Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,57
her?
Wade was beaten up, no doubt about it, but did he feel the same gut-wrenching guilt that she did? Because as she’d tried so frantically to help Melissa, the perp’s words had been replaying through her mind, again and again . . .
You can come to me, and I’ll let Melissa go.
She hadn’t gone to him, and now . . . now Melissa Hastings was dead.
Tears were on her cheeks, and Victoria didn’t care. So what if she cried while on the case? So what if others saw her? She hurt—hurt for what Melissa had been through with that sick freak.
She hurt for Kennedy.
And she hurt . . . for the next victim. Because Victoria knew, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that there would be another victim. With a guy like this, there always would be. He wouldn’t stop, not until someone stopped him.
“Are you all right?”
She sucked in a sharp breath at the question. A question that had been asked by a deep, male voice.
Not Wade, though.
Victoria glanced to the left. Dace stood there, his body mostly in the shadows. “No, I’m not, but that doesn’t really matter, does it?”
“You think we should have come here first.” He edged closer to her.
She cast a quick glance around. Wade was nowhere to be seen, but a few other cops were on the beach.
“You think we made a mistake in following that phone to Connie’s place, don’t you?”
“It was your captain’s call,” she said, swiping at the tears on her cheeks. “He—”
“You wanted to come here.”
Yes. Her hands fell to her sides. “If I’d made the trade, Melissa wouldn’t be on that helicopter right now.”
“I know she was dead when she left the beach.”
She shivered. “They’ll still work on her. I’ve seen . . . there are miracles out there.” She’d stopped herself because, no, she hadn’t always seen them. But she’d heard stories. Some people were brought back. Amazing things could happen.
“I’m not Wade. You don’t have to bullshit with me.”
His words pulled her gaze back to him. Cautious now, she said, “I don’t lie to Wade. He’s my partner.”
“He may be, but that still doesn’t mean you tell him everything, now does it?”
Where is this going?
He advanced toward her. “I’m glad you didn’t make the trade.”
Instinctively, she shook her head. Melissa was dead—
Dace grabbed her arm. “If you had, then you would’ve been on that helicopter. Or hell, maybe you’d be in the ground someplace, just like Kennedy.”
Maybe. Or maybe she and Wade could have caught the killer. Maybe they would have been able to stop him and save the girl.
“Sacrificing yourself won’t help the victims,” Dace said, nearly growling the words. “It won’t—”
“Victoria.” Now that was Wade’s voice. Hard and sharp, cutting right through the night. “What’s going on?”
Dace stepped back. “Just talking to your partner.”
She’d thought that Wade had left. He could move so silently, but with the rush of the surf, hell, maybe everyone was moving silently. The surf smothered so many sounds.
Did that pounding surf help the killer escape?
“My captain wants Victoria to keep consulting on this case,” Dace said, his words abrupt. “He thinks she can help us . . . especially if this cottage has been the perp’s prison for his girls.”
His girls.
Victoria cleared her throat. “Kennedy’s . . . Her grave may be close. The Spanish moss that I found in her bag, it could easily have come from this area.”
“And if he kept Kennedy here . . .” Dace mused darkly. “Kennedy and Melissa . . . hell, my captain is worried there might be even more bodies on this island. He’s requested your help, Victoria.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d been brought in for consulting by local law enforcement. She nodded. “Of—Of course. If there is any way that I can help, I will.”
“Thank you.” Dace backed away. “I need to go interview Jim Porter. That guy is a freaking mess.”
Because he had traded himself for Melissa.
Only the trade hadn’t worked out.
Dace disappeared into the darkness. Victoria could feel Wade’s stare on her. “I thought you’d gone.”
“Not without you.” But he didn’t reach out to touch her. And she wanted him to—wanted him to take her hand.
She pulled in a deep breath. The helicopter was long gone. The cops had fully taken over the scene. There wasn’t much left for her and Wade to do, not just then. “We should report in to Gabe. Let him and the others at LOST know what happened.”
“Don’t consult.”
Her eyes widened. “What?”
“This case