Stone Cold Heart (Tracers #13)(92)

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Sara’s windows were dark.

Nolan pulled up to the curb and studied the red-brick building with a clench in his chest. He thought he saw a slight glow on the kitchen side of the apartment, but maybe that was wishful thinking.

He cut the engine. It was after one. Sara needed rest. After spending half the day in the ER, she’d spent four hours at the police station, giving a statement and filling out paperwork. She had to be beat.

He got out and walked to the door, where he scrolled through the digital keypad until her name appeared. He called, and she picked up.

“Hey, it’s me.”

She buzzed him in.

Nolan took the steps two at a time and found her standing in her doorway in that silky white robe he remembered from this morning. It felt like a lifetime ago. Her hair was disheveled, and he felt a stab of longing. He wanted to kiss her and wrap her in a bear hug, but he was afraid to touch her.

“Sorry to wake you up,” he said.

“You didn’t.” She let him inside. “I couldn’t sleep.”

She led him into the living area, where a mug sat on the coffee table. The TV was tuned to the news, but the volume was muted.

“Want something to drink?” she asked. “I can do better than tea.”

“I’m good.”

She sat down and looked at him. He sat, too. She leaned against him and slid her arms around his waist, and for the first time since Talia had told him about the phone call, Nolan felt like he could breathe again.

He kissed the top of her head.

“I tried to get away sooner,” he said. “I wanted so badly to be here earlier.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t want you to be alone tonight.”

She looked up at him. “I’m alone every night. Alone is my default state.”

Not anymore.

But he didn’t want to push her. Not tonight, when her emotions were ragged. He just wanted to hold her. He breathed deeply, taking in the clean scent of her hair. Her arms tightened around him, and he felt his chest loosen.

“The last few days have been . . .” She trailed off.

“Scary.”

“Soul-sucking.” She tipped her head back, and he saw the shadows in her eyes. “The cruelty people are capable of—” She shook her head. “I feel so hopeless.”

“Don’t.”

He shifted her closer and stroked her shoulder. She felt warm against him. He wanted to stretch out with her, but it seemed like she wanted to talk.

“I don’t know, Nolan.” She sighed. “I thought I was up for this work, but . . .”

“Give yourself a break. You’ve had a shit day. Tomorrow will be better.”

Another sigh.

“Hey.” He gently tipped her chin up. “It’s not all bad. Not everything. People help each other. People go the extra mile for each other.”

People love each other.

She nestled her head against him. When her body finally relaxed, he felt a measure of relief. He stared at the muted news channel, not even watching it, really, as she lay against him, breathing softly. There was nowhere else in the universe he wanted to be right now.

“Everything hurts,” she murmured.

He wasn’t sure if she meant physically or emotionally or both.

“Did the ER doc give you some painkillers?”

“I took one earlier. And I keep thinking how Grace spent twelve days with that man without painkillers or clothes or even solid food.”

Nolan pictured the dungeon-like cavern. He pictured the dried blood puddles and the empty packets of sports gel. Gaines had installed bolts in the stone and linked carabiners together to keep her chained to the rock. The place would have been Sara’s worst nightmare, and he was glad she hadn’t seen it. But she could imagine, especially after seeing Grace’s condition.

“I’m so tired,” she said. “Don’t even want to crawl into bed.”

He kissed her head. “Just sleep.”

She lay there quietly with her head against his chest.

“Nolan?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you guys get it?”

The confession, she meant.

“Yeah,” he said. It was probably the last thing Hank would do as a cop. “We got it.”





CHAPTER 29


Kaylin Baird was buried in a shallow grave not far from the cave complex where her killer had kept his victims. Less than twelve hours after Elaine Hansen helped elicit Gaines’s confession, Nolan, Sara, and her team had arrived at the grove of trees near a weathered deer blind. Within five minutes of arriving, Peaches had located the spot. Sara and her team spent the day toiling in the sun, and by nightfall they’d completed the excavation and loaded everything into the van to take back to the lab.

The Hansens had once owned the twenty-acre property and leased the mineral rights to an oil company. But the wells and the money had stopped flowing, and the property was sold for next to nothing, creating one of the many hardships that set the stage for Bryce Gaines’s tumultuous childhood.

Not that Nolan gave a shit.

He saw it over and over—the endless cycle where cruelty begets cruelty, abuse begets abuse. Nolan no longer focused on excuses. People had to be held accountable, and holding Bryce Gaines accountable for the rape, torture, and murder of seven women was Nolan’s chief objective now.