by Lisa Harris
The question hovered between them like a heavy weight. Nikki had taken on a job she couldn’t afford to fail, because if she did . . . Bridget would become yet another statistic.
“No. Not yet.” Nikki pressed her back against the bathroom wall and stared at the white tiles. She could hear the worry in her mother’s voice. She didn’t have to talk about her cases to know that her mother followed every news update on missing children. Always a reminder of what she’d lost.
“We think she was abducted and taken into the park. I’m going to interview a suspect right now, but I wanted to find out about Jamie and the baby. I’ve been worried.”
There was a long pause, on her mother’s end this time. Nikki’s stomach churned.
“I was waiting for some news before I called you,” her mother finally said. “We still don’t know anything.”
Oh, God, please . . . please . . . don’t let anything happen to either of them.
“I’m scared, Nikki,” her mom continued. “This baby means so much to both of them. And Matt. For him to lose them both . . .”
“She’s going to make it, Mom.” She had to. “Jamie’s strong, and this baby . . .”
This baby was a gift. God wouldn’t take their baby away from them. They’d waited so long . . . Except sometimes God didn’t save those they loved. Sometimes he allowed horrible things to happen.
“They’re going to be okay, Mom. Just promise you’ll call me with an update as soon as you know something. Please.”
“I will, sweetie. I promise.”
Nikki hung up, still trying to press in emotions that refused to stay locked up. All the potential problems she’d been warned about when she took this job. Fear that the emotional impact of the cases would get under her skin. That there was no way she’d be able to separate the past from what she had to do. That she’d end up running on feelings and not just the facts.
Had she already gotten to that point? The point where she was so desperate to find Bridget and her abductor that she was grasping at straws and seeing things that weren’t really there?
A knock on the door pulled her back to the present.
“Nikki? You okay?”
Nikki wiped away the tears under her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and opened the door. Tyler stood outside.
“I just wanted to check on you,” he said.
“I’m fine.” She sucked in another deep breath of air. “All I need is the coffee Gwen promised, and I’ll be ready to go.”
She smiled, hoping to convince him she was telling the truth. Because she wasn’t going to tell him that while her hands might not be shaking anymore, her insides still felt like Jell-O. Didn’t want him to know that all she really wanted to do was run.
He leaned against the wall beside her. “You know, we could leave for Nashville now and be there in a few hours. Your family needs you. And even with that photo of Bridget, your team can handle this.”
She shook her head. “No, I have to do this. I have to find her.”
“Why? Because of guilt over Sarah?”
“No, because . . .” She stopped and turned to face him, reminding herself that Tyler had nothing to do with the anger simmering in her gut. “I have to do this because this is my job.”
She started back toward the parking lot. Maybe her job had become an unconscious act of trying to redeem herself. So that every time she saved someone, it managed to chip away at the mountain of guilt she carried in her heart.
Except even she knew that saving Bridget wouldn’t bring back Sarah. Or erase the layer of guilt she carried with her.
“Nikki . . .” Tyler reached out and grabbed her hand, stopping her in the middle of the hallway. “I thought I was going to lose you.”
She looked up at him, her eyes rimmed with tears, and caught the pain in his expression. “You didn’t lose me. You’re not going to lose me.”
“I know.” He ran his thumb across the back of her hand and pulled it against his chest. “It’s just that seeing you in the water . . . It reminded me of the day I lost Katie. I watched Miller grab you—”
“It’s okay,” she said, wrapping her arms around his neck and feeling him pull her against him. “I’m okay.”
Or at least she would be.
He held her tightly as memories swirled around both of them. He made her feel safe. Made her feel certain that nothing bad could happen to her as long as he held her. And made her wish he’d never let go.
“I need to talk to Miller,” she said, finally pulling back.
“I know.”
He walked with her down the hall, holding her hand as he matched her strides. “Do you think he’s the Angel Abductor?”
“It’s possible. He fits the description.”
“I just want you to be careful. Please. I know too well how emotions can tangle up your ability to see straight.”
She stepped out into the fading afternoon sunshine, knowing he was right. And at the same time, hating that he was right. Her emotions were affecting her ability to look completely objectively at the situation. But she also couldn’t forget that she was good at what she did. And while she trusted Jack and Gwen completely, they needed what she knew in this situation.
A minute later, Anderson drove her and Gwen to the Gatlinburg police station, where they’d booked Miller for driving under the influence as well as kidnapping and threatening the life of an officer. Nikki hoped to add kidnapping of Bridget to the charges.
Jack met her outside the interrogation room. “So far, he’s refusing to cooperate.”
“Has he asked for a lawyer?”
“No. He just keeps insisting he knows nothing about an abduction.”
“He knows something. We just have to figure out what.”
She’d seen his eyes. He was hiding something.
She stepped into the small interrogation room and studied his profile as he sat at the rectangular table. The cockiness she’d seen earlier had gone, replaced by a hint of fear in his eyes. So much for not believing he had anything to lose.
“I’m Special Agent Boyd. I’m part of the Tennessee Missing Persons Task Force.” She sat down across from him. “What were you doing in the park?”
“What do you think I was doing?” He sat across from her, arms folded against his chest, jaw stuck out defiantly. “I was there like everyone else. I needed some time away. Normally, it’s quiet and peaceful up here . . . until my brakes go out and a bunch of cops wrestle me out of my car.”
“Your blood alcohol level was above the legal limit, which by itself could mean up to a year in jail and the loss of your license,” Nikki said.
“So I had a couple of drinks.”
“Did you see the flyer about the missing girl when you entered the park?”
“Yeah, along with every other person. And I saw the sketch of the man who took her, but that isn’t me.”
“Really?” Nikki held the sketch in front of her. “If you ask me, it looks a lot like you.”
“I already told you I drank a few too many, but I didn’t abduct the girl.”
Nikki shoved a photo of Bridget in front of him. “So you’re telling me you’ve never seen this girl.”
“No. If I had seen her, I would have called it in.”
“Here’s the problem. We have a witness who saw someone matching your description this morning outside of Wartburg, where Bridget Ellison got in a car with you.”
“Wartburg? That’s two hours away. I spent the night in the park last night.” Miller steepled his hands in front of him. “And I’ll say this one more time. I don’t know anything about the girl.”
“If you weren’t guilty, then why didn’t you stop? And why did you grab me?”
Miller’s gaze dropped. “I panicked, but I didn’t take some girl.”
Nikki slapped her hands against the table, then scooted her chair back before signaling Jack to join her outside the room.
“We’re not getting anywhere,” she said, closing the door behind them.
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“You think he’s telling the truth?” Jack asked.
“About Bridget? I don’t know. Maybe, but I still think he’s hiding something.”
“Listen, Nikki,” Jack said. “I know you want to find Bridget’s abductor, and trust me, so do I, but the evidence we’ve got is still too vague. What if he’s telling the truth? What if we have the wrong person?”
“Then what do we do next?”
“We keep looking.”
Gwen made her way down the hallway toward them. “I think I might have something. I’ve been going through Miller’s file. Besides his other run-ins with the law, he was arrested three years ago as a part of an illegal poaching ring.”
Nikki frowned. “That doesn’t prove he didn’t have something to do with Bridget’s abduction.”
“Not in itself, but there’s more. Officers at the scene of the crash not only found the hunting supplies you saw in the trunk but an illegal cache of bear parts in the ice chest, and bear bait.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Nikki said. “He almost drowned me over bear parts.”
“I know you wanted it to be him, but so far they haven’t found any evidence that Bridget was in his car.”
Nikki frowned, realizing her best lead had more than likely just evaporated. Poaching explained the gun and hunting supplies. He’d go down for DUI, illegal hunting, and the attempted kidnapping of an officer.
But not for kidnapping Bridget.
“It doesn’t surprise me,” Jack said. “I had a buddy involved in an undercover job. They infiltrated the poachers’ social circles and illegal hunting parties and took down dozens of them. Hunters will pay up to a thousand dollars for guaranteed kills.”
“I’ve heard of this, but how do they get away with it?”
“They’re good at evading the rangers and game wardens. They’re not out there hunting in front of people. It’s done on the side, at night.”
“If you’re right about Miller, that means we’re back to square one. Again.” Nikki reached up and touched the tender spot on her head where she’d hit it against the rock, and frowned. “I want to go in there one more time. We can use this new information as leverage to make sure he wasn’t involved with Bridget’s disappearance.”
Jack nodded. “Okay.”
Back inside the interrogation room, Nikki sat down across from Miller. “We have some updated information on you, Mr. Miller, starting with the fact that you lied to us.”
“I wasn’t lying. I said I didn’t kidnap that girl.”
“Maybe not, but there’s something else.”
“What are you talking about?” Miller slammed his hands against the table. “I was in the park—”
“Doing what? Poaching? Because we have evidence suggesting you weren’t exactly in the park on an afternoon drive. I suggest you tell us the truth unless you want to be charged with kidnapping.”
His gaze shifted as he weighed his answer. “I was hunting.”
“Where?”
“On the border of the park.”
“Were you with anyone?” Jack asked.
“I was by myself.”
“Mr. Miller, I suggest you stop and think before you tell me another lie.”
“I was with a client last night. I bait the bears with food, luring them to return repeatedly to the same spot, then when they come back, I can guarantee a kill for my client. Their behavior is pretty easy to predict.”
“And then you sell the bear parts?” Jack asked.
Miller avoided their gaze. “I’ve got a few buyers.”
“The money must be pretty tempting. Money from your clients for every kill. Additional money to sell the parts your clients don’t care about.” Jack leaned forward, bracing his arms against the table. “I want names. You can either go down for hunting violations, or we’ll press on with the kidnapping charges.”
“No way. I know what the fine is. I’ll go with the hunting violations. I was poaching.”
“That’s a smart choice, I suppose. Most violations are classified as criminal misdemeanor and come with a two-thousand-dollar fine and a two-year hunting license revocation.” Jack leaned forward again, smiling. “But here’s the thing. You were caught on federal land with bear parts in the back of your car, which means we can see that your charge is elevated to a federal crime. That, along with what you did to my partner here, will get you a whole lot more prison time.”
Miller’s face paled, but the victory was hollow. The man might be going to prison for a long time, but that meant they were back to square one with Bridget.
14
Nikki stood in front of the whiteboard, staring at the sketch of their suspect while trying to connect the dots in her mind. Missing persons cases meant continual revising of their plan of action as the investigation developed. Coordinating with other agencies—including now the FBI, notifying all of the missing persons registries, utilizing the media, investigating family and witnesses, and monitoring volunteers. And at the same time continually praying they weren’t missing something.
Gwen handed her the updated media report. “You look tired.”
“It’s been a long day, but I’m fine.”
“Have you eaten yet? If you wait too long, that Chinese takeout someone just brought in is going to be gone, and let me tell you, it’s good.”
Nikki tapped the file against her palm and laughed. “Hungry or not, I have a feeling Tyler’s going to make sure I eat something.”
Gwen glanced across the small space to where Tyler was working while listening to music with a pair of earphones, then leaned forward, her voice lowered. “I know I’m being nosy, but are the two of you dating? I noticed he doesn’t wear a ring, and if he happens to be single . . .”
“We’re just friends.” Nikki pressed her lips together, wondering what Tyler would think about the question. As far as she knew, dating wasn’t even a blip on his radar. “He lost his wife a year ago in an accident. We planned to spend the day together remembering her. Katie was my best friend.”
“Oh. Wow. I’m so sorry.” Gwen took a step back and shook her head. “That was completely out of line of me. I know they’re out there, but sometimes decent men are so hard to find. He seems like a really great guy.”
“He is a great guy. Don’t worry about it. There was no way for you to know.”
“Still . . . I know you’re handling a lot. To have to deal with a friend’s death on top of everything else today. We all know this is personal for you.” Gwen’s smile faded. “You’ve met my sister, Raine.”
Nikki leaned back against the desk. “Yeah, she’s what . . . fourteen?”
“Thirteen going on twenty-one.” Gwen laughed. “But I keep thinking about how I’d feel if that were my sister out there. Even with our job, I honestly can’t imagine what it would really be like to not know where she was.”
“It’s hard not to worry, isn’t it?” Nikki said.
“I worry about her all the time. If something happened to her like what happened to Bridget . . . and to your sister. Because of this job I know the statistics. I see the families’ reactions and what they have to cope with, but I know that doesn’t make it the same as being in your shoes as someone who’s been there.” Gwen hesitated. “I’m just not sure how you do it. How you do this every day.”
“Sometimes, I’m not sure either.” Three months of working together had taught Nikki to not only respect Gwen’s skills as an agent but trust her as a friend as well. “But I always appreciate it when people don’t assume they know how I feel. Though to be honest, most of the time I’m not sure how I’m supposed to feel. Like in this case, I’m not the victim, and yet things are hitting way too close to home. When I took this job, I thought I could handle the emotional part. I thought that helping families would somehow make up for the loss, but then on days like today . . .”
“It doesn’t make up for it, does it?” Gwen said.
“No. Not completely anyway.”
Nothing woul
d ever be able to completely make up for losing Sarah.
Jack walked into the room from outside, his eyes still looking bloodshot from his allergies, and sneezed. “Sorry. Kyle’s doing another interview with someone in the local media in about ten minutes. He asked if he could speak to us about a couple of ideas when he’s done.”
“Of course,” Nikki said. “Has he spoken to his mother yet?”
“As far as I know, he hasn’t.”
In the end, it was Kyle’s decision, but it was going to take a considerable amount of effort on both sides, especially with the added strain of Bridget’s abduction, to mend their relationship.
“We’ve just received an initial report from the forensic team who went through Bridget’s house. It should be available for you now. They’re still evaluating the contents of her room and computer and will let us know if they come up with anything new. So far there’s nothing much there.”
Nikki’s phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID. Ryan. “I’ll be back in a minute.”
She headed outside, hesitating before answering Mr. Perfect’s call. She’d meant what she’d said to Tyler while hanging off the side of that cliff. Three dates, and she still wasn’t sure what she thought about Ryan. Not that there was anything so far not to like. Her parents liked him. Her brothers even approved. And as far as she could tell, they were all right.
Maybe that was the problem. Tyler was always calling him Mr. Perfect. But no one was perfect.
“Ryan . . . hey.”
“You sound tired. Bad timing?”
“No . . . well . . . yes, honestly. I’m working a case.”
“A case? I thought this was your day off.”
“It is. Or rather, it was.” Nikki couldn’t help but chuckle. Some day off. Twelve hours ago she’d been hanging off the side of a mountain wondering if her rope would hold her. Add to that all that had happened while searching for Bridget, and even for someone who was an adrenaline junkie, she’d had enough excitement for one day. “I got called in. A young girl went missing near the Smoky Mountains.”