Defending Everly (Mountain Mercenaries #5)(78)

He’d then attached a few more pictures—of Ella Adams’s armless, headless, and legless torso. Of a leg in a dumpster. An arm in someone’s curbside trash can. Her head sitting on an unlit fire. And then ashes being thrown into the ocean.

Whoever was behind Elise’s original kidnapping had murdered Elise and Everly’s mother and scattered the body parts. It would be a miracle if all the pieces were ever found. And the fact that neither sister had been notified of their mother’s death was telling as well. No one knew she was gone.

Everly had told him once that Ella tended to disappear for weeks at a time on benders of some sort. But she’d always eventually resurface, usually to call and ask for money. Crying to her parents and telling them she just needed a little money for groceries.

Ball wasn’t sickened by the pictures, he’d seen worse, but he was out of his mind knowing the woman he loved, and her sister, were most likely at the mercy of this psychopath right now.

The messages continued after the pictures.

Rob: I thought for sure after seeing the lengths I’d gone to for you, you’d talk to me again.

Rob: But I can see now that you’re really upset with me.

Rob: I’ll have to make you love me again.

Rob: I saw you today. Hiking. You looked good in those shorts. But I want you to cover your legs next time, they’re just for me to look at. To lick.

Rob: I like this area too. We’ll have to come back. Soon.

Rob: You should be careful riding the bus. You never know who’s watching.

Rob: I love that light-blue nightie you wore last night. I watched you through your apartment window. You should keep your curtains shut, Elise. Watching you sleep will be so much better when we’re together.

The messages went on and on, and it was obvious that this man had been watching Elise while she’d been in Colorado Springs. Except for the time he’d had to spend to go back and kill Ella, he could have been right here in Colorado the whole time.

A thought struck Ball. Elise had been right. Someone had been watching her hike. She wasn’t just being paranoid.

He was almost as proud of her as he was scared shitless.

“I’m so sorry I didn’t find this until now,” Meat told him.

“It’s not your fault,” Ball told him. “Finding those messages will help us prosecute this asshole when we locate him. Besides, I shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss her concerns. And I was late today.”

“What?”

“I wanted to be here a while ago. But I was dealing with stupid shit that could’ve waited. Everly got off work early and beat me home. And now they’re both gone. I need you to help me find them, Meat. There are cameras in the complex. Hack into them. No one can track down someone better than you.”

“Consider it done. I’ll also call the rest of the team.”

“Thank you. Rex too?”

“Rex too. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to start talking to the neighbors. She wasn’t close to them, and some probably weren’t home, but I have to start somewhere.”

“Good. Don’t be surprised if Rex calls soon.”

“Later,” Ball said, and clicked off the phone. He picked up both Elise’s and Everly’s cells and slipped the ring onto his pinkie finger. It fit perfectly.

Ball closed his eyes for a moment and said a silent prayer, then immediately headed for the door. Someone must’ve seen something.

Fifteen minutes later, Ball’s phone rang.

“Ball.”

“It’s Rex,” his handler said, the electronically altered voice grating on Ball’s nerves for the first time.

“He got her,” Ball said.

“I know. But we’re gonna find her.”

After questioning the neighbors, and learning nothing that would help him find Everly and Elise, Ball wanted to lash out in frustration. How was Rex going to find Elise and Everly when he couldn’t even find his own wife?

Then he immediately felt bad for the thought. It wasn’t fair. But Ball was feeling raw and uneasy. Knowing how easily the kidnapper had managed to dismember and dispose of Ella Adams’s body made him realize that he could do the same thing to Everly and Elise. This was Colorado. There were thousands of wilderness acres where he could bury their bodies. It was definitely possible that they’d never be found.

“Meat and I have looked at the surveillance footage, and we know how he got Elise out of the building. He came up behind her as she was going into her apartment. She never heard him, obviously. He left the apartment with a full-size suitcase.”

Ball turned and punched the hallway wall as hard as he could. “He put Elise into a goddamn suitcase?” he asked.

“Apparently. It was an effective way to get an unconscious person out without looking suspicious. She’s small enough that he could’ve easily fit her in there, and she’s light enough that it wasn’t obvious the suitcase was overly heavy.”

“How’d he get Everly?” Ball asked, extremely anxious. Everly was astute. It was hard for him to sneak up on her. There was no way a stranger would be able to shove her inside the apartment like he had Elise.

“As far as we can see . . . he didn’t. She walked out of her apartment—without locking the door, by the way—and headed down the stairs. But she did send you a message.”