The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(85)
He kind of wanted to arrest all of them on principle, but that wouldn’t do a damn thing but make him feel better for a few seconds. Zach nodded at each of them in turn. “Ma’am. Gentlemen. I sincerely hope I won’t be back to arrest one of you for the deaths of both Neveah Smith and Elouise Perkins. If one of you was involved, it’d be best to come forward now.”
No one so much as blinked.
He nodded again. “Thought as much. I’ll just collect my people and be out of your hair.” He was so focused on getting the hell out of there that it took him several long seconds to process Vic laid out on the ground next to the police cruiser.
Everything snapped into place at the bright red on the ground next to the man. Zach rushed forward, scanning the surrounding area as he went to his knees and checked for a pulse, finding one. “Martha, this had better not be your doing.” He breathed a little sigh of relief that died the second it reached his lips. Where the fuck is Eden? The blood was from a cut on the back of Vic’s head, and it was bleeding pretty good, but nothing crazy enough to worry about.
Not when Eden was missing.
He looked up to find Martha standing over him, her men at her back. She frowned at the scene they created. “What’s going on?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it? Did one of your people do this?” What if it was the killer? Fuck, fuck, fuck. I had these four closeted up, and someone was attacking Vic not twenty feet away.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Vic groaned, his eyes flicking open. “Took her.” He groaned and put a hand over his eyes. “Didn’t see who. Eden was in the trunk, and I went to figure out what the fuck was going on. Someone hit me.”
There seemed to be a whole hell of a lot of ambushes lately. He used a hand on the other man’s shoulder to keep him on the ground. “Which car? What did it look like? Did you get a plate?”
“The rental.”
Damn it, he should have noticed it was missing. He dug out his phone and called the station, but when the phone rang and clicked over to the answering service, he cursed and immediately dialed the Augusta station. It was a long shot, but the faster he got in the BOLO, the better chance there was of someone catching the car before they took her . . . wherever the killer had been holding his victims. He passed over the information to the operator and hung up.
All the while, Martha had stood by with a dawning expression of horror on her face. “The person who hurt those girls has Eden?”
There was something there, a lingering knowledge behind her words. She knew something. He wanted to cross the distance between them and shake the life out of her. Her daughter was directly in the line of danger, and she was still playing games. “You know damn well that’s what’s going on. It’s one of your people, Martha. Don’t waste our time with protests of innocence. If you’re not going to help me, you’d better get the fuck out of my way, because that psychopath has been working his way up to hurting Eden, and now he’s got her.” Panic welled, and there was no fighting it.
So he used it.
Zach snapped his fingers at Lee. “Get something to stop the bleeding. Now.” He waited until he knew the man would obey to look down at Vic. “You’ll live, I think. What can you tell me about what happened?” Any little detail that could help them find Eden faster was worth its weight in gold.
But the FBI agent made a frustrated sound. “I didn’t see a damn thing. That asshole got the jump on me.” He shook his head and winced. “I knew my instincts were a little rusty, but that’s unforgivable.”
Zach thought so, too, but he might be more forgiving if Eden’s life wasn’t on the line.
Lee ran up with a dishrag, and Zach pressed it against Vic’s head. Already, the bleeding had slowed. He put Vic’s hand over the rag. “Don’t move. I’m going to call in backup, and even if it looks like you’re going to be okay, head injuries are tricky.”
“Find her.”
“I will.” He wished he felt as sure as he sounded. Zach shoved to his feet and turned on Martha. “Which one of your people did this?”
“I don’t know.” She threw up her hands. “I might be a leader, but I’m not a god.”
He had his doubts about her beliefs regarding that. He ran his hands through his hair, thinking hard. Something was there . . . something dancing on the edges of his memory. He paced a quick circle. Vic hadn’t seen . . . “That’s it.” He spun around. “The cameras. Eden said you have them set up all over Elysia. One of them must have seen something.”
Martha went pale; then her mouth firmed. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She definitely knows something. He stepped forward, getting right up in her face. “Your daughter is going to die—and die horribly. Do you want to know what that sick fuck did to Elouise Perkins and Neveah Smith—and probably Rachel Carpenter, too? He tattooed them, kept them locked up for over a week, and—”
“Stop.” Her entire frame shook, her skin so pale she looked half a second from passing out. Well, too fucking bad. He didn’t have time to handle her with kid gloves, and she didn’t deserve the preferential treatment after how she’d stonewalled the entire investigation—was still stonewalling it.