SAFE BY HIS SIDE (MANHUNT) (10 page)

A tense silence echoed over the line, then a breath.

“Who is this?”

“Lenora,” a woman’s voice cracked.

Fear crawled through Lenora. “Nan?”

“Help me,” Nan cried. “He’s got me…”

A scream followed, then Robert Simpleton’s sinister laugh exploded over the line.

Micah caught Lenora as she doubled over with a groan.

“Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god…”

“What is it, Lenora? Was that him?”

Tears glittered in her tormented eyes as she looked up at him. “Yes. No…Nan…it was Nan.”

“Nan?”

“My friend…he has her.”

Fury shot through Micah, and he stroked a strand of hair from her damp cheek. “What did she say?”

Lenora’s nails dug into his arms through his shirtsleeves. “That he had her…then she screamed.”

Lenora collapsed in his arms, and he closed his eyes, battling his rage as she purged her emotions. Her body trembled with the force, his own shaking with the effort to control himself when he wanted to punch a wall.

And to kill Simpleton.

He wished to hell that he’d killed the son of a bitch instead of turning him into the police for prosecution.

He rocked Lenora in his arms, knowing she needed time to absorb the shock. But he needed to get to work. To find the bastard.

“Nan…he’ll hurt her,” Lenora cried. “I know what he’ll do…”

“Shh,” he murmured. “We’re going to find him.”

She shuddered against him, her eyes red-rimmed and swollen. “But how? And how much will she have to suffer first?” She sucked in a breath, sniffling as she worked to regain control. “He’s doing this to her because of me.”

Micah forced her to look at him. “Listen to me, Lenora, this is not your fault.”

“It is,” she said raggedly. “He’s punishing me for testifying against him. He’s coming for me, but he’s going to hurt people I care about first just to torture me.”

Unfortunately he couldn’t argue. She knew Simpleton better than anyone.

Which meant she might be able to help.

It would be painful, but she might actually be able to offer insight into the way his thought processes worked.

“Stop. I know you’re worried about her and that Simpleton is a monster, but you need to pull it together, Lenora, so we can find her.”

Her lower lip quivered, then she took another breath and wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “You’re right. What should we do?”

“I’m going to call the office and see if the tech department can trace where that call came from.” It was probably a dead end. Most criminals knew to use burner cells and Simpleton was smart. But he had to try.

“I want you to think. Did you hear anything else on the line?”

Her eyes drew together in thought. “No…just Nan. She was crying. Scared.” Her voice cracked. “She knows what he did to me, what’s going to happen.”

“Shh,” he said again, then massaged her shoulder. “Think about it, Lenora. Maybe you heard a siren in the background. A car horn? A train?”

She rubbed her temple and closed her eyes as if struggling to recall the details. When she opened them, she looked defeated. “I did hear a muffled sound…maybe a plane in the distance.”

“So he might have taken her somewhere near an airport.”

“I barely heard it,” she said. “I don’t think it was near a major airport.”

“There are smaller ones in the country, private airfields.” He squeezed her arm. “That’s good, Lenora. That might help.”

“Did Nan have any family we should notify?”

“No,” Lenora said, her voice strained. “She lost her parents in a car accident two years ago.”

He snatched up his phone and pressed the number for the tech department at the Ranger’s office. “It’s Hardin. Did you find anything on Cissy Cornwall’s phone records?”

“Nothing helpful. Just calls to the prison.”

“We just heard from Simpleton. I need you to trace a call for me.” He gave the tech Lenora’s number and the time of the call then waited.

Lenora rose from the chaise, walked to the edge of the terrace and looked out over the woods. Her tormented expression bothered him. She was still blaming herself. Reliving what Simpleton had done to her because she thought her friend was being abused in the same way now.

He cursed beneath his breath, hating the helpless feeling engulfing him. The sicko never should have seen the light of day again.

Seconds later, the tech came back on the line. “Sorry. The caller used a burner cell.”

Dammit. “Keep a trace on Lenora’s phone in case he calls back. Maybe if we record it, we’ll hear something in the background.” Micah’s mind raced. “Also, search for small private airfields outside Austin. Send the coordinates to me and send a tech team to Nan Purcell’s house.”

“I’ll get right on it.”

Micah hung up, then walked over to Lenora. “Come on, let’s shower and get coffee. We’ll meet the crime team at Nan’s place in case Simpleton left a clue there for us.”

Her eyes widened. “You think he’d do that intentionally?”

“He wants you,” Micah said, a muscle ticking in his jaw. “He’s either going to ambush us or leave you bread crumbs so you’ll come to him.”

Lenora hadn’t considered that Simpleton would try to lead her to him. But she hoped he did. Then she and Micah could make him pay for kidnapping her friend.

Nan…God help her. Would she survive?

She forced her mind away from the dark path and darted into the bedroom, then into the bath to shower. But the disturbing thoughts returned as the hot water pummeled her.

Memories of Simpleton’s hands on her, his rough nails clawing at her as he pushed her legs apart and shoved himself inside her. His rancid breath on her skin when he’d ordered her to lie on her stomach or drop to her knees…

The old familiar dirty feeling haunted her. Her obsession with scrubbing herself took a life if its own, and she found herself vigorously washing and scrubbing her chest, determined to make that hideous X disappear forever.

But as the water cooled, and she finally turned off the faucet and dried her body, the X remained. The plastic surgeon her mother had hired had smoothed over the torn jagged skin, had insisted it was invisible now.

But she could see it. It would always be with her. Always be a reminder that she was battered and damaged. That she would never be whole again.

Especially not when he was out there, torturing her friend, and waiting to finish her.

Micah phoned Lt. Roper and relayed the news about Nan Purcell as he and Lenora drove toward the woman’s home. “We need to get a photo of her out to the press and across the police databases ASAP.”

“I’ll pull her driver’s license picture,” Lt. Roper said. “How’s Lenora taking it?”

“How do you think?” Micah said. “The monster abducted her friend to punish her.”

“We’ll get him,” Lt. Roper said.

But when? And would they locate him before he tortured Nan?

“Lenora thought she heard a small plane in the background when Nan called,” Micah said. “I asked tech to send me a list and coordinates of any small airfields outside Austin.”

“We’ll start looking for cabins or houses that are abandoned or in isolated areas, too. We know how Simpleton thinks. He’ll take the victims some place off the grid.”

So no one could hear the women scream.

“Send me whatever you get. We’re on our way to Nan’s now. Maybe a neighbor saw something.”

“Keep me posted,” his boss said.

Micah pocketed his phone, and Lenora twisted her hands in her lap. “I haven’t seen or talked to Nan in years,” she said in a pained voice. “We lost touch after the trial.”

When Lenora had needed her most. Lenora must have felt abandoned.

“Simpleton may not know that,” he said. “He probably saw her at the trial and knew you two were close.”

“Nan couldn’t handle hearing details about what happened to me,” Lenora said. “Even if he doesn’t kill her, I don’t know if she’ll survive emotionally.”

Micah squeezed her hand. “Maybe we’ll find her before he hurts her.”

Lenora’s face grew strained as if she wanted to latch onto the hope he offered, but she couldn’t. She wasn’t a naïve young girl. Simpleton had robbed any innocence from her and shown her the darkest side of mankind.

And Simpleton had already traumatized Nan by kidnapping her.

Micah turned down the drive to Nan’s place, noting the neatly kept lawns and expensive cars in the drive.

“Have you been to Nan’s house?” Micah asked.

Lenora shook her head. “She used to live in an apartment. It looks like she’s done well for herself.”

“What does she do for a living?”

“She’s a financial planner, always planning for the future.” Her voice cracked. “A future she might not have now because of me.”

“Not because of you,” Micah said firmly. “Because a sick, twisted murderer escaped from prison.”

“I appreciate that you’re trying to make me feel better, Micah, but we both know the truth.”

He reached the end of the street and turned into the drive. A black BMW sat in front, then his gaze fell to the purse lying on the ground and a scarf that must have belonged to Nan.

This was where Simpleton had abducted her.

The crime unit would arrive any minute. He wanted every bit of evidence possible to make sure the man paid for his crimes.

Lenora tamped down her emotions as she slid from the car. Nan’s purse and scarf were on the ground. One of her black heels was lying in the grass as if it had been kicked aside.

Probably when she’d tried to fight Simpleton.

God.

“Don’t touch anything, Lenora. A crime unit is on the way,” Micah said.

“We know who did it.”

“But we need forensics to back up the case.”

She whirled on Micah. “You mean in case she’s dead and he doesn’t confess?”

Tension stretched between them for a full second.

“Trust me, Lenora. This time he’ll get death row.”

She regretted taking her frustration out on him. Micah was trying to help, doing his best to take care of her and find Simpleton.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m just on edge.”

“No apology needed.” Micah offered her a smile. “I know this is difficult.”