See Me(152)

“I’m okay,” she mumbled, still catching her breath, amazed she could speak at all, realizing that breathing was no longer impossible. “Just need a minute.”

Colin quickly glanced over at her before facing forward again, pressing down on the accelerator. “How much farther?” he asked. “I need to know where she is.”

“I don’t know,” Maria answered, her voice still weak, her body struggling to recover. “A few more blocks,” she huffed, feeling dizzy.

“You sure?”

Was she? She looked up the street, wanting to make sure. “Yes.”

“On the left or right?”

“Left,” Maria answered. Straining, she forced herself to sit higher in the seat. Her body continued to tremble.

Colin sped through the next intersection. Staring out the window, Maria vaguely noticed a half-dozen shacks and boathouses closer to the river, looking dark and shadowed. Streetlights barely cut through the darkness. The car’s momentum began to decrease as Colin lifted his foot from the accelerator, and they coasted the next block and through another intersection. Here, the architecture immediately shifted; the flat-roofed buildings were now sandwiched together like row houses, some of the buildings in better condition than others. There were office lights blazing on some floors but most were blackened, and the cars on the street were separated by wider gaps. There was no traffic in either direction. As they drove through another block, the area suddenly began to feel familiar and Maria knew they were close, even as she struggled with a sudden rush of anger and guilt she felt for having a panic attack at the worst possible moment, when Serena needed her most.

She reminded herself that she’d been here before, and despite her body’s continued rebellion, she forced herself to take long breaths as she scanned the buildings. It was hard to tell for sure which was the one they wanted, since she hadn’t been paying that much attention the first time she’d come here. She vaguely recalled that Serena had been standing at an intersection and there’d been some construction workers staring from the opposite side of the street… She squinted, spotted scaffolding on a building at the corner, and then, on the opposite side of the street, Serena’s car…

“There!” she said, pointing. “The four-story brick one on the corner!”

Colin immediately pulled over, braking hard. He jumped out of the car and took off running, not waiting for Maria as she struggled to open her door, furious that her body had gone into revolt and needed to recover. She didn’t have time for that. Not now. Especially not now. Finally pushing the door open, she willed herself to stand and start moving.

By then, Colin had already reached the lobby door. She saw him struggling to open it, finding it locked, then jabbing at something beside the handle. When Maria looked up, there were seven or eight offices still illuminated on various floors, and she watched as Colin pounded the glass. She could tell from his body language that he was debating whether to smash his way in, but Maria instinctively knew that Serena wasn’t in the office building. Nor was Dr. Manning. He’d been far too careful to this point to make that mistake now; he’d been far too meticulous, and there were too many people in the building, too many potential witnesses, too many things that could go wrong. She guessed that Dr. Manning had been waiting for Serena on the sidewalk in front of the building and probably had a story about a pipe that burst or whatever, so the interview would be held elsewhere. She knew that he wanted someplace private, where he knew he wouldn’t be caught, a place that would burn.

“Colin!” she tried to shout. The sound came out weak. She tried to wave her arms, but the dizziness came back in a rush and she stumbled. “Colin!” she called out again, and this time he heard her voice and ran toward her.

“The door has one of those key-code locks! There’s no listing for the foundation, so I just hit all the buttons, but no one’s buzzing.”

“Serena’s not in there,” Maria forced out. “Manning took her someplace else. There are too many people inside, too many people still working.”

“If she got in his car…”

“She texted that she was walking to the interview.”

“Then where’s his car? I don’t see it.”

“Check around the corner,” Maria wheezed, still fighting waves of dizziness. “He probably parked there. If he’s looking for someplace deserted, he took her to one of the shacks or boathouses near the river. Hurry!” she said, feeling like she was about to fall over. “Just go. I’ll get my phone and call the police…” And my parents, my relatives, Lily, everyone who jumped in their cars to follow us, she thought.

By then, Colin was already backing up toward the intersection, uncertain, wanting to trust her, but…

“How do you know that’s where they’ll be?”

“Because,” she said, wondering when the police would arrive, remembering the lakeside cabin where Cassie had been murdered, remembering the shacks and boathouses common to this portion of the Cape Fear River, “that’s where Laws would have gone.”





CHAPTER 33





Colin





M

aria’s instincts had been right. He found the blue Camry parked on the cross street that ran beside the building. He sprinted past it. Straight ahead was an unkempt field that stretched toward the muddy banks of the Cape Fear River, a black void ahead of him, barren of reflection on this almost moonless night.