Sophie walked through the empty building with a purpose, making her way to her desk. She booted up her computer while she was there – figuring that checking her email was a good idea. She was being pragmatic.
She’d been reading emails for about fifteen minutes when the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. Sophie pushed away from her desk, the rolling wheels on the bottom of the chair humming against the plastic mat on the floor.
Cubicles segregated the newsroom. She was out in the open now, vulnerable. Except there was no one there. The newsroom was still empty.
I should get home. I should get back to Grady. I promised him an outfit.
Sophie focused on her computer long enough to shut it down. She pulled the files she was looking for out of the overhead compartment, hugging them close to her chest. She wanted to be anywhere but where she was.
This was a mistake.
GRADY was at his limit. Boredom had rendered him numb an hour ago. His phone rang, signifying an incoming call. He recognized the number.
“I thought you were playing chauffeur tonight?”
“It’s me.”
“Mandy?”
“Sorry to disappoint you.”
“You’re never a disappointment,” Grady said. “What’s going on?”
“Are you with Sophie?”
“She’s at home.”
“Oh. I tried calling her, no one answered.”
“She was fixated on endless piles of paper when I left,” Grady said. “She’s probably ignoring the phone. She’s kind of a workaholic.”
“I bet,” Mandy said.
Silence.
“Is there a reason you called? You don’t want to tell me about the nail polish, do you?”
“The nail polish?”
“I asked Sophie why you included three bottles of nail polish in her little sick kit, but she wouldn’t tell me why. When I brought it up with James, he seemed uncomfortable.”
“Women like nail polish, Grady, it’s not a big deal.”
“Something tells me I’m missing something,” Grady said.
“Something tells me you’ll be happy you’re missing it.”
“I’m going to take your word on that.”
“That’s probably wise.”
Grady was confused. “Not that I’m not happy to talk to you – I’m always happy to talk to you – but why are you calling?”
“Well, I found something in the files.”
“What files?”
“The ones you left at the apartment.”
“I took all of those files yesterday,” Grady said.
“Not all of them,” Mandy replied. “I had some on the nightstand. You didn’t grab those.”
“And you kept looking through them?”
“What can I say? I’m kind of OCD sometimes.”
“What did you find?”
“There was something that kind of jumped out at me,” Mandy admitted. “I couldn’t figure out why at first. I kept coming back to the document, though.”
“And? What did you find?”
“Okay, this might sound weird … .”
“You are weird.”
“This might sound weirder.”
“I love you dearly,” Grady said. “I might have to kill you if you don’t tell me what you found.”
“There’s a name here that kind of threw me for a loop,” Mandy explained. “Trevor Madison.”
“Who is Trevor Madison?”
“He’s a dogcatcher for the county.”
“A dogcatcher? Why do we care about a dogcatcher?”
“Well, this dogcatcher is making more than a hundred grand a year,” Mandy said. “He also has the same last name as the sheriff’s assistant.”
Huh. “Madison is a common name.”
“It is,” Mandy agreed. “That’s why I asked around before I brought it up and found out he is, indeed, John Madison’s son.”
“Who did you ask?”
“Judge MacIntosh.”
“Why did you ask him?”
“He’s a great judge and a great man,” Mandy cautioned.
“Duly noted.”
“He’s also a gossip.”
“Ah. What did he tell you?”
“He says that Trevor Madison is … unbalanced.”
“Unbalanced how?”
“Well, according to the judge, he says that Trevor has washed out of at least three rehabs. He’s got a drug problem. And an alcohol problem. Oh, and maybe a little stalking problem.”
Grady’s heart skipped a beat. “Go on.”
“I have no idea how Trevor got a job as a dogcatcher,” Mandy said. “The county has certain requirements when it comes to hiring employees. A dogcatcher only has to do three things.”
Grady waited.
“He has to go through the interview process. He has to be approved by the hiring committee on the county level. He also has to pass a drug test,” Mandy continued. “If the gossip is true, he shouldn’t have been able to pass any of them because he’s got a stalking conviction regarding a high-school classmate on his record.”
“And Trevor Madison somehow passed all three of these hurdles?” Grady asked.
“Judge MacIntosh says certain … liberties were taken where Trevor is concerned,” Mandy said. “The interview process was done by Sheriff Morgan. The drug test was done by a facility other than the one the county usually uses. Oh, and the hiring committee never saw paperwork on Trevor Madison.”
“How is that possible?”
“The judge says there’s a lot of gossip around Tevor,” Mandy said. “He can’t be sure, but he’s fairly certain that Trevor was hired outside of the process and shifted into a harmless position.”
Grady wasn’t surprised to hear that corners had been cut. He still wasn’t sure where Mandy was going. “Why didn’t you tell me this earlier in the day, like when you got home from work?”
“I wanted to check something,” Mandy said.
“What did you check?”
“Well, I wish I could pretend I was being all cool and everything,” Mandy said. “I really just wanted to Google Trevor Madison.”
“And?”
“And a picture came up.”
Grady waited.
“I recognized the picture,” Mandy said. “It’s the same guy who approached Sophie outside the bar the other night.”
Grady straightened. “Are you saying that the guy with the knife is John Madison’s son?”
“Yes.”
“You couldn’t have led with that?”
“Hey, I was trying to give you all the facts,” Mandy said, her voice grumpy. “I did a lot of work here.”
“I love you more than life itself,” Grady said. “When I see you again, though, I’m going to beat you to within an inch of your life.”
“Good luck getting through your brother.”
“I have to go.”
“Are you going to call Sophie?”
“Yes.”
“What’s going on between the two of you?”
Grady gritted his teeth. “I’ll call you later.”
Twenty-Eight
Sophie found being alone in a building usually bustling with activity disturbing. The lights flashed on each time she moved past a motion sensor, causing her to jump, but the shadows cast on the walls seem somehow longer – and more ominous.
The files she’d come in search of were gripped to her chest as she made her way to the front of the building. She paused when she hit the lobby – which didn’t have motion-activated lights. The lobby wasn’t dark, but the lights behind Marge’s desk were set to dim. Someone would have to be paying particularly close attention to see her right now – and yet Sophie couldn’t shake the sensation that someone was watching her.
Someone was close. She could feel it.
Sophie paused before the double-glass doors that led to the outside world. The car was right there – no more than twenty feet away. A quick glance in every direction told h
er no other vehicles had arrived on the scene since she’d entered the building.
Sophie moved away from the doors, scooting behind Marge’s big desk so she could look at the live feeds from the security cameras. The Daily Tribune had a market on one side – with a chain-link fence that separated the two properties – and a block of low-income apartments on the other. The property was monitored by five different cameras.
Sophie stared at the cameras – looking for a hint of movement. Unfortunately, once outside, the cameras only picked up visuals from a handful of areas. There were huge pockets of darkness for people to hide in.
Sophie wasn’t sure what to do. She considered texting Grady to tell him where she was. She knew he would come running – even if it meant abandoning his post. She didn’t want to be the reason he screwed up on the job, though. It wasn’t fair. She’d promised to stay in her house until he returned. She’d broken that promise – and now she was balking at walking the twenty steps between the building and her car like a scared little baby.
“Enough is enough,” she grumbled.
Once back in front of the doors, she looked out one more time and then pushed them open. She kept her pace brisk – just short of a run – only slowing when a small snap echoed from behind. Sophie swiveled to look behind her, releasing a small sigh when she realized what had made the noise. It was the door, which floated shut instead of slamming closed.
“Oh, good grief.”
Sophie turned back to the car, chuckling. The laugh died on her lips as a dark figure stepped into view, advancing on her.
SOPHIE wasn’t picking up her phone. It just kept going to voicemail. Grady tapped his hands on the steering wheel worriedly. Why isn’t she answering the phone?
“Screw it,” he grumbled.
He turned the key, the engine of his truck roaring to life. James would just have to understand. He had to make sure Sophie was all right. He wouldn’t be able to focus on anything else until he saw her.
When he got to her house, he was relieved to see all of the lights were still on. Her phone must be in another room, Grady thought. She just hadn’t heard it. She was so intent on her work, she’d pushed everything else out of her mind. The image of her sitting on the floor, her dark waves piled on top of her head in a messy bun, those cute little track pants swallowing her shapely legs, was enough to make him smile.
Who needs a naughty schoolgirl? He had a dedicated reporter.
“Hey, sugar,” he said as he entered, dropping his keys on the kitchen counter. “I figured I’d knock off early and see how you were doing.”
When Grady walked into the living room he pulled up short, scanning. The piles of paper were still there. Her spot on the floor was empty.
Grady jogged up the stairs, figuring he’d find her in the bedroom. That room was empty, too. Grady methodically searched each room and, when he returned to the living room, he realized she wasn’t there. Where could she go? She didn’t have a car, and it didn’t look like there had been a struggle or anything (which was the only reason he wasn’t panicking at the moment).
Something occurred to him, causing him to head in the direction of the garage. When he found it empty – the little four-dour sedan Peter Marconi had dropped off days ago missing from the spot where it had been parked – Grady’s heart sank.
“I’m going to kill her.”
Grady stalked back into the main house, looking from side to side, debating what to do. Where would she go? What could possibly make her leave the house after he’d told her to stay put? And, yes, he knew how insulting that sounded. Still … she’d been entrenched in work. There was no reason for her to go anywhere.
His eyes finally landed on the sheet of paper on the counter. He grabbed it, scanning it furiously. She’d gone to the newspaper? Alone? At night? Yeah, he was definitely going to kill her – five minutes after he yelled at her and then kissed her silly.
Grady was in his truck and driving toward the newspaper office in less than a minute.
SOPHIE wanted to scream, but no words would come out. She wanted to run, but her legs were suddenly made out of Jell-O and incapable of supporting her own weight.
The figure was short, compact. Sophie hadn’t seen a face yet, but she knew who it was. She’d seen him twice now, once here at the newspaper, and once outside a downtown Mount Clemens bar. She still didn’t have a name to affix to the figure.
“I … I … I … .”
She never got a chance to finish the sentence. The figure was on her, a hand pressed to her face. Sophie realized that he had a white cloth in his hand, and he was trying to cover both her nose and mouth with it. She tried to pull away, but he was too strong and she’d been caught off guard.
Sophie’s last thought before she slipped into unconsciousness was of Grady. He was going to be really upset.
WHEN he got to the parking lot, Grady felt a rush of relief. The car was still here. He’d wait for her outside, scare the living daylights out of her, and then make her promise never to do something like this again. Then he’d take her home and ravish her until his terror subsided.
Hey, she’d earned his ire.
Grady parked his truck next to the car, leaving the engine idling and his eyes trained on the front door. He had no idea how long she would be. It would probably be just about long enough to work himself into a righteous snit.
Grady jumped out of the truck, his nervous energy getting the better of him. He stepped up onto the curb and paced. He had no intention of losing sight of the front door, but he had to do something. That’s when he noticed a smattering of items on the ground next to the car.
Grady strode over, kneeling so he could get a better look. They were files. He tried to read them, but since it was so dark he was having trouble. He opened the passenger-side door of his truck and glanced at them under the dome light, his heart flopping painfully when he realized what he was looking at: County financial documents.
He searched the area by the car again, reaching behind the front tire and pulling out a small, fabric swatch that caught his attention. He lifted it to his nose, immediately pulling it away as he detected a faint odor. Chloroform.
Grady put the hints together. She wouldn’t have just left these files out here. Someone had taken her. Someone had taken his Sophie.
Twenty-Nine
Grady didn’t know what to do. In this time, and in this place, his training abandoned him. All reason was gone. All purpose was fleeing. He felt fuzzy, and the edges of his eyesight were blurring.
He was … lost.
The phone in Grady’s hand beeped, signifying an incoming text. He glanced down. It was from Mandy.
Did you find her?
Grady wanted to throw the phone against a wall. No. He hadn’t found her. He didn’t know where to look. No one knew where to look. A crazy man had Sophie, and no one knew where to look. He was too late.
The phone in his hand started ringing. James’ number popped up on the screen. Grady answered the phone gruffly.
“What’s going on?” James asked.
“I can’t find Sophie.”
“What do you mean? Was she with you at the stakeout?”
“Mandy called me with a tip – a good tip, by the way, she’s smart and hot, you’ve got a winner there – and when I couldn’t get Sophie on the phone I went to find her. She’s not here, though.”
“So you’re not out on the job I sent you out on?” James asked.
“Did you miss the part of my story where I said Sophie is missing?” Grady exploded, bringing his hand to his mouth worriedly.
“No,” James said. “Just because Sophie isn’t home, though, that doesn’t mean she’s missing. Maybe she went out for ice cream or something.”
“She went to the newspaper to get files,” Grady said dully. “Her car is here. The files are spread out on the ground by the car door. I found a cloth that smells suspiciously like chloroform next to the files. Someone took her. She’s gone.”
J
ames was silent for a second. “Wait. Are you saying she’s really gone? As in gone gone?”
“Someone took her.”
James was all business. “Are you still at the newspaper?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sending Finn,” James said. “He should be there in a few minutes.”
“I already told you she’s not here,” Grady said. “Finn isn’t going to find her here. It’s not like we’re playing Hide-and-Seek.”
“I’m not sending him for her,” James said. “I’m sending him for you.”
“I’m not the one in trouble,” Grady rasped out. “I’m the one who is standing here, perfectly safe. I don’t need Finn.”
Grady could hear murmuring on the other end of the phone. “Who is that?”
“It’s Mandy,” James said. “She wanted to know what’s going on.”
“What did you tell her? Did you tell her that Sophie is gone?”
“I told her what you told me,” James said. “Dude, I think you might be in shock or something. You sound really weird.”
“I’m fine.”
“I’m sending Finn.”
“I said that I was fine.”
James sighed. “Grady, I need you to focus on me, on the sound of my voice.”
“I thought that’s what I was doing,” Grady replied.
“You said that you were sure the cloth had chloroform on it,” James said. “How do you know that?”
“I smelled the cloth.”
“Did you get any of it on you?”
“I don’t know.”
“See, this is what I’m talking about,” James said. “I think you might be partially drugged. You’re very calm. Too calm. It’s like you’re … stoned or something.”
“Maybe I’m just resigned to my life without her.”
“Yeah, I’m sending Finn. Sit tight. Try to wash your hands off with something. We’re going to do some searching here on our end. Do. Not. Move.”
Great, Grady thought. Finn was coming. He would know what to do.
SOPHIE didn’t realize she was awake at first. Everything was still dark. Her head felt heavy, though, and her arms were numb. After a few minutes of grappling, she realized why her arms had lost all feeling. She was tied to a wooden chair, her wrists secured behind her and her ankles anchored to the bottom of the chair. The reason it was so dark also became evident – someone had blindfolded her.
Deadly Intuition (Hardy Brothers Security Book 2) Page 18