Predatory Game (GhostWalkers, #6)(75)
Saber walked with him. “I’ve been thinking about this thing with Whitney. We’ve got him and the sicko who jacked off in my bedroom. Maybe they’re connected, maybe not, but I’m leaning more toward the theory that we’re missing some vital piece here, Jesse. Something right in front of our noses.”
He wasn’t going to discount her radar, because he was feeling the same way. Whitney had nothing to gain by snatching Saber before she was pregnant. Not when he’d gone to so much trouble to orchestrate the two of them meeting.
His bedroom was enormous, the four-poster bed dominating the room. It was low, custom built to make it easy for him to lock his chair and slide into the bed without help. The room was always surprisingly neat. Jess tended to toss his clothes over the backs of chairs or onto the nightstand, but everything else was in place.
“I’ve always been intimidated by that bed,” Saber said, stopping just inside the doorway. “It’s huge.”
“I won’t let you get lost. We just have to make certain Patsy doesn’t come barging in and find you here or we’ll be dragged to the nearest church and married before the day is out.”
“Don’t even say that. Patsy would be thrilled to catch me in your bedroom. She has visions of you producing like ten kids or something.”
He laughed. “My sister would make the best aunt in the world.”
“She needs to have children. You’d make a great uncle.”
The smile faded from his face. “She was so in love with David. I have no idea how to tell her David died because of me. I never thought my job or the choices I made would ever touch my family.”
“Oh, Jesse. Oh God.” Saber’s hand fluttered to her throat and then shot out to brace herself against the wall. “Patsy.”
He stiffened at her tone, pausing in the act of transferring to his bed. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“We have to go to Patsy’s house right now.”
“Saber, it’s four o’clock in the morning. Why?”
She bit at her lip, frowning. “When Patsy was here earlier, I didn’t like the way her heart was acting.”
Jess straightened up immediately. “What do you mean, you didn’t like the way her heart was acting?”
“I don’t know. Her rhythm was off.”
He looked grim, fierce. “Something is wrong with my sister’s heart and you didn’t say anything?”
“I tried to get her to see a doctor. I didn’t think you knew about me. I was afraid to say anything, but I planned, when I left, to tell you in a letter to get her to the doctor.”
“Why did you check out her rhythm?”
His tone sent a chill down her spine. Saber gripped the doorjamb harder. “Someone had dropped a listening device in the pocket of her jacket. It was giving off a small energy field and I picked it up when I was close to her.”
“Let’s go then,” Jess said. “It will take a few minutes for me to get dressed.”
Saber hurried to drag on jeans and a T-shirt. Jess hadn’t been happy that she allowed Patsy to leave without saying anything, but he hadn’t condemned her for it. It seemed that she kept asking him to accept more and more from her. She would have warned Patsy, though. She liked her a great deal and she never would have left without first making certain Patsy knew she had something wrong with her heart.
Guilt didn’t ease up as she ran for the van. Jess was already in the garage, rolling his chair onto the lift to take him inside. He caught her outstretched hand as she leapt to join him.
“I’m sorry, Jesse. I honestly don’t know if it’s a minor thing that doesn’t really matter and will never harm her, but it’s just not right.”
“I understand.” He locked his chair into place and glanced over at her to make certain she was settled. “The thing is, baby, Patsy means the world to me. If anything happened to her…” His voice trailed off and the van engine started.
“I know. I’m sorry. I should have told you sooner.” She was miserable with shame and guilt weighing her down.
He lost them. Lost them. Everything was falling apart. He had to regroup. He could still save this. He went down the stairs to the basement and walked through the waiting room. Her room. Once he had her where she belonged, her voice would only be for him. She’d speak only when he allowed her, say only things meant for his ears.
Manacles hung from the ceiling and the wall. He had everything laid out for her—ready for her. She would come to love him in time, love the things he could do to her. And she’d know he was her master, the one she was born to please. She’d be what he wanted her to be, live only for him at his whim, at his pleasure. He sucked in his breath. He was so close. No one would ever find this place. Not the cripple, not the supersoldiers, and certainly not that bastard Whitney.
CHAPTER 13
Rain greeted them as they pulled out of the drive and headed for Patsy’s estate. Jesse and Patsy’s grandparents had left both of them well off, and Patsy lived only a few miles from her brother, the back of her property connecting to the same thick wooded area. A month after Jess’s legs had been damaged she had purchased the property next to his and bought into the radio station. It actually took longer to drive to her house than walk through the woods to it, as they had to circle around following the roads.