Shattered (LOST #3)(27)

“No!” Sarah cried out.

Jax glanced back at her. “Don’t worry, Sarah. I’ll be out before you know it.”

But Molly needed him. Sarah needed him.

And . . . she didn’t usually need anyone.

Then Jax was just . . . gone.

Sarah straightened her shoulders. Something was happening to her. Her control was splintering. It was this case. Eddie, Molly—the tie to her own past. She was remembering too much about her father and not focusing enough on this criminal. This man who’d abducted Molly. She needed to get into his head.

“We should talk to Eddie,” Wade said as he rubbed the back of his neck. His golden eyes glinted. “Gabe is already trying to get the guy to agree to a sit-down with us, but so far, the kid won’t say a word. His lawyer is stonewalling things. Maybe Gabe can use his influence with the captain here in order to make him talk.”

Sarah glanced over at the captain’s office. His door was shut. Gabe was in there with him. A real closed-door meeting. But with every moment that passed, the seriousness of the situation seemed to grow.

This was no prank. No ploy for attention. A woman had been abducted, and they needed to be searching the city for her.

“Dean is at the college campus, talking with Molly’s friends and following up leads there,” Wade said. “He’s got Emma with him. That woman refused to be benched and she’s riding shotgun with him. So if there’s any intel to find there, you can count on them.”

Yes, she could. “I need my phone back,” Sarah said.

Wade’s brows shot up.

“He contacted me before. He had my number. He’ll do it again.” Because it was a game to the perp. A game he wanted to play with her. “The cops should be done with the phone by now. I want it back.” Because when he called again, she’d be ready for him. She glanced up at Wade. “I know Gabe sent that picture back to our headquarters in Atlanta. Has the tech team found anything on it?” Because they had a guy on staff who was an absolute genius with his computers. He could enhance and enlarge photos, find the smallest specks of evidence in a picture that others had completely overlooked. Leo had a true gift at enhancements.

“No word from Leo yet.”

Everything was moving too slowly. She looked back over at the door that led to holding. Jax was gone. Ron was gone, too. Ron Tate. He’d been dragged off to interrogation.

The redhead was slumped in a nearby chair, crying.

She’s the one who said Jax threw the first punch. That woman’s claim was the reason Jax had just been locked up.

Sarah strode toward her.

“Uh, Sarah . . .” Wade began. He sounded nervous, unusual for him.

Sarah slapped her hands on the desk near the woman. The redhead jumped.

“You know Molly Guthrie,” Sarah said flatly.

The woman nodded.

“Sarah,” Wade hissed out her name.

“Someone took Molly. Tied her up, and sliced her with a knife.”

Fear filled the woman’s big, blue eyes. Ella Jane. That was the woman’s name. She’d heard Ron tell Ella Jane to wait for him.

No, Ella Jane, you need to get the hell away from him.

“Uh, Sarah, I don’t think you’re supposed to be talking with her. Witness tampering and all that,” Wade said softly.

She almost rolled her eyes. Sometimes, Wade was such a cop. A rule follower. She’d learned early on that it paid to break rules. “Ella Jane here is going to tell the truth.”

Ella Jane hunched back into her chair.

“Because she knows just how powerful Jax is in this city.” It was something Sarah was learning. The whispers about him were true. “She knows that he can get searches organized right now—searches that the cops would never be able to conduct.” Searches that would lead into the city’s underworld. “And we can find Molly, before it’s too late.”

The bruises on Ella Jane’s neck were darkening even more.

But Ella Jane wasn’t speaking.

“Ron buys you something afterwards, doesn’t he?” Sarah asked as her gaze slid to the pretty rings that sparkled on Ella Jane’s fingers. “He’s so sorry, and he wants to make it up to you.” Classic.

“I . . . it was just rough sex.” Ella Jane’s voice was a monotone. Her eyes appeared dead. “I wanted it.”

“No, you didn’t.” Sarah leaned toward her. “Was Ron with you last night? Or did he slip away so he could see if Molly liked a bit of rough sex, too?”

“What?” Horror flashed on Ella Jane’s face. “No! H-He was with me. The whole time! I know because . . . he wouldn’t let me leave his sight.” She swallowed and glanced down at the rings on her fingers. “Not even for a second.”

That’s because he wants to control you. Ron, oh, yes, she understood him. Far too well. Her father would understand him, too. Her father would have taken Ron and— Sarah slammed the door shut on that thought. “Ella Jane . . .”

Ella glanced up at her.

“Ron is going to leave town the minute Jax gets out of this police station.” She’d seen the fear in his eyes when the guy looked at Jax. “He’s going to run, and he won’t look back.”

And there it was . . . the faintest flicker of hope in the other woman’s stare.