by Marci Bolden
“No. I’m at the park. I thought maybe…”
“Yeah. We had the same thought. A K-9 unit is headed there now.”
“I didn’t find anything.” Swallowed when her voice cracked. She raked her fingers through her hair, debating what to do. “Have any other suggestions? Ideas? He’s not at Fredrickson’s house. If he’s here, I haven’t found him. Where else would he take him? Did you find anything in his car?”
“Fredrickson’s car was clean. We’re checking Jack’s now.”
Holly closed his eyes. “We might not—”
“We’ll find him. Why don’t you go to the station? Look through the files. See if we’re missing anything.”
She laughed wryly. She could almost hear Jack lecturing her for obsessing over what little information they had on the case. “I know those files front to back. I don’t need to look at them. This isn’t about Pearson or the other women he took. This is about me. He blames me. He took Jack to hurt me.”
She ended the call and closed her eyes as she envisioned Julia’s body in the morgue. This time, she imagined Jack on the table beside her. “We need to get back to the office,” she said quietly.
Every step she took toward her car felt heavier and heavier. This was real. This was happening. Jack had been buried alive, and there was nothing Holly could do to save him.
At the car, she turned to Alexa. She tried to fight the fear, but it hit her hard and she couldn’t stop the tears from filling her eyes. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her car keys and put them in Alexa’s hand.
Alexa looked at them like she didn’t quite understand what they were.
“I can’t…” Holly said. She swallowed hard when a sob threatened to rise in her throat. “I just can’t. Not right now.”
“Okay,” Lex said softly and pressed the button to unlock Holly’s car.
For the first since she could remember, Holly slid into the passenger seat and let someone else have control.
Just breathe. In slowly, out slowly. Deep, hold, absorb, release.
No. Shallow is better. Shallow. Don’t use too much air.
Jack’s head hurt. He could no longer determine if the pain was because of the welt he’d felt on the side of his head or the lack of oxygen he was sure he was suffering by now.
He’d spent the last few minutes trying to convince himself Holly was out there. She was looking for him. She was going to find him.
But the reality was, if she wasn’t in a coffin beside his, she probably didn’t even know he was missing.
“She was dead before you even got the case,” he’d told Holly.
And now those words of comfort applied to him.
He’d be dead before Holly even knew he was gone.
Swallowing, he closed his eyes tightly as sweat rolled off his forehead. Slamming his now-tender hands against the wood, he exhaled heavily. No. He refused to believe that. She was too smart. Too aware. She was out there looking for him. She had to be.
And if she were trapped in a box like him, then HEARTS would be out there. They would be looking for her. And they wouldn’t give up.
Please, don’t let them give up.
16
Holly jerked the door to HEARTS open and headed straight for Sam. While Alexa had driven them to the office, she’d taken some deep breaths and pulled her head out of the pity pool. She needed to get, and keep, her head on straight. Jack’s life literally depended on her keeping her cool. “Did you get anything from the traffic cameras?”
Sam opened her mouth, but Detective Meyer spoke for her. “No. And she won’t. We don’t hack into the Department of Transportation, Ms. Austin.”
Holly turned and gawked at him. “One of your detectives has been kidnapped and presumably been buried alive. I think we can make an exception today, don’t you?”
“We’re working on getting a court order.”
“A court order?” Holly nearly screamed. “That could take hours.”
“We do things right.”
She scoffed and shook her head. “Yeah. We’d hate for that dead guy to challenge how we found his victim in a court of law, Meyer! Jack is running out of time!”
“I know that.”
She raked her hand over her hair. “Fine. I’ll head back to Fredrickson’s. Maybe I missed something.”
“I have a team there.”
She stared at him for a moment. “Then I’ll go back to the park.”
“The K-9 unit is there. You’ll stay here.”
“I’m not going to sit here and do nothing—”
“You will let the police handle this.”
Eva put her hands on Holly’s shoulders and gently pulled her back before she could tell Meyer exactly where she wanted him to go. Only then did Holly realize she was standing nose-to-nose with the detective. She imagined the look in her eyes was as threatening as her posture.
Exhaling, she let Eva pull her away.
“Listen,” Eva said quietly. “Sam’s not the only one with mad computer skills. Rene went to see Joshua. He might be able to help.”
Holly took a deep, calming breath. “Did you ask him how much time Jack might have?” When Eva didn’t respond, the knot in Holly’s stomach tightened. It was already closing in on one o’clock.
Eva stuttered for a moment. “There’s no exact length of time. It depends on the size of the…coffin and how much room Jack takes up and how much he breathes.”
Holly gave a soft laugh. “Joshua answered in mass and dimensions, didn’t he?”
Eva gave her a weak smile. “I got him to translate it for me.”
“And?”
She nodded a bit. “Four hours give or take. There are variables.”
Holly looked at her watch and then closed her eyes. “It’s been almost two and a half hours since he was last seen. How long do you think it took Fredrickson to bury him?”
“I don’t know,” she said softly.
Holly glanced around the lobby. “Has anyone called his mother?”
“Tika and Rene brought her back here after verifying he wasn’t with her.”
“Where is she?”
Eva nodded toward the conference room. “She’s taking this hard.”
“I imagine so. I should… Shouldn’t I?”
“She’s asked for you a few times.”
Holly drew another breath before heading for the conference room. Tika sat with a small woman in the white uniform she’d likely been wearing at the bakery where she worked. A light blue hijab covered her hair.
Tika looked up and her eyes lit with hope, but Holly gave her head a slight shake. Patting the woman’s hand she’d been holding, Tika nodded toward the door. The woman turned, and the fear in her eyes struck Holly’s heart. She’d seen that look in her mother’s eyes right before she’d died. In the child lying in the street in the warzone. In so many others’ eyes.
“You must be Holly,” she said, her voice lilting in a thick accent.
She nodded and somehow found the strength to sit next to the woman. “I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances, Ms. Tarek.”
She touched Holly’s cheek and her eyes filled with tears, but she sat a bit straighter and held them in. “He will be found. I believe that. Don’t look so scared.”
Holly wished she could share in Jack’s mother’s confidence, but she had no idea where to look for him. No idea what she could possibly do to save him.
At the feel of Ms. Tarek’s gentle tug, Holly leaned in and hugged the woman. She smiled slightly as she found the same internal peace in her arms that she’d found in Jack’s. He must have somehow gotten the ability to soothe pain from his mother. And now that peace was about to be lost.
She felt the need to cry well inside her.
She wasn’t a crier.
As the feeling filled her, she pictured Jack in her house, in her bed, in her kitchen. She tried to cling to every moment she’d shared with him. Every bit of peace she’d felt in the last few weeks. She’d nev
er feel that way again, and going home to an empty house every night would just magnify how much Fredrickson had made her pay for her failure.
Opening her eyes, she slowly leaned back, and things clicked into place in her mind.
“What is it?” Ms. Tarek asked.
“I know where he is. Tika, go get the others.” Pushing herself up, she trotted back to the lobby but found it almost empty. “Where’s Meyer?”
Sam shrugged. “He didn’t say where he was going, but I think he got permission to work with the DOT to look at the traffic cameras.”
“I don’t think we’re going to need that after all.”
“You know where Jack is?”
She looked around at the women surrounding her. “He wanted to hurt me, right? Fredrickson. He made this personal. What could be more personal than killing Jack in a place where I can’t escape what happened? I think Jack is at my house.”
“Son of a bitch,” Rene breathed. “Let’s go.”
Holly turned when she noticed a woman much shorter than her standing next to her. “Ms. Tarek, you stay here. I’ll call as soon as I know anything.”
“Absolutely not. If you are looking for Jakeem, I am going with you.”
Holly only hesitated for a moment. She wasn’t going to argue. “Ride with me.”
The women jumped in cars and sped away, with Holly taking the lead. Tires squealed as they turned corners far too fast and screeched as they stopped in front of Holly’s house. She jumped from the driver’s seat, not bothering to close the door as she ran for the gate that led to her backyard. She immediately started skimming for signs of a fresh grave.
He had to be there. He just had to.
“There,” Rene yelled.
Holly beat her to the lumpy, disturbed grass and dug her hands in. She exhaled with a mixture of relief and horror when it easily gave way. Tugging the loose sod away, she swallowed the lump in her throat. “Somebody get the shovel out of the garage. And call 911.”
Ms. Tarek dropped to her knees and started pulling at the dirt as well. Hands were moving faster than Holly could keep track of. Then a shovel was in her face. She grabbed the handle and told everyone to move back. She didn’t even bother to look where she was tossing the dirt; she just needed to move it as quickly as possible.
And then she heard what she’d hoped for and feared. The sound of the shovel hitting something solid. Ms. Tarek sobbed again, and Holly shoveled harder and faster to clear enough earth to uncover the coffin. As she continued moving the dirt, Rene and Alexa started working on brushing the top clear to determine how to open it.
“We need a hammer or a crowbar or something,” Alexa said.
“In the garage,” Holly panted. “By the workbench.”
“Jakeem,” Ms. Tarek yelled. “Can you hear us?”
Holly didn’t stop digging, but she did notice the lack of response.
By the time Eva came back with a hammer in hand, Holly had unburied the coffin and they could hear the wail of sirens growing louder. She snatched the hammer and shoved it between the lid of the box and the side, grunting as she pried the nailed surfaces apart.
She had to do this in several spots before the top inched up enough for Rene and Alexa to get their fingers wedged in to start pulling the lid.
And then her heart lifted at the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen—Jack’s fingers slipping through the crack they’d made.
“We’re coming,” Ms. Tarek said. “We’re coming, Jakeem.”
After several more pries with the hammer and tugs from Rene and Alexa, the wood cracked and nails gave way and the top pulled back enough for Jack to stick his arm out. Ms. Tarek grabbed his hand, holding it as Holly and the others finished prying the top off.
Holly smiled, and the tears she’d been fighting finally won. Reaching into the coffin, she grabbed his arms and pulled at him. “Come on,” she said when he squinted at her. She had no doubt that seeing the afternoon sun was stabbing at his eyes—he’d been in the dark for so long.
He gripped her, and she pulled him enough to roll him from the grave. Sweat soaked his brow as he gasped for air. His mother wiped his head as she cried and prayed in a language that Holly could probably decipher if she listened closely enough, but in the moment she didn’t try.
“You’re okay,” he said. Clinging to Holly’s hand, he smiled. “You’re okay.”
Brushing his soaked hair from his face, she waited for him to open his eyes a bit more. “You’re okay, too,” she promised him. “An ambulance is coming.”
“I thought he might have buried you, too. I thought…” His words faded as he relaxed on the ground.
“Jakeem,” his mother cried.
“He’s okay,” Holly whispered. “He’s okay. He just needs some fresh air.” With one hand on Jack’s, Holly slid her arm around his mother’s shoulders and held her as she cried.
Jack opened his eyes, just a crack, and gave her a weak smile. But it was enough to fill her heart.
17
Jack grinned at the sound of two women whispering so as not to wake him. His mother was telling the tale of how he’d nearly gotten suspended for defending her honor, and Holly was reassuring her that he’d done the right thing even if it had gotten him in trouble. They were making him out to be some kind of hero. Who was he to interrupt?
“Look at that smirk,” Holly said after a few moments of silence. “Someone is enjoying being the center of attention.”
“He always did,” his mother offered.
He finally opened his eyes. “That’s not true.”
They both smiled at him, and as his mom reached out to take his hand, he noticed how their hands were also entwined. His heart filled with some strange sensation—he’d call it happiness if he weren’t so scared of jinxing the feeling.
His good feeling faded and he exhaled heavily at the guilt he saw in Holly’s eyes as she looked at him.
“Stop it,” he insisted. “You didn’t do this.”
“I’ve been telling her that,” his mom said. “She’s like you. She doesn’t know how to listen.”
“Hey,” he said, focusing on her. “I’m in the hospital. Be nice to me.”
Surprisingly, she didn’t have a witty comeback. She scooted closer and then leaned down and kissed his forehead. Usually he’d remind her he was too old for that, but today he’d let it slide. Today, he’d definitely let it slide.
“I’m going to get some hot tea. Would you like some?”
“Yes,” he whispered. “I would.”
She looked at Holly, who shook her head, and then his mother eased out of the room.
Jack took Holly’s hand and tugged until she finally moved closer to him.
“I’m so sorry,” she whispered, her voice thick with emotion.
“Don’t.”
“He hurt you because I failed.”
“No.”
“Yes, Jack. He came to the office and confronted me. He told me what he’d done and why.”
Damn it. He was going to have to beat her over the head with the truth for months—if not years—to get her to hear him. “He was grieving, Hol. He was lost in his grief. No sane person would do what he did to me out of payback.”
She lowered her face and shook her head. “This was my fault.”
He pulled her closer until he could put his hand on her face and look directly into her sorrowful eyes. “You saved me.”
“I got lucky.”
Exhaling heavily, he frowned. “I don’t have the energy for this fight.”
“We’re not fighting.”
“We’re going to be if you don’t shut up and kiss me.”
She smirked but then put her mouth over his. Kissing her was almost as amazing as that first deep breath he’d taken after she pulled him from the coffin. He figured nothing would ever be quite that good. But this…this was close.
The door creaked as it was pushed open, and Holly leaned back. Jack was expecting his mom carrying in a hot cup of tea,
but Meyer stepped through the doorway, taking a moment to look from Holly to Jack and back again.
“Is this a bad time?” Meyer asked.
Holly sat all the way back, and Jack shook his head. “I’m not really ready to answer questions,” he said. “Besides, it sounds like you have a pretty good idea what happened.”
“We do.” The son of a bitch actually looked a bit guilty. “Good thing your girlfriend isn’t much for following the rules, huh?”
Jack filled with pride. “Must be why I like her so much.”
She chuckled and shook her head at his joke.
“Look, um,” Meyer started, “I’m not here about what happened to you. We know who was responsible for that. We’re examining the evidence in the Adams case, as well as the other two victims. Hearing Adams’s report of what happened to her—well, I don’t think Pearson was working alone, and he’s not giving up any information. Not even when we offered him a deal.”
“He doesn’t deserve a deal after what he did to those women,” Holly snapped.
“If there’s another psycho like him out there, we’ll gladly shave a few years off his sentence to find him. We don’t want his partner starting this shit again. Look, I know I didn’t give you enough credit while you were looking for Fredrickson.”
She glanced at Jack but had the sense to keep her sarcasm to herself.
“But…if you have any idea who he might be working with, I need to know. I need anything you’ve got.”
“What’s Susan Adams saying?”
“Pearson confronted her in the parking lot. She said it sounded like he’d been following her for some time. Her neighbors confirmed seeing a vehicle matching his several times over the last few months. He must have been stalking her. So when he followed her to the store, he waited for her to emerge and confronted her. He took her to his house and tried to convince her they belonged together.”
Holly swallowed. “Did he rape her?”
He nodded, and she felt like a knife had sliced her heart open.
“Okay?” Jack asked softly.
Holly nodded and focused on Meyer again.
“She fought him,” he said. “That made him mad, and she thinks he knocked her out. When she came to, she’d already been buried.”