and he didn’t know how he’d survive losing another woman he loved to a horrible death.
As he stood at the front window, flashes of visions of the dead women filled his head, and he nearly groaned aloud as he thought of Amberly so still, so lifeless and with a dream catcher hanging over her head.
Finally he could stand it no longer. He had to get outside and join the hunt. As he stepped outside, his heart felt as black as the darkness of the night.
He should have taken the opportunity to tell her he loved her. He wished he would have taken a chance to speak of his feelings for her. He wouldn’t have expected anything back from her. He knew where she was in her life, what she wanted and didn’t want; he simply wished he’d let her know that she was loved and his love held all the passion and desire she hadn’t known before, hadn’t believed existed.
He stood at the end of the sidewalk, looking first in one direction and then the other, wondering which way to go that would take him to her, the path that would allow him this time to be there to save the woman he loved.
He saw several officers down the block on the right, and so decided to go left, wishing he had more than a little bit of bloodhound in him.
The night was silent and cool, but a sweat broke out across Cole’s forehead. Timing was everything and he couldn’t afford to be one minute too late.
He took off at a jog, not knowing where he was headed but feeling the need to do something, anything to find Amberly and Max. He was afraid to call out for them, afraid that the killer would hear and know he was close. That might prompt things to go from bad to worse.
Each darkened house or business he passed, he paused to see if there was any sign of anything that looked out of place, that might signal danger. But there was nothing except the beat of his heart, growing more frantic by the minute.
She couldn’t have gone far without a vehicle. Sergeant Davis had checked before Cole left the house to see if any taxis had been dispatched to anyplace in the area, and there had been none.
She could have called a friend for a ride, but somehow Cole didn’t believe she would have done that. She wouldn’t have involved anyone else in whatever drama was happening. He knew in his gut that she was alone.
And what worried him more than anything was the fact that he wasn’t even sure he was going in the right direction. As far as he knew, each footstep he took carried him farther and farther away from her and Max.
He felt as if he’d been walking forever when he saw the boy running down the sidewalk. Instantly, he recognized him as Max.
“Max!” he yelled as the boy drew closer. Cole’s heart nearly stopped. If Max was out here, then where was Amberly?
“Max, I’m Sheriff Caldwell, a friend of your mom’s.”
These words drove Max right into Cole’s arms. He burrowed his face into Cole’s belly as a deep shudder worked through him. Cole held him tight. “It’s okay, you’re safe now,” he said, reminding himself that this was a six-year-old boy who had been through who knew what kind of horror.
As he picked Max up, the little boy wrapped his arms tightly around Cole’s neck. Cole’s heart constricted as he felt Max’s unconditional acceptance. Cole quickly used his cell phone to contact Sergeant Davis with their location so Max could be picked up by a patrol car and taken back to the house.
When Cole was finished with his call, Max raised his head and gazed up at Cole with frightened eyes so like Amberly’s. “You got to find my mom. The bad guy has her and she’s in bad trouble.”
“I know.” Cole stroked a reassuring hand down Max’s back. “Max, which direction did you run from?”
Max frowned and pointed behind him. “But I jigged and jagged, and I don’t know where Mom is now.” Tears welled up in his eyes.
“Max, your mom told me you were really, really smart, and the two of you always play a game kind of like I Spy.”
“I’m good at it, too,” Max exclaimed, obviously eager to please.
“That’s what your mom told me. Can you think about it now, Max? Think about where the man had you and where he might have