Lost Girls(17)

I grabbed my cell phone and forced myself to punch in the speed-dial number for Dad, careful to keep my phone on my lap so Bennet couldn’t see it. When my father finally answered, I kept my voice low.

“Dad? Agent Bennet followed me to school and—and I’m going to get out of my car—”

I swung my door open, slipping the phone in my jacket pocket as I continued to talk.

“I’m going to walk up to his car. Don’t say anything, okay?” I glanced back at Bennet’s Toyota, which was also slowing to a stop. We were both just inside the student parking lot entrance, a steady stream of cars pulling in around us, plenty of people watching in case he tried something.

I shot a quick glance back at his car and then mumbled his license plate number, hoping Dad could hear it.

“Be careful,” his voice said from my pocket.

“Walking over to his car now.”

And then I was heading toward Bennet’s sedan. His window was rolling down, and all around us students were laughing and joking, getting out of cars and heading in to another day of school. But all I could think was, this is the last place I was seen.

This was exactly where I was kidnapped. And I had a feeling it had happened almost exactly like this.





Chapter Twelve


It felt like a memory, but it was really more like intuition, or a sudden overwhelming sense of self-preservation. The wind was singing through the nearby Japanese cherry trees, a sweet fragrance was staining the air, and my blood was rushing through my veins, my pulse becoming the bass note in a song I didn’t want to hear. Someone leaned out the window, a slow grin spreading over his face, warming his eyes.

This was how it had happened.

I’d gotten into somebody’s car of my own free will, knowing the person who had taken me. An unwelcome shiver worked its way across my shoulders, making me shudder. I crossed my arms over my body, a defensive move that wouldn’t help, not one bit, if I needed to fight my way out of this.

“Morning,” Bennet said in a low, husky voice. “I was only following your daughter to make sure she was safe.”

I frowned.

“Your father’s listening, isn’t he? Let me talk to him.”

The cell phone was cold in my hand when I pulled it from my pocket and then held it to my ear. “Dad?” I said.

“It’s okay,” he said. “Give him your phone.”

“I just need to talk to your daughter for a few minutes,” Bennet said. “But it needs to be private. She already gave you my license plate number. You want my badge number, too?” There was a pause and I thought I heard Dad threatening to hang Bennet from his balls if anything happened to me. Bennet gave me a thin smile, then spoke into the phone again. “She’ll be fine. I promise. We’re just going to talk for a few minutes. I’ll have her call you when we’re done, how’s that? Of course.”

I glanced up at all the other kids in the parking lot, all of them with normal lives that they didn’t even appreciate. Maybe they were worried they wouldn’t get asked to the prom or that they wouldn’t get a good score on their SATs. None of them were worried that one day their past was going to overwhelm them and they would remember the most horrific thing that had ever happened to them.

“Get in,” Bennet said, unlocking his doors.

I shook my head, still staring at all those people getting out of their cars. “Nope. I went missing here once before. Not going to happen again.”

“Okay. Just remember, you picked this place to stop. Not me.”

“Give me my phone.” I held my hand out, palm up, realizing that it was a vulnerable stance. He could grab me and force me into his car. He seemed to read my mind and nodded his head. A second passed before my cell rested in my palm, lightweight and fragile, just like I felt. I kept one finger on redial.

Bennet sighed. “Can we go for a walk?”

“I need to get to school.”

“Just for a few minutes—we need to talk.” He opened his door and got out, then stood beside me, so close I could feel the heat from his body. I took a step away from him, instantly aware of the muscles that bulged beneath his shirt and his strong hands and those cool green eyes, fixed on a distant point over my shoulder. His lips were parted as if ready to speak, but instead he gestured toward the street.

“You’re going to start remembering things,” he said, a minute later as we walked on the sidewalk that surrounded the parking lot. All the while, I kept one eye focused on the security guard patrolling this side of the building. “And when you do, I want you to tell me. Okay? Nobody else. Not your therapist or your parents or your best friend.”

“Why should I trust you instead of them?” A frown settled on my brow, my muscles flexed and tensed, flexed and tensed. I imagined throwing him to the ground, the same way I had done with Kyle a few days ago. But I had a feeling Bennet wouldn’t be as easy a target.

“Because I don’t think you were kidnapped by a stranger, Rachel. You’re too smart for that. I think you willingly went with someone you knew.”

His words echoed my fears. But it didn’t make me feel better. Instead, a knot formed in my stomach, a cluster of muscles that tightened until I felt nauseated. “You showed me pictures of other girls that went missing. Back when you were interrogating me.”