A Darkness Absolute (Casey Duncan #2)(121)

“Yep, I am. Sorry.”

I head down the steps. While I’m still woozy enough that I use the railing, I’m too drugged and preoccupied to feel the pain. As I pull on my parka, my shoulder does protest, but I cover my wince.

“She must have joined up with a human trail and followed that,” Diana continues. “To find her that way, you’d need a tracking dog. Which is what you will have this time next year, Casey. You’ll find Storm, and you’ll train her, and this will all be nothing more than a lesson learned. Devon says we need to get her a tracking implant. Which wouldn’t be a bad idea for everyone here. I don’t know why they haven’t thought of it.”

“Eric tested one. It works about as well as our damned radios.” I glance over at her. “Speaking of radios, does Eric know Storm’s out there?”

“I wasn’t sure if I should tell—”

“No, you’re right. Better to not distract him.”

I’m standing in the kitchen, one hand on the back door. I stop.

Benjamin. Snow. Puppy.

I turn to Diana. “There’s no actual proof Storm took off, right?”

Diana gives a slow look around the tiny kitchen. “Even a dog can’t hide in this place. I think you need to go back to bed and rest—”

“I mean there’s no proof she left on her own.”

I walk to the window and look out. When I catch the flicker of Paul’s flashlight, I back up out of his line of sight. He passes without seeing me at the window. I check my watch and then continue, “The evidence we’re seeing could be equally explained by someone taking her. Lots of prints on the porch to cover footprints. Door left open enough that she might have snuck out, but not so wide open that Paul would notice in his patrols. Someone could time Paul’s patrols, lure Storm to the door, grab and dash.”

“Given everything that’s going on, Casey, I don’t think even Jen is a big enough bitch to steal your puppy right now.”

“He never left.”

She peers at me. “Who?”

“Shawn Sutherland. That’s why they haven’t found him. He never left Rockton.”

“How?”

“It was nighttime. Add in the chaos of me being shot. Everyone expects him to run for the forest. They fan out to the edges. He follows footprints back and ducks in someplace.”

“Ducks in where?”

“There’s no shortage of places empty here at this hour,” I say. “He knows Eric and Will and the whole damned militia will be in those woods looking for him. And I’ll be here, recuperating. I’ll have a guard, though, and probably a nursemaid. So he needs to lure me out. What better way to do that than to steal my puppy.”

She’s quiet for a moment. Then she says, “I know I just complained you always seem to be the focus of attention, but are you really sure he’s that obsessed with you? If he’s got a chance to escape, would he really risk it to kidnap you?”

“It’s not me. It’s what I represent. He targeted me at first to stop me from finding him. Now he wants to punish me for it. Someone bested him and—worse—that someone is a woman. He needs to put me in my place. My place is in a hole.”

“Okay,” she says, and then, “Sorry. I didn’t mean … You don’t normally…”

“Have an overinflated sense of my own importance? I know exactly what this guy sees in me, and it’s not that I’m not the cavegirl of his dream, okay? I’m an adversary.” I see the wavering beam of Paul’s flashlight as it rounds the corner and I turn mine off, withdrawing from the windows. Once he passes, I check my watch. Three minutes.

“I agree with your reasoning,” Diana says. “The evidence does strongly suggest your dog didn’t escape. It also makes sense for Shawn to stay in Rockton. If he wants revenge, yes, he’ll snatch you before he runs, thumbing his nose at Eric and Will, too. And the best way to lure you out is by taking Storm. You’re doped up on painkillers, so he expects you’ll go charging into the woods to find her, the capable cop turned panicked puppy-mommy.” She opens the back door. “Pa—”

I slam it shut before she can finish.

“What are you doing?” she says.

“I’d ask you the same thing.”

“Getting Eric on the line. Presuming the radio works. If not, we’ll have to send someone to find him. We need to get his ass back here with Will so they can turn the tables on this bastard.”

“Sutherland will be watching for that. Waiting for them to return. If he figures out I called Eric, he’ll abandon his scheme. We’ll find Storm dead outside my back door, and a few days later, we’ll find Nicole’s body, too. If he can’t kidnap me, he’ll cut his losses and punish me that way.”

She’s quiet for a moment. Then she says, “This is the point where I should ask you what’s the alternative. But I already know it. You’re going after him. Which only proves exactly what he’s counting on—that you’re too doped up on meds to think straight.”

“I’ve figured out what he’s up to. Where he is. What happened to Storm. You agree with my reasoning, which should prove I’m thinking just fine. That’s how I catch him. By stepping into his trap … knowing it’s a trap.”