He tapped the pencil he held on his desk and stared into space. She should be gone by now. He slapped his palms on his desk. So much for his relationship with Danielle Tyler. Now he needed to get to work, take his mind off her. He reached over and booted his computer just as the phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Jack,” Mary the dispatcher said, “I have a Kenny Tyler from Atlanta on the line, and he insists on talking to you and no one else.”
Jack jerked upright in his chair and grasped the receiver tighter. “Put him on.”
“Hello, Mr. Tyler. This is Jack Denton.”
“Jack, have you seen Danielle this morning?”
“No, I saw her last night. Why?”
“We can’t reach her, and I’m worried.”
Jack’s heart pounded. “Has something happened?”
“Yes. We got a text message from her this morning. She said she’d decided not to come home after all. Said she needed some time to think. We tried to call her, but her phone keeps going to voice mail. We’ve left a dozen messages, but she hasn’t returned any.”
“If she wants to be alone, she might ignore your calls.”
“No, not Danielle. She’d know how worried we’d be. She would never text us such a message. We also got a call from the moving company I hired.”
Jack sat up straighter. “What did they say?”
“They went to her house at the time she’d told them to come, but she wasn’t there. They waited for several hours, but she never showed up.” The man dissolved into tears. “We’re scared, Jack. What if she’s in the house hurt, or God forbid dead?”
“Now let’s not panic, Mr. Tyler. I’ll go to her house and check on her.”
“There’s a key under the big flowerpot in the corner of the porch. Let yourself in.”
“I will. Give me your phone number, and I’ll call you when I know anything. Don’t worry. I’ll find her.” Jack hoped his words sounded more confident than he felt.
Kenny told him the number, and he programmed it into his cell phone.
“Please, Jack. Call us as soon as you know anything. We’re going crazy here.”
Jack swallowed. “I will. I’ll talk to you in a little while.”
Jack hung up, grabbed his jacket and ran down the hall. “I’m on my way to Dr. Danielle Tyler’s house. Her parents can’t reach her and are worried,” he yelled to Mary as he dashed by.
Jumping into his car, he resisted the urge to turn on the siren. This call wouldn’t be classified an emergency by anyone else. To him, though, it ranked up there with his worst fears. From the moment Kenny Tyler began to speak, Jack’s blood had turned cold. Call it a hunch, a premonition, whatever. He knew something had happened to Danielle.
When he arrived at her house, he bounded up the steps in two leaps and had the front door open in seconds. A quick search through the rooms confirmed what he had expected—she was nowhere to be found. In the bathroom, two towels and a washcloth hung on the shower door as if they’d been placed there to dry after bathing. Her makeup lay scattered across the vanity, but the bedroom revealed something else he suspected. Her bed hadn’t been slept in. She hadn’t made it home from the fundraiser the night before.
Whirling around, he ran from the house, jumped in his car and raced toward the university. When he drove into the parking lot back of the Nathan Webster Pavilion, his heart sank to his stomach. Danielle’s car sat in the same spot where he had seen it last night. A quick search of the unlocked car yielded nothing.
Pulling his cell phone from his pocket, he punched Jeff Newman’s number and waited for an answer.
“Dr. Newman’s office. May I help you?”
“Betty, this is Jack Denton. May I speak with Dr. Newman?”
“I’m sorry, Detective Denton. He hasn’t come in yet. Do you want to leave a message?”
Jack raked his hand through his hair. “How about Mr. Webster? Is he in yet?”
“No, I’m sorry. Mr. Webster is taking the day off. I think he needed to recuperate from the big fundraiser last night. Dr. Newman will probably be here within the hour if you want to call back.”
“Thanks. I’ll do that.”
Jack flipped the phone closed and jogged across the parking lot toward the back of the building. When he’d last seen Danielle, she was walking into the kitchen. Maybe some of the staff working this morning had noticed her last night.
He pulled the kitchen door open and stepped inside. One woman in a white uniform turned from grating cheese and another looked up from a pot bubbling on the stove. A third peeked around the corner from what appeared to be the dish room.
Jack flashed his badge. “My name is Detective Jack Denton. I need to ask you ladies some questions.”
They exchanged quick glances before they formed a semi-circle around him. The oldest of the three nodded. “What can we do for you?”
“Do you ladies know Dr. Danielle Tyler, the Dean of Students here?”
Their heads bobbed in unison. “Sweetest lady on staff. We like to see her come to the dining room.”
“Were any of you working last night’s fundraiser?”
Again the three heads nodded.
“Did you see her in the kitchen last night?”
At this question, all three shook their heads. The oldest shrugged. “It was so busy in here, and we had lots of student workers. Sometimes it was so crowded I didn’t know who was here, but I never saw her in the kitchen.”
The back door banged, and a young man walked into the room. He stopped when he saw them. “I’m sorry. Am I interrupting something?”
One of the ladies motioned for him to join them. “This is Brandon Putman. He helped us in the kitchen last night.”
Jack pulled his badge out again. “I was just asking these ladies if they saw Dr. Danielle Tyler in the kitchen last night.”
Brandon smiled. “I saw her. She came from the dining room, walked right by me and went out the back door.”
Jack’s pulse throbbed. “Was anyone with her?”
Brandon shook his head. “No. She went out alone.”
“Did you see her come back in?”
Brandon thought a moment. “No, but Mr. Webster came back.”
Jack’s eyes grew wide. “What do you mean?”
“About ten minutes after I saw Dr. Tyler pass through here, I had to take some trash outside. I saw her talking to Mr. Webster at the edge of the parking lot. It looked like they might be drinking something.”
Jack took a step closer. “Did they look upset or concerned?”
Brandon shook his head. “No. They were just standing there talking. I came on back inside, and after about thirty minutes I saw Mr. Webster walk back through, but I didn’t see Dr. Tyler again.”
“Thank you for your help.” Jack was almost through the door before the last words were out of his mouth.
He raced to his car, jumped in and roared from the parking lot. Now that he knew Danielle had disappeared, he had to find her. The sight of Tricia Peterson’s body flashed before him, and he tried to force it from his mind.
Nothing about Danielle’s disappearance made sense yet, but it would. He had to get back to the station and bounce his suspicions off Will. Then they’d decide what to do.
Danielle’s eyes blinked open, and she stared upward at the strange panels that covered the ceiling. From somewhere nearby came the soft sound of her parents’ music. They sang her favorite song, the one they’d always said was written for her. She smiled. Had she come home? She turned her head and stared at the stark wall beside the bed. It wasn’t covered in the flowered paper of the bedroom in her parents’ home. Where was she?
Her gaze came to rest on a corner stairway that curved toward the ceiling. She tried to find the upper level of the room, but there didn’t seem to be one. The stairs ended at the top of the room.
Her head hurt, and she reached up to massage her temples. She struggled to lift arms that felt as if they weighed one hundred pounds each.
The smell of coffee tickled her nose.
“Are you hungry?”
The soft voice shocked her. She wasn’t alone. With every bit of strength she could muster she pushed up on her elbows and glanced around. She lay on a bed in a small room. Nathan sat at a table near her feet. A silver tray in front of him held a silver coffeepot and plate of Danish rolls.
Nathan picked up the pot and poured the steaming liquid into a cup. “I thought you would never wake up. I’ve been checking on you for hours.” He inclined his head toward a stereo across the room. “I thought you might like to wake up to your parents’ singing. I know how you listen to them all the time.”
Danielle glanced down at the blanket covering her and threw it back. She still had on the white dress she’d worn to the fundraiser, but she didn’t remember much about the event. She struggled for a memory, and then it all rushed into her head.
She gasped and pushed to her feet. The room revolved around her, and she sat down on the edge of the bed. “Nathan, you drugged and kidnapped me.” The accusation escaped her mouth in a rush of words.
He nodded. “It was the only way I could think of to keep you here until I convinced you to marry me.” He stood, walked to the bed and handed her a cup of coffee. “Drink this. You’ll feel better.”
Danielle set the cup on the floor and stood up. Her legs trembled, and she braced them against the side of the bed. “I want to understand why you’ve done this, Nathan. It doesn’t make sense.”
He tilted his head to one side and pursed his lips. “You remind me of a child, Danielle. Instead of accepting the wonderful thing that has happened to you, you have to ask why. Sometimes it’s better not to know.”
“Please, Nathan. You’ve been my friend for years. Surely you can tell me why you sent the roses and why you’ve brought me to…” She let her gaze drift across the small enclosure. “Where am I, Nathan?”
“In a fallout shelter. My father had it built years ago. He was convinced the country was going to be bombed, and he wanted us to be safe.” He paused. His lips formed a sneer. “That’s what he said, but I knew the truth. This place was built for me, because I wasn’t perfect enough to be a Webster.”
“What do you mean?”
“I lived here a lot. If I got a grass stain on my clothes from playing, if I spilled a glass of milk at dinner, whatever I did to displease them, I was locked in here for punishment. Sometimes it would last for days.”
Tears sprang to Danielle’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, Nathan.”
He smiled and reached for her hand. “It doesn’t matter now. It became his turn to live here when he became old and couldn’t defend himself. I paid him back with interest.”
Danielle shrank from his touch. “Don’t talk like that.”
He clamped his fingers on her hand and pulled her back toward him. “From the moment I saw you, I knew you were the one person who would never treat me the way everybody else did. I wanted to make your life the best it could be. I didn’t want anything or anybody to cause you any unhappiness.”
His wild-eyed stare sent shivers racing through her. Where had the Nathan she’d known for years gone? She had to find that man again. “You’ve been kind to me. That’s why I still don’t understand why you’ve brought me here.”
He sighed and released his hold on her hand. He walked across the narrow room, then turned and faced her. “It’s time for you to repay me for everything I’ve done for you. You have to marry me.”
Danielle frowned. “Done for me? You mean by giving me a job at Webster?”
He laughed. “Oh, Danielle, you are so naive. Don’t you realize what all I’ve done for you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He twisted his mouth to one side and tapped his forehead with his index finger. “For starters, there’s the Webster Scholarship for Graduate study I gave you.”
“But Nathan, I only got that scholarship by default after Jennifer was killed.”
His eyes glowed. “Exactly.”
The truth hit her, and she reeled toward the bed as if a giant hand had slapped her backward. “You?” she whispered. “You murdered Jennifer?”
He laughed. “It was beautiful, Danielle. You should have heard her beg and plead for her life, but I told her it was no use. She wasn’t standing in your way.”
A scream tore from Danielle’s throat, and she rushed toward him, her hands clawing at him. “You monster!”
Nathan grabbed her hands and circled both her wrists with one hand. She struggled, but his viselike grip held her prisoner. “You’re stronger than Jennifer, and Tricia, too, for that matter.”
Her knees sagged, but he held her up. “You killed Tricia, too?”
He nodded. “Yes. I saw how upset you were because she reminded you of Jennifer’s death. I told her she shouldn’t have hurt you that way. She was sorry at the end.”
Danielle moved her head from side to side. “How could you? Tricia was such a wonderful girl.” She froze in place and stared up at him. “What about Flynn? Did Landon kill him?”
Nathan chuckled. “Landon’s guilty of being a pervert and maybe wanting to be a rapist, but he hasn’t killed anybody as far as I know.”
“But the messages on his computer?”
Nathan’s eyes sparkled with excitement. “I thought the police would never find that computer.”
“So you killed Flynn, too. Why him?”
A quizzical expression covered his face. “Because you asked me to do it.”
Tears rolled from Danielle’s eyes. “I didn’t.”
“But you did. You told me you’d spent many sleepless nights trying to overcome the bad feelings you had for Flynn because he had Tricia pose for that Web site. I knew you wanted him gone so you wouldn’t think about it any longer.”
Danielle sank to the floor, and Nathan knelt beside her. She looked up at him through tear-filled eyes. “I never wanted you to kill anyone.”
“Maybe not Stan, but I knew you wanted the others dead.”
If he had kicked her in the stomach, it wouldn’t have hurt worse than the pain that knocked the breath from her. She remembered Nathan’s visits to her in Chapel Hill when she was in graduate school. Nathan had never approved of Stan, and at the time she’d wondered why.
“Please tell me you didn’t murder Stan.”
His eyebrows arched. “But I did. I couldn’t let him marry you. I was saving you for me.”
The horror of what she’d just learned washed over her, and she curled into a fetal position on the floor and began to sob. “I trusted you, Nathan. I thought you were my friend, and you’re an evil man. I’m going to see that you pay for what you’ve done.”
He stroked her head. “Now, now, darling. Don’t be upset. Everything will look better to you when you’ve had time to think about what life can be like for you when we’re married. I’m rich, Danielle. You can have anything you want, and I promise I’ll be a good husband.”
She stared up at him. “You’re insane. All I want is to get away from you.”
He grabbed her arms and jerked her to him. Rage filled his face, and he gritted his teeth. “Don’t ever say that to me again, or I’ll make you as sorry as Jennifer and Tricia were.” He shook her, and her neck popped. “Do you understand me?”
Fear rushed through Danielle, and she nodded. “Yes, Nathan. I understand.”
He took a deep breath and released her. “Good. Now I’m going to leave you here to think about what I’ve said. When you come to your senses, we’ll drive over to Asheville and get married by a justice of the peace. My private jet is waiting at the airport to transport us to my villa in Italy for a honeymoon. I’m going to give you the world, Danielle.”
She rubbed her arms where his fingers had gouged at her flesh. “I can’t go abroad. I don’t have my passport.”
He chuckled. “I took the liberty of searching your house while you were out one day last week. I found your passport.”
“I didn’t break in. I used the key under the flowerpot. I go in all the time when you’re not there. I enjoy the pleasure I get from being where you live.”
She shook her head in dismay. “You’re sick, Nathan.”
His hand cracked across her face, and she slammed backward, her head striking the concrete floor. “Don’t ever say that to me,” he screamed. “I want to be good to you, but if I have to punish you I will. And I promise you won’t like it. So you decide which you want—a loving husband or a harsh disciplinarian.”
He whirled, stormed up the steps to the ceiling, and pushed open a trapdoor at the top. A beam of sunlight shone through the opening for a few seconds before the door slammed back into place.
Reality hit her. Nathan had said she was in a fallout shelter, but it hadn’t registered until she saw the small shaft of light. “I’m underground.”
She struggled to her feet and stumbled up the steps. When she reached the top, she pushed with all her strength, but the door wouldn’t budge. Locked from the outside.
Danielle eased down into the room and fell onto the bed. She still shook from the revelations about the tragedies in her life. Ever since Jennifer’s and Stan’s deaths, she had distanced herself from relationships because she didn’t want to lose someone again. Never would she have suspected Nathan to be the instigator of the evil that touched her life.
She thought of Jack, and fresh tears rolled down her face. She would never see him again, because she would soon be dead. If she refused to marry Nathan, he would most certainly kill her. The slap he’d given her might have been a warning, but she had no doubt a life with him would be filled with much worse than that. So either way, she was going to end up dead.
TWENTY-ONE
Jack burst through the door of Will’s office. “We’ve got a problem.”
Will jumped up from behind his computer. “Man, you look awful. What’s happened?”
“It’s Danielle.” Jack dropped down into a chair, propped his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands.
Mountain Peril Page 17