made sense. Maybe it did. At least as much as any other avenue they’d pursued. She’d already bent, ready to slip into the driver’s seat, when he spoke again.
“Thanks.”
“For what?”
“For coming out here. For going that far.”
“You’d be surprised how far I’d go to find Raine Nolan.”
“Because it’s your job?”
My duty…
“That’s part of it.” That and the memory of another little girl no one had found.
“And the rest?”
“Like you said. She’s terrified.” Alone and in the dark with a madman. “Unless somebody finds her…”
Eden left the sentence unfinished. They both knew the reality. A reality most of the people working on this case had already conceded. That she hadn’t, she realized, had as much to do with this man than with any claim she might make about duty.
“If you do…have another one, I mean…” Again her words trailed.
Underwood nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I will.”
He was still standing on the edge of the dirt road when she had turned the car and headed back down it. In the darkness his silhouette seemed to merge with the woods behind him. She slowed, pushing the button that would lower the window on the passenger side.
“Where’s your car?”
“Truck. There’s a turnoff a few feet back.” He gestured with his head in the direction she’d just come.
Her eyes lifted to the rearview mirror. She hadn’t seen another road, but then she’d only been looking for a place wide enough to turn the patrol car. Obviously, he knew this area better than she did. Well enough to know where to conceal his truck.
She dismissed that flicker of doubt, remembering the sincerity in his voice when he’d talked about Raine. “It’s going to be dark soon.”
There didn’t seem to be any reason for him to stay out here, but he didn’t appear to be headed to his truck. Was it possible he was feeling the effects of that climb?
Impulsively, she acted on that thought. “If you want to get in, I can back up to wherever you’re par
ked.”
His eyes lifted to briefly consider the road behind her before they came back to meet hers. “I may look around. Since I’m here. I didn’t see this area on any of the search grids.”
She hadn’t either, so that part made sense. Except what did he think he was going to be able to see in the dark?
“It’s gonna be hard to see up here pretty soon,” she reminded him with a smile.
The one he gave in response emphasized the shape of his mouth, its bottom lip fuller than she’d noticed before. She was shocked at the flutter of desire in her lower body.
“I like the dark.”
The unease generated by that statement negated the attraction she’d just felt. And it wasn’t as easy to dismiss as had been his familiarity with this locale. After all, Dean said he’d spent summers here growing up.
“Okay, then. Just be careful. I don’t think we have the manpower to mount another search and rescue.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.” He touched the roof of the car as if in dismissal and then turned to walk toward the path they’d just descended.
Eden eased her foot off the brake, directing her car down the narrow track. When she raised her eyes again to the rearview mirror, Jake Underwood had already disappeared into the forest.
Chapter Five
The peal of the phone pulled her out of a sleep so deep she was drugged by it. It took a moment for her to realize what the sound was. Another to find the receiver in the pitch-darkness of her bedroom.
“Hello?”
“You probably ought to come on in to the office.” Dean’s voice lacked its customary thread of good humor.
“They found her.”
“No. Sorry. Nothing like that.”
“Then what?”
“Folks are stirred up about the Underwood thing. I just think you might want to be here.”
The Underwood thing. Despite the events of last night, it took a second for her to realize what her deputy chief was talking about.
“How the hell did they find out?”
“It’s Waverly, Eden. How do you think?”
Calling her by her first name was a sign of Dean’s agitation. He hadn’t done that since the day her daddy had pinned the chief’s badge on her uniform shirt.