Gone (43 page)

She closed her eyes, taking in that reality. Willing herself to stop struggling with the shackle, she took a deep breath. Then another. The air was musty but there was enough of it and for the moment, she was in no immediate danger. And, she was with Beth.

Clare spat blood from her mouth and wiped her lips with the back of her hand. She said just above a whisper. “Beth?”

No response.

Clare tried again. “Beth, my name is Clare Marshall.” Clare waited and when the other woman failed to speak, added, “I’m with the FBI. I’m going to get you out of here.”

Still no response from Beth and another thought struck Clare. “Beth, are you able to speak?” Clare went cold thinking of Lowney’s mistreatment. “Beth, please let me know that you can hear me.”

Time passed. Clare believed she would not get a response. Then Beth said, “I—I hear you.”

At the sound of Beth’s voice, tears sprang to Clare’s eyes. It was more than Beth’s reassurance that had Clare in tears, it was hearing her sister’s voice for the first time in twenty-five years.

Clare swallowed to clear her throat. She didn’t want to scare Beth with the force of her own emotion, or have Beth misinterpret her tears of joy as tears of hopelessness for their situation.

“People are looking for us, Beth.” Clare thought of Jake and her heart thudded. “We’re going to get out of here.” When there was no response, Clare prompted, “Beth?”

Beth did not respond.

There was so much Clare wanted to say, but she held back, afraid to overwhelm or worse frighten her sister, so she said only, “It’s going to be all right. I promise you.”

Clare was still on her knees. She inhaled carefully. Each breath brought a fresh wave of pain. Her head felt too heavy for her neck and the darkness began to swirl. She had to lie down, but before she could, her stomach heaved and she vomited. Weakly, she picked up dirt and dropped it on the mess, but the sickness and the movement left her shaking and she lowered herself to the ground again. She closed her eyes, concentrating on keeping what remained in her stomach in there.

Somehow she needed to turn the tables on Lowney to wrest the power from him. To do that, she needed to level the playing field. Clare tried to remember what she’d seen in the shaft. What could be used as a weapon against Lowney? How could she remove the shackle?

“Beth,” Clare said. “Does Lowney ever unshackle you, even for a brief time?” Clare stopped speaking and the silence dragged on. “Beth?”

No response came and Clare’s heart broke, thinking that Beth may be retreating into herself as a result of what she’d endured from Lowney.

“We’re going to get out of here,” Clare said. “It will be okay.”

Her sister began to cry softly.

“I will get you out, Beth.”

“You can’t.” Her voice was raw and weak. “You can’t do anything to stop him.”

“I will stop him,” Clare said. “I promise you.”

“You can’t stop him. You can’t.”

Beth’s voice trailed off. The despondency and the hopelessness in Beth cut Clare like a knife.

“Listen to me, please. You can trust that I will make sure you leave here alive. Nothing is more important to me than that. Nothing, Beth.” Clare’s tone rang with conviction.

“FBI agent or not, you’re caught just like me and you can’t stop him!” Beth cried.

“I
will
stop him because I’m your sister,” Clare said.

“What?”

Clare hadn’t meant to blurt that out, had decided the truth could and should wait until they were away from Lowney, but there was no going back now.

“I’m your sister,” she said. This time the words came out in a choked whisper.

“I don’t have sisters or brothers.”

Clare got out the rest. “You were adopted by Hank and Gladys Linney.”

“Why are you lying to me? Earl is going to kill us. Why are you telling me these things!”

There was hysteria in Beth’s voice now. Clare kept her tone even as she said, “It’s the truth. We are sisters, Beth.” Clare scrambled for a way to prove her claim, then remembered something. “You have a birthmark high on the back of your neck, at your hairline. It’s shaped like a cloud.”

“How do you know that?” Beth’s tone was sharp.

“One time when you were a baby, I colored that mark blue with a crayon.” Tears burned Clare’s eyes at the memory. “I’ve been looking for you for years. I promise I will answer all your questions about how and why we were separated, but for right now, you can believe me when I say that now that I’ve finally found you, I won’t let Lowney or anyone separate us again.”

A silence ensued. Eventually Beth’s voice came out of the darkness.

“You’re my sister?” she asked.

The doubt in Beth’s voice was fading. Clare’s throat constricted, and her eyes filled with tears. “
Yes
. Yes, I am.”

* * * * *

Jake followed the sheriff’s deputy to the interview room where Rich Dannon waited with his attorney. Dannon’s attack on Clare was fresh in Jake’s mind and the urge to hurt Dannon was strong. He had to remind himself that this wasn’t about Clare. Not to make
this
about Clare.

As Jake was about to enter the room, he turned to the deputy. “If Agent Marshall arrives, bring her right in.”

The deputy nodded.

Dannon and his attorney were seated when Jake entered the room. Dannon’s hair was matted to his scalp with sweat. He’d sweated through his clothes and his rank odor filled the room.

“This is a mistake,” Dannon said. “I didn’t do anything!”

“We have a shitload of evidence that says you definitely did do something,” Jake said, his tone sarcastic. “At this point, you’ll never set foot outside of a prison again. You have a chance, a small window of opportunity, to help yourself, Rich, and perhaps change that. Tell me where Beth Ryder is.”

“I already told you, I don’t know.”

“When was the last time you saw Beth?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know!”

“What did you do on the day Beth disappeared?”

“Don’t answer that,” Gentry said.

Dannon’s brows lowered, and he reared back from his attorney. “The hell you say!” Dannon shouted. “What have you done to get me out of this! I was at Charley’s.” Dannon’s voice was shrill. “Like I am every day. Ask Charley. Ask the others who are in there every day like I am. I don’t know what happened to Beth!”

Jake went on, asking questions at intervals. When he asked where Dannon had purchased the outfit Sara McCowan had been buried in, Gentry advised Dannon once again not to respond, and this time, Dannon heeded his lawyer’s advice. He slumped in the chair and said nothing, but the look of confusion on Dannon’s face at the question spoke volumes and further fueled Jake’s belief that Dannon was not Sara’s killer.

Without concrete proof of Dannon’s innocence, however, Jake kept at the man, asking about Sara, and about Beth, until Gentry glanced at his watch and calmly announced that his client was due in court for his bail hearing.

Jake intended to be present at the hearing. Clare was due to sit in the courtroom as well, while the Assistant District Attorney added Dannon’s attack on a federal agent to the crimes against Dannon and request that bail be denied.

As Jake left the sheriff’s office, he checked his cell phone for messages. There were several. None from Clare.

She’d missed the interview with Dannon.
Where was she?

As he made his way to the courthouse for the bail hearing, he called her cell phone again. Again, she didn’t pick up.

He pulled into the Blane County courthouse parking lot some twenty minutes later. Clare’s car was not in the lot. He remained in his vehicle. The appointed time for Dannon’s hearing came and went. Clare didn’t show.

Instead of going into the courthouse, Jake left the parking lot. He rubbed a tightness in his shoulder. Clare had left his house before seven that morning. Approximately nine hours ago. She was a grown woman and nine hours without contact with her should not be cause for alarm, but alarm bells were ringing in Jake’s head just the same.

No matter their personal differences, Clare would not remain out of touch with an investigation pending, particularly one that was personal to her. He needed to find her.
Now
.

Jonathan was at his desk when Jake entered the Bureau office.

“Did Clare call?” Jake asked.

Jonathan shook his head.

“Clare was going to check into a hotel or motel in Columbia this morning. I need to find out where she is.”

Jonathan nodded briskly. “I’ll get right on it. Customer lists from the retailers just came in. Wainscott is expecting them. I was just going to send them.”

Andrea Wainscott was a technical analyst at the Columbia field office.

“Go ahead,” Jake said. “I’ll call her now.”

Jake placed the call. Wainscott came on the line.

“Agent Sutton,” she said. “I just got the lists from Jonathan. What can I do for you?”

“We need those lists cross-referenced with the residents of Farley, Blane, Arkenwood, and Grave counties and the city of Columbia.”

“Will do.”

Jake waited on the phone while Wainscott checked her databases for a possible match. After a few moments, she said, “Nothing, Agent Sutton. I can branch out if you like?”

“No.” Jake exhaled a quick breath. It didn’t make sense that the unsub would live far. He was pushing it by extending the perimeter as far as he had. “I’ll need you to cross-reference another list shortly.”

“You know where to reach me.”