She Can Hide (She Can #4)(66)

“Either way, Derek’s mother is in deep trouble. He won’t let her go.”

They’d put out an alert for a blue pickup with occupants that met Joe and Krista’s description. But the vehicle was generic, and Joe had a full day’s lead.

Ethan pushed to his feet. “I’ll go break the news to Abby.” A fistful of dread lodged behind his sternum at the thought of facing her.

“She’s upset, but she knows you didn’t have a choice,” the chief said. “She’ll come around.”

But Ethan didn’t share the chief’s confidence. The look in Abby’s eyes had been pure horror, and he’d caused it. He braced himself before going back into the conference room. He opened the door. “Abby…”

The conference room was empty.

Maybe she’d gone to the restroom. But Ethan’s stomach was flipping out. It knew. He knocked on the door anyway. When no one answered, he went inside and checked both stalls.

“Abby?” His voice echoed on the tile. Empty.

Ethan did a quick run through the rest of the station, which took a minute.

He rushed into the chief’s office. “She’s gone.”

The chief closed his eyes, and a give me strength expression crossed his face. “Where do you think she went?”

“I don’t know.”

“Would she try to find the foster home?” the chief asked.

Ethan shook his head. “As much as she’d like to get Derek out of there, she wouldn’t put him in danger. As long as Joe is loose, there’s a risk he’s following Abby.”

Who was now alone and vulnerable. Ethan paced, panic outpacing his strides in the confined space. He had to find her before Joe. But how?

“Put out a BOLO on her rental car.”

But law enforcement was spread thinly over the rural region. State, county, and local police hadn’t spotted Joe, and Ethan was certain the killer hadn’t left the area.

An image of Abby sitting in the conference room and surfing the Internet on Ethan’s electronic tablet popped into his head.

“Wait.” He dug his smartphone out of his pocket. “My tablet is in her purse. It has a GPS chip. If she still has it and the battery hasn’t died, I can locate her though the find-my-device app.”

Please, let it still be in her purse.

Ethan opened the app on his phone and tapped through the menu. His heart thudded as the program searched. A live road map appeared on the screen. His tablet was a small green dot on the highway. “I’ve got her.”

“Where is she?”

“Headed south on the Northeast Extension.” Toward Atlantic City. Ethan’s confidence in Abby’s honesty took a nosedive. After all that had passed between them, how could she lie?





CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

“I’m sorry. Would you please repeat that, Kenneth?” Ryland went to the sideboard and poured scotch into a tumbler. His doctor wanted him to give up alcohol. What was the point of living longer if a man couldn’t enjoy anything?

“Homemade explosive devices, Mr. Valentine,” Kenneth repeated.

“Messy way to kill a person.” Ryland sipped his scotch. The aged amber liquid slid down his throat with a smooth, smoky burn. “Unreliable too.”

“Obviously.” Kenneth’s tone dripped with disgust. He detested shoddy work.

Ryland despised unanswered questions. “Do we know who or why?”

“No, sir. But I will shortly,” Kenneth said. “The only witness is a child. He’s been taken into custody.”

As much violence as Ryland had seen and perpetrated in his scratch-and-claw fight to the top of life’s dog pile, harm to children left a bad aftertaste. But a witness could be a problem.

“Do you know where he is?” Ryland settled at the desk in his study. He eased his conscience with a deep swallow of scotch.

“Yes.” Kenneth’s voice turned grave, and Ryland wondered if Kenneth had ever drawn a line. Or had the atrocities he’d witnessed at a tender age left him completely numb to humanity, devoid of compassion? “I’m sitting outside the house now.”

Ryland ended the call. He turned to face the bank of windows that encompassed the wall of his study. His home was on the Point. On one side, a deck and pool area led onto a private beach. On the other, patio seating and a hot tub overlooked the harbor. The windows in his office had a stunning view of Little Egg Harbor Inlet. Tonight the water was busy. Whitecaps churned and black water undulated. Small green buoy lights bobbed and blinked in the darkness. With each pulse of dancing light, the ocean warned him.

A storm was gathering force.

Ryland clicked on the flat-screen that hung on his wall and tuned to the weather channel. Needing quiet, he muted the volume. A wall of green marched up the coast. The forecast hadn’t changed. No coastal advisory had been issued. The weather would be nasty, but it wasn’t time to board up the windows. Ryland shut off the TV and turned back to his scotch.

“Ryland!” Marlene’s voice interrupted his musing. His wife must have returned from her girls’ night out.

Pocketing his phone, he left his office. In the center of a two-story glass atrium, the stairway curved to the lower floor. Marlene was in the living room. Still dressed from her dinner and show, she looked every bit the elegant wife of a successful businessman. Pride warmed him. He’d done the right thing by preserving his marriage. Once, he’d been tempted to throw it all away for a pretty blonde. Thank goodness he’d come to his senses. His sons, his reputation, all would have suffered if he’d succumbed to his affair. He’d have become a walking cliché, one more man who thought buying a younger wife would somehow stop the passage of time.