So Sensitive (30 page)

“Son of a bitch.”

Wade’s cel phone started to vibrate, interrupting his building rage. He yanked it out of the holder on his front jeans pocket and flipped it open. It was a message from Gracie, letting him know she was looking forward to their lunch date. Damn, how was he going to tel her about this? The pictures of her in various stages of undress alone would make her feel violated, much less the crazy scene he was staring at now.

Wade sent her a quick text, tel ing her he missed her. He’d have to think of a way to explain al this. Knowing how upsetting it would be for her had Wade cursing. Again.

“She’s been through enough,” Wade bit out. “These pictures are going to . . .” He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence.

Jonas slapped him on the back. “Let’s get some pictures of our own, then we’l head to the station and fil Henderson in on what we’ve found.”

Wade waited as Jonas walked around the room taking several shots of the bed, the dresser, the wal s. After he’d finished, they headed out the back door. They’d parked a street over, careful not to be seen. When they’d realized Lusk wasn’t home, Jonas had gone to work on the lock. It’d only taken a few seconds to get inside.

After they reached the truck and were on their way, Wade said, “We can’t just walk into Henderson’s office and show him pictures that we took of Lusk’s bedroom, which were taken
after
we broke into his house, by the way.”

Jonas shrugged. “He doesn’t have to know how we managed to get the pictures. For al he knows, we befriended Lusk, and the man invited us into his home.”

“Fuck it. I don’t care what we have to do or say. I just want this guy taken care of.”

“One way or the other he wil be,” Jonas promised, his voice ice-cold.

“One way or the other,” Wade repeated the vow as he gripped the steering wheel and took the corner faster than he should have. The prickly feeling, the one that told him something bad was about to happen, hadn’t gone away.

Within minutes they were standing in Detective Henderson’s office, watching as the seasoned detective flipped through the pictures on the digital camera. They’d already fil ed him in on everything they’d learned about the market George worked at, which Gracie visited every Monday, like clockwork. Once the detective reached the end of the pictures, he quietly placed the camera on the desk and looked up. “How did you say you came to be in Lusk’s bedroom?”

“We didn’t,” Wade ground out, not bothering to explain further. He didn’t care what happened to him, as long as Lusk was arrested. Keeping the freak away from Gracie was his number one objective. Nothing else mattered.

A muscle in the detective’s jaw jumped angrily as he pushed away from his desk and stood. “You say he works at the market that Gracie goes to every Monday. Does she remember him?”

Wade raked his fingers through his hair, his instincts firing at him that something wasn’t quite right. “No. Gracie has no idea what he even looks like.”

The detective let out a breath. “Is there anything else I should know before we investigate this guy?”

Wade couldn’t have heard him right. “Investigate?” Wade yel ed, as he stepped forward and planted his hands on the desk. “He needs to be behind bars, detective. Drag his ass in for questioning!”

“We can’t pul random people off the street just because you say so, Harrison!” he yel ed back. “It doesn’t work that way. We need probable cause.”

Jonas pointed to the camera. “Did you see those pictures? He’s set the stage. He’s going to take her. My guess is soon.”

Henderson held up his hand. “He’s obviously off his damn rocker. And we’re going to do everything in our power to keep him from harming Gracie. But you need to leave the rest to me. This has to be legal or the scum walks. Is that what you two want?”

Wade’s temper boiled over. “Son of a bitch! I fucking knew this would happen.” Wade’s cel phone vibrated, interrupting his murderous thoughts. He yanked it off the clip and read the words on the little screen.

Jonas stepped closer. “What is it?”

“It’s a text from Gracie. She says her dad was in an accident. He’s at Saint Mary’s Hospital. She’s taking her boss’s car and heading there now.”

“I’ve got a bad feeling here, Wade.”

Wade did too, and it was getting worse by the second. He started tapping the smal keyboard. “I’m tel ing her to wait for me.” He hit Send.

“Good plan.”

Within seconds he received a reply. Only it wasn’t from Gracie. “He’s got her. That son of a bitch has Gracie.”

“What? How?” the detective asked, as he moved around the desk.

Wade handed Jonas the phone. Jonas read the text aloud. “ ‘Too late. Gracie Lynn is mine now.’ ”

Wade and Jonas took off running, the detective hot on their heels. “He’l take her to the house,” Wade shouted over his shoulder. “He thinks he’s safe there. He doesn’t know we’re on to him.”

The detective caught him by the arm and pul ed him to a halt. “I’l cal for backup,” he gritted out, “but you two need to stand the hel down. This is a police matter.”

Wade shot him a glare. “No way in hel is that happening.”

“Ditto,” Jonas growled.

Henderson seemed at war with himself for a moment, and then he let Wade go. “Christ! Fine.” Before Wade could turn to go, Henderson jammed a finger against his chest. “But if you go in there in the state you’re in now, you’re liable to get Gracie kil ed. Think, goddamnit!”

Wade smiled. Henderson paled. “Trust me, detective, my thinking has never been more clear.”

30

G
racie’s head hurt, but she couldn’t understand why. She tried to open her eyes, but that only seemed to make the ache worse. Tugging on her hands and feet, Gracie realized she was very effectively bound. She remembered everything then. The cal about her father. It’d been a ruse, but she’d been blinded by worry. She’d rushed out to Marie’s car without thinking about her own safety. A hand had slammed down over her mouth. Gracie’s eyes shot wide, and she looked across the room and came face-to-face with her stalker.

“Oh, good! You’re awake,” he said, a maniacal smile lighting his face as he stood across the room, watching her. “I wasn’t sure how long that nasty stuff would knock you out.”

Gracie licked her lips; they were chapped, her mouth dry. “You drugged me,” she muttered. Her throat felt as if it had been scraped raw.

“Yes. I’m sorry, but it was necessary.”

Gracie looked at George, taking note of his filthy appearance. He had dirty, sandy blond hair parted down the side, and if Gracie had to guess she’d say he was in his mid-thirties. He looked as if he hadn’t showered in weeks. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He couldn’t have been tal er than five foot seven. He was thin, almost painful y so. This was the man who’d been sending her e-mails? The person who had run her off the road and had torn up her home? Somehow she had expected someone more sinister. Someone bigger, meaner. This guy looked like an accountant. He was so normal in appearance, so completely average. And yet he was clearly insane. He was also a complete stranger. How was it possible to attract such obsessive attention, and yet she couldn’t even remember seeing him at Charlie’s Market?

“Why? Why me?” Gracie had to know what she’d ever done to warrant such fanatical interest.

He moved away from the doorway then. With each step he took closer, Gracie’s heart beat faster. Once he was standing beside the bed, fear like she’d never before felt fil ed her. She could see it then, the vacant look in his eyes. He was completely insane.

“You know. You already know the answer to that question, Gracie Lynn.”

She shook her head as frustration started to edge out the fear. “I don’t understand any of this! Please, just let me go.” Even as the words spil ed out, she knew it was futile. He would not be letting her go. Wade would come, she thought, hope blooming. When she didn’t show for their lunch date, he would come looking for her.

“Why would you want to leave?” George asked, as if genuinely confused. “We love each other. We’re going to be married.” He picked up a white dress that had been on the bed next to her. She hadn’t even noticed it lying there. Gracie looked it over, then let her gaze travel around the room. She saw it al then. The champagne, the condoms, the pictures of her. Oh, God, there were so many. Thousands of them.

“Do you like it? I did it al for you.”

He wanted to know if she liked it? Gracie started to tel him where he could shove the damn dress and the rest of his crazy little plan, but she stopped herself. Pissing off a madman while bound was not a good plan. Instead, she lied.

“It must have taken you a very long time to do al this. I’m flattered.” Bile rose as she spouted lies. “Of course, it’s going to be difficult to put the dress on if I’m tied to this bed.” She smiled and wiggled her fingers for emphasis. “Maybe you could let me up? So I can try it on, I mean. It’s so lovely.”

“Not yet. We have a few things to discuss first.”

“Oh?”

“I’m not pleased with you, Gracie Lynn. You let another man spend the night with you. You betrayed me.”

Gracie watched as George took a gun out of the pocket in his hoodie and placed it on the nightstand. “I-I didn’t mean to upset you, George.”

“It’s his fault.” George shook his head, his voice shifting to a higher pitch. Almost feminine. “You were so perfect before. He’s tainted you.

He’s tainted my Gracie Lynn. I can’t let that go unpunished.” He pul ed a knife out of his pocket and flipped it open. “You understand, don’t you?

This is for your own good, my love.”

As he sat down on the bed beside her, Gracie started to shake uncontrol ably. “No, please.”

The point slid over her blouse, beneath the top button. He sliced, and the button fel away. “It’s for your own good. Soon, you’l be perfect again. Soon, Gracie Lynn.”

Gracie started to struggle, but the ropes had no give. Another button popped free. When she felt cold metal against her chest, she screamed.

“Jonas, go around the back. We’l go in the front,” Wade instructed.

“You’re a civilian, damn it. You’l hang back until backup arrives.”

Wade and Jonas exchanged a silent look. Jonas nodded and took off around the side of the house. Henderson glared at Wade. It was ignored. “His bedroom is down the hal , the first room on the left.”

The detective tested the doorknob, but it didn’t give. “We need to do this right. We can’t just storm in there.”

Wade’s patience snapped. “She’s in there, and he could be—” A bloodcurdling scream rent the air, cutting him off midsentence. Gracie.

Fear mobilized Wade into action. He body slammed the old, beat-up door. It gave way easily under the brutal assault. Wade took off through the living room and down the hal , barely aware that the detective was right behind him. Wade stopped at the sight inside the barely lit bedroom.

Gracie, sprawled out on the bed, blood covering her chest. It dripped down her side to the pristine bedspread. Her gaze landed on him, and tears fil ed her eyes.

Wade crossed the room in two strides. “Oh, God, baby.”

“Wade, watch out!”

Wade turned his head in time to see George Lusk standing in the adjoining bathroom, gun raised, tears spil ing down his cheeks. Reacting purely on instinct, Wade lunged across the bed, protecting Gracie with his larger body. He felt a sharp sting in his left bicep seconds before the room erupted into chaos. Wade looked up to see Jonas holding George by the throat, knife poised directly over his heart.

“You got him secured?” Wade snarled.

“He moves, he dies,” Jonas promised, his voice low, menacing.

Henderson cursed and came over to the side of the bed. “You’ve been shot, Wade.”

“No!” Gracie cried, struggling under his weight.

Wade lifted off her and went to work on the ropes securing her wrists to the headboard. Once free, she flung herself against him. “You can’t die, Wade. Please, don’t die.”

Wade wrapped his arms around her. Damn, he was shaking like a friggin’ baby. “Shh, sweetheart. I’m fine. It’s just a graze. I’ve had worse during my army days.” He pul ed back and looked down at her. Blood coated the front of her blouse. “Oh, baby. What did he do to you?”

Gracie shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck, squeezing him tight. Wade could feel the wetness of her tears soaking the front of his shirt. They mingled with the blood, tearing another layer off his self-control. “Baby, I need to see it. I need to know how bad it is. We need to stop the bleeding.”

She tightened her hold on him and shook her head harder. “He only managed to cut me once,” she said, her words muffled by the front of his shirt. “It’s not deep, Wade.”

Not deep hel . He would see that blood on her chest in his nightmares for years to come. Wade glanced over to see Henderson untying Gracie’s ankles. She was completely free now. Wade slipped his arms beneath her knees and behind her back, then stood, lifting her. Wade spared Jonas a grateful look, knowing that if not for him, Gracie could be dead. Hel , rushing into the room the way he had could’ve gotten them al a bul et. Jonas only grinned and tightened his hold on Lusk, who continued to wail like a toddler whose toy has been snatched away. Wade had a powerful urge to cross the room and hit the son of a bitch who had made Gracie’s life a living hel for the last two months, but the man was just too damn pathetic.

Wade quickly dismissed him and turned his attention back to Gracie. “I’m taking Gracie to the hospital.”

Henderson stepped in front of him. “We’ve got Lusk dead to rights, Wade. Kidnapping, assault, and whatever else we can stick him with.

He’s going away for a long time.”

Wade glared at the detective and moved around him. “Just so you know, Lusk walks, I’l be going hunting. Remember that.”

“Guess I’l just have to see to it that that doesn’t become an issue.”

“You do that,” Wade muttered, as he walked out of the room. Gracie cupped his cheek. “I real y can walk. The cut on my chest, it’s not that bad. You’ve been shot, Wade. You shouldn’t be carrying me.”