CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Sam shifted and rolled so he was on his back on the recliner with Paige on top of him.
Beneath her cheek, she felt his heart beating. Paige closed her eyes, counting each one of his treasured heartbeats. He couldn’t know how much he’d come to mean to her. She didn’t fully know herself. All she knew was that every one of her heartbeats was now tangled up with his.
They were damp with sweat and sticky from their lovemaking. The cool air now left a chill everywhere it touched.
Sam’s arms came around her. “You’re cold. Let’s go inside.”
She couldn’t go inside, not yet. She couldn’t be face-to-face with him. She had things to say, and if they were face-to-face, she would lose her nerve. He’d given her a precious gift tonight when he’d told her about himself, one she wasn’t worthy of. “You don’t want to know all of me,” she began, using some of the same words he had.
He sifted his fingers gently through her hair. “You’re wrong, because everything you were has made you the woman you are. I want to know all of you, but I’m not asking for that. You aren’t ready to share it all with me. That’s okay. It can wait. I can wait until you’re ready.”
His words were so full of caring and understanding that her heart tore in two. She couldn’t go on lying to him. He deserved the truth. “I know you don’t expect reciprocity. This isn’t about that. It’s about you deserving to know the person you’re fighting for. My past isn’t like yours. I’m not like you, a boy who came out of hell and became a good, strong man. I came from good people, and at every turn, I made choices that drove them away.” Paige told Sam about rebelling against her parents, rejecting them and throwing everything they stood for back at them. “I couldn’t stand what I considered their simple lives. I wanted more. I wanted to be greater. I wanted glory.” She told Sam she’d left home at seventeen to go her own way. “Those choices brought me to where I am today, hunted by a serial killer. I caused this with Thames. I wanted to be the one to bring him in, to take him down. It had to be me. I wouldn’t settle for anything less. Everything that’s happened with Thames is my fault. I put myself in his path.”
Sam’s hand stilled in her hair. “I can hear you believe that.”
“Because it’s the truth.”
“No. The one responsible is Thames. For what you’ve gone through, what you’ve endured. Hearing how your boss, Lewis, abandoned you to fight Thames on your own—it makes me sick.” Sam’s grip tightened in her hair. “Somehow, you have it all mixed up in your head that you got what’s coming to you with Thames, but you didn’t ask for this. The choices you say you made as a kid and as an adult didn’t conjure up Thames.”
“I’m sorry, Sam. I’m so sorry to bring all this trouble to you.”
Sam lifted her head, forcing her to look at him. “What did you think, that telling me this would drive me away, too?” His mouth went flat and he said simply, “Because if you did, you were wrong.”
Paige’s mouth trembled. His response came so easily. How? Tears spilled from her eyes, and she burrowed into him. “You terrify me, Sam. You make me ache, make me want what I can’t have.”
Sam’s hand came up to cradle the back of her head, and he held her against him. “You’re safe with me, I swear it.”
On Monday, Paige interviewed Janet Lambert’s closest friend, Lorraine Dunne. Paige questioned Dunne at length about Janet’s life. Dunne was forthcoming and cooperative, wanting to find who had killed her friend, but bottom line, the woman said nothing that advanced their investigation. Again, they’d hit a brick wall.
Sam was presently at the courthouse. The case he had been preparing for had come to trial. He had been worried about Paige being without a partner and had paired her with Harry and Dom for the afternoon. They’d arrived in their own vehicle, and Paige had met them here at the Dunnes’ residence.
Harry and Dom walked alongside her as they proceeded down the Dunnes’ magnificent front walkway. A warm breeze carried the sweet scent of the tall flowers that grew on both sides of the cobblestone beneath Paige’s feet, but other than the sound of her heels striking the stone, all was quiet. Paige’s cell phone rang, sounding like a gong.
Sam, no doubt, checking in to find out how she had made out. He had timed his call perfectly.
Paige turned to Harry and Dom. “Go ahead. I’ll catch up.” She hung back as the two men disappeared down the long driveway. Paige took the call without glancing at the screen. “Sam, I just finished—”
The silence on the other end of the line made Paige stop on the way to her van. “Who is this?”
“My apologies, Agent Carson. I haven’t identified myself.”
The man gave a false little laugh. Paige knew that voice. Her blood ran cold. Thames.
Paige’s hand went to her Glock on her hip. She looked around wildly. She couldn’t see anyone else on the walkway or at the top of the driveway. Where was he? She drew her weapon and began a sweep of her surroundings.
Sam had ordered a trace on her phone. They didn’t expect much from it. Thames was likely calling from a burner phone. But Paige wouldn’t make that assumption. Her skin was pulsing with nerves and fear. As much as she wanted to end the call, she would keep him talking for as long as she could. “What do you want?”
“Agent Carson, you wound me when I’ve called to inquire about your good health. How are you? You’ve been working very hard on the murder of Mrs. Lambert.”
Paige went still. “What do you know about the Lambert murder?”
His voice became hard now, arrogant. “I thought the postcard was a nice touch.”
Paige closed her eyes. No doubt remained. Thames had murdered Janet Lambert. While Paige was taking that in, Thames spoke again.
“Your sister is truly lovely, isn’t she?” he said softly.
Paige sucked in a breath. “Stay away from my sister.”
“Do you know where your sister is at this moment?” He paused. “I do.”
The phone went dead. Paige was sweating, shaking. “Thames. Thames!”
Ivy. Paige called Ivy, but the call went to voicemail. Paige hit Redial as she dug into her purse for the keys to the van. Pick up, pick up, pick up . . . Voicemail again.
Ivy was in school, in class, and couldn’t answer her phone. Riley was watching the school. Paige scrolled through the numbers in her phone, then called him. He reported that he hadn’t seen Ivy since Paige had dropped her off at school that morning.
Paige called the school next. When the admin answered the call, Paige identified herself, then said, “I need to speak with my sister right away.”
Paige was already in the van when the woman came back on the line. “Agent Carson? Ivy isn’t in class.”
For an instant, Paige couldn’t breathe. Her system felt as if it were shutting down. No. No. “I’m on my way to the school. Find her.”
Paige tried to call Sam, but the call also went to voicemail. He was probably still in court. She left a message for him to call her. Paige called Harry and Dom, who were parked a short distance away on the street, waiting for her, and told them about Thames’s call. They followed her to the school. Riley met them in the parking lot. Paige wanted to rail at Riley, but he had only been doing as Paige asked. If anything happened to Ivy, it would be Paige’s fault.
When Paige, Harry, Dom, and Riley entered the school, Ivy’s homeroom teacher and the principal were waiting for them in the front office.
“I’ve checked her schedule.” The teacher adjusted her glasses. “It appears that Ivy didn’t attend any of her classes after lunch.”
Paige’s stomach clenched. “Lunch was two hours ago. Didn’t that strike anyone as strange?”
“Agent Carson, if I may?” The principal held up a placating hand. “Students don’t always attend a full day of class.”
Paige didn’t have time to discuss students skipping school. Ivy had never done that before. “When was the last time she was seen, and where?”
The teacher consulted a piece of paper in her hand. “That would be in Mrs. Dunletson’s math class. After that, Ivy had lunch period. One of her friends may know where she went. Who is she closest to here?”
Paige was saddened and ashamed to admit she didn’t know if Ivy had befriended anyone. Now wasn’t the time for her pride. “I don’t know. Is there anyone you know of that she hangs out with at school?”
The principal and the teacher exchanged a look. The teacher said, “Well, there is a boy. They’ve recently begun sitting together during homeroom. Chad Slater.”
Paige faced the principal. “Check to see if he’s in class.”
The principal gave the instruction to the middle-aged administrative assistant. A moment later, Paige learned that Chad was not in his class, either.
“I need Chad’s home address, and I need to question his friends.” Paige had to find out if he and Ivy had made plans to go somewhere today. If she wasn’t in school, Ivy was vulnerable to Thames.
Again the teacher supplied a name, this time of a boy who was a longtime friend of Chad’s. Paige glanced at her watch, painfully aware of time ticking. A few moments later, a gangly boy with severe acne lumbered into the office. The teacher introduced him as Trevor Galway. Paige fought to keep it together as she asked the boy about Chad’s friendship with Ivy.
Trevor looked from Paige to his teacher, then to his principal, and then back to Paige. “This is important,” Paige said.
The principal added, “Answer Agent Carson’s question, son.”
Swallowing nervously, Trevor said, “They were going to watch a local band warm up. They cut through the back of the school.”
Paige recalled that all the doors except for the front entrance were kept locked so no one could get into the school. She hadn’t thought she’d need to cover the exits. Paige hadn’t considered that Ivy would leave the school voluntarily. “Where is the band?”
“Kirk County Park,” Trevor said. “The group is playing there tonight, but Chad said Ivy wasn’t allowed to go.”
Kirk County Park. Where Thames had murdered Janet Lambert. Paige’s mouth went dust dry. “How were they getting to the park? Does Chad have a car or access to one?”
“No, ma’am. He won’t be old enough to drive until the end of the year. They were going to walk.” Trevor’s face reddened. “I mean, Chad was going to walk. Ivy was going in her wheel—”
Paige didn’t hear the last word. She took off at a run to the van.
At the park, Dom said, “We’ll split up and look for her.”
Harry and Dom knew that Ivy would be in a wheelchair, but only Harry had met Ivy the night of the attack at Paige’s apartment. Dom didn’t know what Ivy looked like. Paige dug a photo of her sister out of her wallet and handed it to Dom.
The band hadn’t started playing. There were few people around the stage. It was easy to see that Ivy wasn’t among those gathered.
Paige’s cell phone rang. This time she checked caller ID. “Sam.”
“How’d the interview go?” Sam asked.
Ivy had grown closer to Sam while they’d been staying at his house. They’d formed a friendship, one that Ivy didn’t have with Paige. Ivy had added Sam’s cell phone number to her list of contacts. If Ivy was in trouble but could make a phone call, Paige had to suck up the hurt and consider that Ivy might call Sam instead of Paige. “Have you heard from Ivy?”
“No. Should I have?”
“I don’t know.” Paige pushed hair back off her forehead. “Sam, I need your help.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at Kirk County Park. I need you to put out an alert on Ivy.”
“What?”
She was frazzled and not making sense, and time was wasting. “I need you to tell law enforcement to look for Ivy. I need you to do that now. He called me, Sam. Thames called me. He mentioned Ivy.” Paige’s voice cracked. “Thames is going after Ivy.”
“Easy. What did Thames say?”
“We don’t have time for this!”
“Take a breath. Think this through. Did Thames say anything that might give you a clue to what he’s planning? Where he would take her?”
“No. Nothing like that. Don’t you think I would have picked up on that? I’ve tried calling her. Her phone goes straight to voicemail. She ditched class and left school with a boy named Chad. They were headed to Kirk County Park to watch a band warm up for a concert later tonight. I’m at the park. Harry, Dom, and Riley are with me. We’ve been up and down. There aren’t that many people. We would have spotted her if she was here.”
“How were they getting there?”
“On foot. The boy doesn’t have a vehicle.”
“Tell me what Thames said.”
Paige did.
“When were they last seen?”
Paige gave Sam the time they were believed to have left the school.
“I have Ivy’s cell number,” Sam said. “Give me Chad’s if you have it. If their phones are on, we’ll trace them that way.”
“I only have Ivy’s number.”
“Okay. If Chad has a cell phone, I can get that number from his parents. What’s his last name?”
“Slater.” Paige recited Chad’s home address. Paige’s breath caught. “I was certain she would be safe at school, that no one could get to her there. I never considered that she would leave on her own.”
“We’ll find her. I’ll call you back.”
Paige ran through the park again, looking for Ivy, hoping and praying that Ivy was just late in arriving, but Ivy wasn’t there.
Paige returned to her van. Grabbing at any thread of hope, Paige wondered if maybe Ivy and Chad had taken a different route from the school and were still on their way to the park. As she drove up one street and down another, Paige continued to call Ivy’s phone over and over with no success.
Paige’s phone rang. Sam. “What did you find out?”
“I put out the alert. We’ll find her, Paige.”
Paige’s chest tightened. She felt as if she was going to be sick.
“Where are you now?” Sam asked.
“Swanson Avenue.”
“I’ve left the courthouse. I’ve put in a call to Chad’s parents. We’ll see if they can contact Chad.” Sam paused, then said, “Hold on. I have a call coming in.”
Paige waited out the silence. Her stomach was in knots. Finally, Sam came back on the line.
“That was the Kirk County sheriff’s office,” Sam said. “A convenience store owner on Church Street reported that two teens matching Ivy and Chad’s descriptions stopped by a short while ago. They bought snacks, and the man overheard the teens say they were going to the Main Street Theater.”
“How long ago was that?”
“The man pegged the time between thirty and forty-five minutes ago.”
“Thames could have driven them out of Kirk County in that time.” Paige fought panic. “I’m one street over. I’ll be at the theater in a minute or two.”
“I’m almost there myself. Wait for me.”
An instant later, Paige saw Sam’s truck come around a corner and then turn into the movie house. She turned as well. They parked beside a patrol car.
Paige leaped out of the van and ran toward the cop car. Ivy wasn’t inside. Paige flashed her badge at the young officer leaning against the driver’s door. “Did you see my sister and a boy enter the theater?”
“No, ma’am. I just got the call to stake out the theater to watch for anyone leaving.”
Sam joined her by the car. Paige turned to him. “They might not even be here. Thames may have nabbed them sometime after they left the store.”
Sam said to the officer, “Stay here and keep an eye out for anyone going in or coming out. Stop anyone leaving.”
“Yes, sir.”
Paige broke away from Sam. “We’re wasting time.”
She ran ahead. The marquee showed two movies on offer for the matinee. One was a foreign film with subtitles. The second was the new superhero movie. Both must have started because there wasn’t anyone manning the ticket booth.
She went inside to the attendant standing by the closed theater door. “Where are the lights? I need you to turn on the light inside the theater now.”
“I can’t do that. The movie’s started.”
Paige stuck her ID in front of his face. “Do it. Now.”
The attendant paled, then nodded briskly. Paige followed him into the theater, where he went to a covered electrical box. Using a key he had on a bungee cord clipped to his belt, he unlocked the box, then flipped a couple of switches. The theater filled with light.
“Hey!”
“What’s going on?”
Paige ignored the shouts from the few disgruntled patrons. The theater was by no means full, and Ivy, in her wheelchair, would be sitting down in front and at the end of an aisle. Paige spotted her sister near one of the exit doors and raced toward her.
Ivy’s eyes widened. Paige dropped to a crouch in front of her sister, gripping Ivy’s arms. Paige was shaking. She hugged Ivy tightly. “Are you all right?”
Murmurs and more raised voices came from the small crowd. Ivy pulled back from Paige, then glanced over her shoulder.
Paige cupped Ivy’s chin. “Ivy?”
Ivy swallowed. “Of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be all right? Paige, what are you doing here?”
Paige needed a moment to catch her breath, to find her voice. Fear had closed her throat tight. “I got a call.” Paige shook her head. “It doesn’t matter now. You’re okay. That’s all that matters.”
“I’m so embarrassed. What were you thinking, barging in here?” Ivy’s face was flame red. Tears shimmered in her eyes. “I have to get out of here.”
She moved her wheelchair forward. Paige clasped the handles.
“Leave me alone!” Ivy shouted. “Just leave me alone!”
Ivy started forward. One of the wheels on her chair was stuck. When Paige moved to help, Ivy shouted again, “Just leave me alone!”
Ivy’s chair shot forward, and she headed for the door Paige and Sam had entered from.
Paige turned to the gangly boy with the red hair and shaggy bangs who’d been seated beside Ivy, presumably Chad. “It might be best if you went home. We’ll give you a ride.”
Chad stared from Paige to Ivy’s fast-retreating back. “Ah, yes, ma’am.”
Head down, Chad trotted after Ivy. Sam and the theater attendant were still at the door. When Ivy spotted Sam, she burst into tears.
Sam crouched in front of her. “It’s okay, sweetie.”
Ivy reached out to him, then clung to his neck, sobbing.
Ivy drove with Sam, not wanting to ride with Paige. Paige followed in her van while Sam drove Chad home and parked on the street as he spoke with the boy’s parents.
Back in the living room at Sam’s house, Paige went to her sister. “Ivy.”
Ivy glared at Paige. “How could you do this to me? I’ll be a laughingstock at school tomorrow. As if the kids don’t laugh at me enough already.”
“This was an emergency. I wouldn’t have come to find you if it hadn’t been. And what were you doing at the theater in the first place? You were supposed to be in school.”
“You wouldn’t let me go anywhere! I knew you wouldn’t let me go out with Chad, just like you wouldn’t have let me go to that class party. Ditching school was the only way I could go out with Chad. He is my one friend at school. Now, because of you, he will probably never speak to me again. For sure, he’ll never want to go out with me again. You’ve ruined my life. Again. I hate you! I hate you! I can’t wait until I’m old enough to get away from you forever! I’ll go so far away you won’t ever find me!” Ivy was crying so hard, she broke into hiccups. Her eyes were overflowing with tears. “I wish Sam and Jonah were my family. I wish I lived with them!”
She wheeled past Paige and into Sam’s guest bedroom. Paige released a trembling breath. Her own eyes filled with tears. Sam’s arms came around her, comforting and strong. Paige leaned into him, needing both comfort and strength right now.
“She wants you and Jonah to be her family and not me,” Paige said. “You can’t know what it does to me to hear her say that.”
“That’s the anger talking.”
“She hates me, Sam. I’ve done everything wrong with her.”
“No, you haven’t. She’s a fine young woman. That’s because of you.”
“She’s not like me. She’s everything that I wasn’t, that I’m not. She’s everything good. I was the one who broke curfew, ditched school because it was what I wanted, and to hell with what my actions did to anyone else. I pushed her to act out of character, to do what she knows is wrong. I pushed her to her breaking point.”
“Hey. Listen to me.” He tipped back her chin and then held it gently in his hand. “Stop beating yourself up. Ivy is okay, and she’s going to stay that way.”
Paige spoke over him. “This thing with Thames is all my fault. On that mountain, I set things up so I would put myself in his path. I went ahead of my squad so I would reach him first, on my own. I was so bold, thinking I would be the one to take down a serial killer. My actions have put Ivy on his radar. I should have realized he would use her to get to me.”
Sam cupped her shoulders. “You can’t know everything. He didn’t get her, and he isn’t going to.” Sam’s jaw hardened. “He’s fixated on you. I got the trace back on the call he made to you. It came from a disposable phone. The number was scrambled and led back to an address in Asia. We won’t find him that way.”
Paige dashed tears from her face. “He’ll use Ivy, hurt Ivy to get to me. I need to make sure Ivy is safe.”
“I’ll arrange for a safe house. It can be for both of you.” Sam’s eyes fixed on her. “It would be understandable for you to step back, Paige. Let me and our squad go after Thames.”
And if she went to a safe house? She released a shaky breath. “If I go into hiding, Thames will likely go underground.”
Sam’s hold on her tightened as if he would never let her go. A long moment passed before he loosened his grip.
Sam lowered his head and kissed Paige’s brow softly. “Go talk with Ivy. I’ll get everything set up.”