Fatal Exposure - By Gail Barrett Page 0,68

we get inside? I want to check his office for clues.”

“We don’t need to go inside. He uses the woodshed in the backyard as his office. He ran wires out there and even had plumbing installed.”

Her voice sounded strained, and suddenly Parker understood what she hadn’t said. Hoffman had taken her to that shed. And there was no way he could make her revisit the place she’d been abused. “Wait here. I’ll go check it out.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“Forget it. I’m going in alone.”

She reached out and touched his hand. “I have to do this, Parker. I can’t keep avoiding the past.”

His heart rolled, a maelstrom of emotions tumbling through him as he gazed at her in the dark. She was the most courageous woman he’d ever met.

And he realized something else. This wasn’t just about the runaway girl anymore. Naturally, he wanted to save her, but he also wanted justice for Brynn. No one had ever believed her. No one ever helped her. She’d been abandoned by every adult who should have cared.

For once in her life, she deserved a man who wouldn’t betray her, a man who’d face down her enemies, a man who’d fight to keep her safe.

And God help him, but he wanted to be that man.

No matter how many rules he had to break to get it done.

* * *

Brynn had lied. She didn’t want to go anywhere near that dreadful shed.

She stood rooted in the shadows behind Parker, her gaze on the wooden structure as he jimmied the lock on the door. Her pulse was going berserk. A cold sweat moistened her skin in spite of the chilly air. The last thing she wanted to do was enter the place where she’d experienced such terror and pain.

But Hoffman wasn’t here. No one could hurt her now. And they needed clues. They had to find evidence that would lead them to that missing girl.

The neighbor’s dog continued to bark. The wind gusted again, sending shivers down her neck and spine. Brynn hugged herself, the pain of her injured shoulder hardly registering as Parker opened the creaking door. Then he stepped inside the shed, his footsteps heavy on the wooden floor. “Where’s the light?”

“The switch is on the right. But we’d better close the door first.” Judging by the glow in the family room window, her mother was immersed in her TV game shows, but there was no point taking a chance.

Trembling even more now, she stepped over the threshold into the shed. The door thudded shut behind her with the finality of a coffin lid. “All right.”

Parker flipped on the overhead light. Brynn blinked in the brightness. The shed was empty. Completely empty. Every trace of Hoffman’s presence was gone.

“Looks like he moved his stuff,” Parker said, echoing her thoughts.

Still unable to believe it, Brynn turned on her heels, taking in the filthy, scuffed-up floorboards, the sound-absorbent panels covering the walls, the now-empty cupboard, its door hanging ajar. Only that same, off-balance ceiling fan wobbled overhead, its fluted globes black with dust.

“He must have taken his stuff to the camp,” she said. “There used to be a desk over here with his computer, a bed on the other side.” With a locker underneath containing his “toys.”

Bile rose in her throat. She pressed her hands to her mouth, not wanting to relive the past. But the walls began to weave. That paddle fan twirled overhead, making the same relentless tick. Screams echoed in her ears, the frantic, high-pitched cries of a helpless child.

“Come on,” Parker said. “Let’s get out of here. The way that dog is barking, someone has probably called the cops.”

Fighting off her panic, she wheezed in a strangled breath. “Good idea.” She couldn’t wait to leave this awful place.

He flipped off the light. Her back drenched with sweat now, Brynn shoved the door open and stumbled into the yard. Even empty, the shed gave her the creeps, as if the pain she’d suffered during all those years had forever permeated the walls.

Instead of just destroying her soul.

Chapter 14

Taking the wheel this time, Parker sped toward the mountains of western Maryland, every passing minute like the countdown on a ticking bomb. They never should have stopped at Hoffman’s house. Not only had they squandered valuable minutes, making it harder to find that girl, but it had forced Brynn to confront her past, witnessing that shed where she’d been abused.

He thinned his lips, wanting to get his hands on Hoffman so badly he’d started to