by Jane Blythe
She shook her head.
“Did you tell the police that you didn’t think it was either of the Garretts who grabbed you?”
“I don’t remember.” Laura closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples. “Everything around that time is kind of fuzzy in my head. I felt like I was walking around in a fog. I couldn’t tell you hardly anything I did or said during that time. All I knew was that I was scared and hurting and desperately wished that I could pretend it never happened.”
His heart ached for her. “I’m so sorry, angel. I’m so sorry that this happened to you, and I'm sorry that everything’s been stirred up again. I'm doing everything I can to end this for you. But I need your help, Laura. Can I show you the sketch now? See if you recognize this man?” he asked tentatively, not wanting to upset her further.
Indecision battled in Laura’s violet eyes. She gave the tiniest of nods.
He brought up the picture on his phone and held it up so Laura could see it. Her eyes darted to it and then jumped away. Then slowly, she moved them back and gave the picture a proper glance. “I don’t think I know him.” She looked deliberately away. “But the picture is so vague, it’s hard to tell.”
“That’s okay,” he reassured her. “We’re going to find this man, I'm not going to let him hurt you.”
“There can't be a third man, Jack. I can't do this again. I need it to be over.” Tears began to spill out, trickling down her pale cheeks.
Not caring whether she liked being touched or not, Jack stood and knelt beside her chair, pulling her into his arms. Laura stiffened instinctively, then gave a small sob and sunk down against him. Pressing her face into his chest, she cried. Her tears soaked through his shirt, but Jack didn’t care; he just tightened his grip on her, stroking his hand up and down her back, attempting to calm her. When her tears finally dried up, Laura made no attempt to move out of his embrace, so Jack simply continued to hold her.
“Why do you cut your hair so short?” she asked at last, her voice muffled against his chest.
“It’s a long story,” he replied, not wanting to get into that now.
“I always liked your hair. It was so soft and silky.” Then a shiver rocketed through her entire frame. “What did he leave in the envelope? It was him, wasn't it? This third man, the one who’s been hurting people in the building. He was here tonight. He left something. What was it?”
Jack wasn’t sure it was wise to answer her. He didn’t want to upset her further, but they needed Laura if they were going to find this man, and every bit of information she had could help her to figure out who wanted to hurt her. He had called Stephanie to come and collect the letter and check it for fingerprints to compare to the ones from the other crime scenes. While Laura had been dozing at the table earlier, he had quietly slipped the letter out the door to the cops who were still posted there, so they could pass it on to Stephanie when she arrived.
They assumed that the man who’d left the letter had set things up to get the cops away from Laura’s apartment so he could try to get at her. He had broken down the door to apartment 5J, then quickly disappeared, waited until the cops left Laura’s floor then came up here and attempted to get inside. When he couldn’t get in, he had left the letter instead. He was getting impatient. He’d thought he would have had her by now. Thought all his games would have sent her running from her apartment. But it hadn’t. And he was obviously getting desperate.
“Jack?” Laura prodded when he didn’t answer, lifting her head so she could see him.
“He left you a photo of the woman from your building who was kidnapped. And a note saying that you’d meet her soon.”
She wiggled free from his grasp. “Oh, Jack.” Her eyes were devastated. “She’s suffering because of me. He only took her because of me.”
“No, angel,” he corrected firmly, tucking her long black hair behind her ear.
“Yes, Jack,” she contradicted. “This is my fault. If I’d died out there, then she wouldn’t be suffering right now.”
“But all your family and friends would be suffering,” he reminded her.
“They’d be better off without me,” she whispered despairingly.
“No, Laura.” He took hold of her shoulders and gave her a firm shake. “Your family loves you.” He hesitated before saying, “Laura, I saw them. Your family.”
She gasped, her entire body began to tremble violently. “You saw them?” she repeated.
“Yeah, I saw them,” he confirmed.
“Are they all okay?”
“Yes, but they miss you, Laura. They want you back.”
“I can't go back. You didn’t tell them where I was, did you?” Her huge, saucer-like eyes bored into him.
“No, I didn’t. But I think you should see them; I told them I'd try and convince you to.” As he said the words, he was trying to gauge how likely it was she’d agree.
“Are they angry at me?” Laura’s voice broke, fresh tears glittered in her eyes.
“No, angel, of course not,” he assured her. “They love you.” He paused, then decided he may as well lay his cards out on the table. “Laura, I love you, too.”
Laura went completely still. Her face morphed into a blank mask, but her eyes remained alive, brimming with uncertainty. “Maybe you should go now.”
“That’s not going to change how I feel,” he reminded her.
“And you telling me you love me doesn’t change the fact that I don’t trust you,” she shot back.
That hurt, but given how he’d betrayed her trust in the past, he wasn't surprised. And the fact that she had asked him to come here, and allowed him to comfort her, plus the fact that although she was telling him to leave, her eyes were all but begging him to stay, were enough for him right now.
“Okay, angel, I’ll go. For now,” he added.
“Maybe it would be better if you didn’t come back.” Laura said the words, but didn’t look like she believed them. “If you need something else from me, your partner could come instead.”
Leaning forward, he kissed the tip of her nose. “Nice try, angel, but you're not getting rid of me that easily. You need me to earn your trust back; I’ll do it. But let me make myself very clear: I am not going anywhere.”
* * * * *
9:11 A.M.
He was getting annoyed.
Impatient.
He’d thought he would have her by now.
That Laura was as slippery as a fish.
She’d slithered out of his grasp once before, and now he couldn’t seem to get a hold of her.
He was sure that after everything he’d done in her building, she would have gone running out of that apartment she kept herself locked up in by now.
But the little witch hadn’t budged.
And not only hadn’t she budged, but last night she had actually called someone to come running to her rescue.
In the months since he’d finally tracked her down and been watching her, he had never seen anyone enter that apartment.
It was that cop.
Laura had called him and he’d come running.
The cops had only visited her twice. That was not enough time for a recluse like Laura to have connected with either of them. Which meant maybe Laura had known this cop before.
He had known Laura and she hadn’t had any cop friends. Still, he’d only known college Laura—perhaps this cop was someone from her childhood.
Whatever.
He didn’t really care how she knew this man, so long as the man stayed out of his business.
He did not want anyone interfering in his business again.
Those hikers had ruined things last time around.
Laura hadn’t been in good shape by the time she’d been found. He’d almost been ready to kill her. He had been so close, only to have her snatched away at the last second.
That wasn't happening this time.
As much as he blamed the hikers for ruining his plans, he also blamed those idiotic Garrett brothers. How hard was it to keep o
ne, twenty-year-old girl to themselves? He had been skeptical from the beginning about this idea of Frank and Francis to let her go running free and chase her around. He would have been a lot more comfortable to just keep her safely tucked away in the hole until the Garretts were ready to play with her again.
He hadn’t touched her. Well, just once in his van before he’d left her with Frank and Francis. But he had enjoyed watching. Had enjoyed her screams. Had enjoyed watching the fight drain out of her. In fact, he had enjoyed it so much that he intended to do it all himself this time around.
Which was why he absolutely refused to have anything get in the way of his plans.
He had had to up the ante last night.
Laura obviously needed some more prodding before she’d leave that house.
And he couldn’t wait for her indefinitely.
The police were already mostly on to him, especially if they’d latched on to Laura, which if they hadn’t before, they certainly would have after last night.
So, he had decided he’d have to try grabbing her himself.
He’d gone back down to apartment 5J, then kicked down their door. It had been tight. He’d known that everyone in the building was on edge, and the Zeke family would respond promptly. So, he’d kicked and run, making it to the stairs before anyone saw him. He’d gone up and not down, in case anyone came after him. Then he’d waited till the cops who had been guarding Laura had gone running off to deal with the Zeke family. Once they were gone, he had made his move.
Unfortunately, just as he had first assumed, getting into Laura’s apartment had been impossible.
While he was a little pleased that he knew Laura well enough to correctly predict her behavior, he was also annoyed. Annoyed that she had managed to thwart him again. Annoyed that he still didn’t have her.
He had tried once more to scare Laura into leaving. He had slipped a photo of Audrey Nichols under her door. But his little game hadn’t sent Laura running straight into his arms, it had instead sent her running straight into the arms of the cop who was hunting him.
Since Laura had still been unattainable, he had been forced to go back to the cabin and take his frustrations out on Audrey Nichols. He’d have to be careful about doing that. He couldn’t afford to let his anger get the best of him and kill her before he got Laura there.
Laura needed to know the consequences of her actions.
She needed to know that the choices she made affected other people.
She had played God with his life and he was simply returning like for like.
She needed to see that these people from her building were suffering as a direct consequence of her.
She had to see Audrey die. There was simply nothing else to say about it.
Adjusting his binoculars, he was able to catch a glimpse of her through her window.
Laura was curled up in a chair by the window. She wasn't moving, she wasn't doing anything, she was simply sitting there staring into space. Well, if nothing else, he had certainly succeeded in scaring her.
Of course, that wasn't enough.
But her blank face and listless attitude were enough to satisfy him for now.
A slight worried frown creased his face as he continued to watch her.
She still hadn’t moved a muscle.
Her eyes were open, so she wasn't asleep, but she was so still that for a moment, he panicked and thought she was dead. Had she committed suicide? Had he pushed her so far that she had ended things before he got a chance to do it himself?
But then he let out a relieved breath.
Something obviously startled her and she roused herself, stood and moved farther back into her apartment where he could no longer see her.
Whew, that was lucky. He would have completely lost it if she’d already been dead.
That was it.
No more wasting time.
He had to get her now. Before it was too late.
But getting her was going to involve something a little more avant-garde. Something that the cops weren’t going to expect. Something that was guaranteed to get Laura out of that apartment whether she liked it or not.
It was going to take a little logistical planning though.
So, there wasn't really any time to waste.
Quickly, he packed up his things and left the apartment, locking the door behind him. Then he left the building across the street from Laura’s and headed home. He was going to be busy. But in the end, it was going to pay off. He was going to get Laura.
* * * * *
11:56 A.M.
“How’s Laura doing?” Rose asked as Jack pulled up his car beside hers. They were at the prison where Frank and Francis Garrett were serving out their sentences. They’d driven out here—the prison was about three hours away—in separate cars, because Jack had some family business to attend to this afternoon.
Since they hadn’t driven together, she hadn’t had a chance to find out how his visit with Laura had gone. While Jack had been dealing with Laura last night, Rose had enjoyed dinner with the girls. They had spent the majority of the evening discussing Sofia’s interesting proposition.
She had just said goodbye to her friends, since Sofia had offered to drive Paige home, when Stephanie had called. The crime scene tech had let her know that she had just received a phone call from Jack saying that the killer had been right outside Laura’s door. The fact that he’d set up a disturbance downstairs to get the cops away from Laura so he could make a play for her and leave her a letter was further proof that they were correct; this was all about Laura.
“Not that great.” Jack looked and sounded extremely concerned. “I don’t think she’s eating or sleeping, it’s like she’s in a trance—shock, I guess. I'm just not sure that she can make it through much more of this.”
“She called you last night, though; that’s a good sign,” Rose encouraged.
“Yeah.” A small smile wiped away some of the anxiety from her partner’s face.
“It doesn’t seem like she's angry with you anymore.”
“I don’t think she’s still mad at me, but she did say she doesn’t trust me,” Jack told her.
“Still, when she was scared she reached out to you,” Rose pointed out.
Jack nodded. “She did let me take care of her. And she practically threw herself into my arms when I got there.” Jack looked as pleased as punch about that. “She let me check out her hand and she even opened up a bit about what happened to her. She definitely trusts me to keep her safe, it’s just her heart she doesn’t trust me with,” Jack finished grimly.
“So, what are you going to do about that?” Rose had some misgivings about Jack’s apparent all-encompassing enthusiasm to reunite with Laura. Perhaps it was because she had never known them as a couple. She wanted Jack to be happy, and she knew that he wanted a relationship and a family, but he still had unresolved issues that had thus far prevented him from seriously dating. Add to that that Laura had been through hell and had enough issues to fill the ocean, and she just wasn't entirely convinced that him getting back together with Laura was what was best for either of them.
“I told her that I'm going to win her trust back,” Jack answered. “I told her that I wasn't going anywhere, and I'm not.”
Rose didn’t have a chance to say more because they entered the prison, signed in, handed over their weapons, and were escorted to an interview room while some guards went to retrieve Frank Garrett.
They had decided to tackle Frank rather than Francis Garrett. Even though he was the older of the brothers, according to Laura’s statement, he seemed to be the less dominant of the two. When detailing her assault, she had stated that Francis was the one who appeared to garner the most enjoyment from inflicting pain on her. Meanwhile, Frank had been more interested in raping her. While he had taken part in torturing her, it was always at the instruction of his younger brother, and most of the time he was happy to simply rape her and then hold her down and let Francis have his fun.
> Hopefully, with his brother out of the way, they might have a chance at getting something useful out of Frank.
Time was quickly ticking down for both Laura and Audrey Nichols.
The killer’s risky move last night indicated just how desperate he was getting. And since his little game hadn’t gotten him any closer to Laura, he was probably going to up the ante. His increasing impatience could not spell out anything good for Audrey, who they were having no luck in locating. The obvious location for the killer to have taken her, given that Laura was his real goal, was the place where she had been taken when she’d been abducted. As soon as the link to Laura had been made, they’d sent officers to check out the woods near where Laura had been found, but it was hundreds of acres of dense woodland, and so far, there was no sign of Audrey Nichols or their killer.
She noticed how stiffly Jack was sitting in his chair, his hands clenched into fists on the table in front of them. “Are you going to be able to do this without throttling him?” she asked softly. Rose couldn’t imagine how much anger and hatred Jack must feel toward Frank Garrett for what he had done to Laura.
“Yes,” Jack replied tightly. “Because as much as I want to rip him to shreds, finding out who’s a threat to Laura now is more important.”
Rose nodded, but she wasn't convinced. If she needed to send Jack out of the room because his anger was getting too much, she wouldn’t hesitate to do it. As he’d just said, finding out who was a threat to Laura right now was the most important thing.
The door behind them opened and two guards led in a shackled man in his mid-thirties. Frank Garrett was surprisingly good-looking; he had wavy, brown hair, large, light-brown eyes, and he was lean and wiry, but strong looking. The only thing that ruined his looks was a crooked nose that had obviously been broken somewhere along the way, and a couple of chipped teeth.
Frank studied them silently as he was shackled to the table. He dismissed Jack promptly, but his eyes travelled Rose’s body slowly, pausing at her breasts, then he gave a small smile as his eyes met hers. Rose had to force herself not to shudder in revulsion.