Vanished (8 page)

His lips twitched, something wanting to break free. A snarl? A smile? But he held it back, staring her down, triumph in his eyes.

And she realized what she’d done. She’d gotten distracted, thinking of Cassie. She’d let him get too close.

She was armed, yes, but in the time it took to clear her weapon from its holster, he could take her down with sheer bulk. She could run, but which way? She was at the base of two dunes, with no idea how to get out.

Triumph showed on Darnell’s face, telling her he could sense her fear.

And damn it, that infuriated her. It ignited all the anger she’d buried under mountains of survivor’s guilt and mourning.

So, he had a hundred pounds on her, all of it muscle. She had hand-to-hand training from the FBI. And she wasn’t going down without a fight.

She leaned her head back so he could see it in her eyes.

He was taken aback, like most bullies, when he realized sheer intimidation wouldn’t do it. A flash of surprise, of panic, appeared in Darnell’s eyes. He hid it fast and lifted his hand.

Evelyn instinctively jumped backward, her hands coming up fisted.

“Move back now!”

Evelyn identified the deep baritone instantly, and Darnell reacted to the order by calmly raking his hand through his hair. Then he took his time stepping away from her.

Finally Evelyn looked up, over the top of the dune, and right at Kyle, who was walking toward them, his weapon sighted on Darnell.

“Evelyn and I were just helping with the search,” Darnell said, sounding way too calm for someone who had a weapon aimed at his head. “You always this trigger-happy, man?”

Not lowering his weapon or taking his gaze off Darnell, Kyle held his hand out for her.

Evelyn took it, and he tugged her up the dune next to him as if she weighed nothing, barely even adjusting his weight. Only then did Kyle holster his weapon.

But his hand still lingered close to it, and Evelyn recognized the battle-hardened look in Kyle’s eyes as his “mission face.” For someone who usually seemed laid-back and approachable, right now Kyle looked exactly like the trained operator he was.

Darnell clearly saw it, because he kept his movements slow and his hands away from his pockets as Kyle indicated that he should move in front of them.

“You need to sign in with the rest of the searchers,” Kyle said as the three of them started walking out of the dunes.

“How do you know I didn’t?” Darnell parried.

“Because when I asked around about where Evelyn was, I heard I wasn’t the only one looking for her.”

Darnell had told people he wanted to find her? That meant he probably hadn’t intended to harm her, just to intimidate.

As her adrenaline level decreased, Evelyn cursed herself for screwing this up. If she’d stayed focused, she might have gotten him to slip up.

Darnell shrugged, glancing back at Kyle. “Evelyn was the one who told me about the girl’s abduction. She mentioned the search, so I figured I’d join her.”

As they stepped out of the dunes and onto the high grass alongside a parking lot full of beachgoers, Evelyn put her hand on Kyle’s arm. When he turned to her, she gave a quick shake of her head. A silent request not to warn Darnell to stay away from her.

She’d trained in psychology for years before arriving at BAU, which was its own specialized course in how the most dangerous minds worked. And every bit of her training was telling her that Darnell would seek her out again.

Next time, she’d be prepared. She wouldn’t let him catch her alone and off guard. Next time, he wouldn’t be the only one playing mind games.

Because he might have spent his whole life fooling people, but her job was to get into his head and make him give her the truth. And her job was the biggest part of
her
life.

She knew Kyle didn’t like it, but he kept quiet as Darnell glanced between them, obviously expecting a threat.

When none came, amusement glimmered in his eyes. “I’ll be back to help some more later. Can’t let this guy get away with it.”

He sauntered away, then called over his shoulder, “See you soon, Evelyn.”

Seven

K
yle was pissed off.

Evelyn could see it in the set of his jaw, his white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel. He hadn’t said a word as he’d hustled her into his car and started driving toward the church where the search parties met up. She’d parked her rental there early in the morning before heading off for the dunes alone.

She knew why he was upset. She’d taken a risk, gotten herself cornered by Darnell. And she hadn’t let Kyle threaten the guy with bodily harm if he ever came near her again.

“He caught me off guard. It won’t happen again.”

Kyle nodded curtly, then seemed to forcibly pry his jaw open. “But you want him to seek you out, don’t you?”

“He could be the Nursery Rhyme Killer. And if he is, he wants to brag about it. He wants to taunt me.” She tried to shrug, tried to ignore the nausea rising up at even the thought of encouraging Darnell to brag about what he’d done to Cassie.

She’d used the same strategy dozens of times before in other cases, in interrogation rooms with suspects who thought they were smarter than her. She could do it for this case.

But judging by Kyle’s frown, she knew he was remembering her last case, and what had happened when she’d tried to lure a killer to her. She’d almost died that day.

“This guy doesn’t want to kill me. He wants to brag without actually admitting to anything.”

Kyle’s hands clenched the wheel. “What happens when you
get
him to admit to something?”

The way he said it, as if it was a foregone conclusion, filled her with warmth. “I’m not going to let him catch me alone again.”

She heard Kyle sigh his acceptance, then one hand dropped off the steering wheel and his fingers wove through hers.

In the brief look he threw her before focusing back on the road, she knew he understood. She’d told him about Cassie’s abduction. But she’d never told him the whole story.

Suddenly she wanted to. Wanted to really let him in and see where things went after that. “There were notes left behind at these abductions. In the note left at Cassie’s house eighteen years ago, he said he’d taken me, too.”

Kyle’s fingers jerked in hers, then he pulled off to the side of the road. He faced her, sadness in his deep-blue eyes, and comprehension.

That little piece of information probably answered every question he’d ever had about why she put her job ahead of everything else, why she was always so serious, so secretive. Why she was alone.

She stared down at her lap, not quite able to hold his gaze.

“It’s not your fault. You know that.”

Trust Kyle to cut right to the heart of it, to understand exactly how she thought. For some reason, he always had.

“Yeah, I know. But that doesn’t really change how I feel.” She forced herself to meet his eyes. “I wanted to tell you, but I can’t talk about this right now. I can’t
think
about this right now. I have to focus.”

She had to bury her emotions as deep as she could, numb herself as much as possible until she caught the Nursery Rhyme Killer. And then she’d allow herself the luxury of getting upset, of mourning Cassie. But not now. Not when it could throw her off track, could mean the difference between finding Brittany in time or leaving the Nursery Rhyme Killer file still unsolved.

“Just be careful, okay?”

Evelyn nodded, glancing down at his fingers still laced with hers, completely dwarfing them, his Irish skin pale next to hers. “I will.”

Realizing there was only one person she’d told where she was going today, she asked, “How did you find me?”

“I asked around. Jack Bullock suggested I check these dunes.”

“Did Darnell overhear you?”

“The guy we saw in the dunes? No. When no one at the search parties seemed to know where you were, I finally stopped at the police station.”

“Huh.”

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “You’re wondering how Darnell found you?”

“Yeah. I only told Jack.”

“Maybe Jack mentioned it to someone else and Darnell overheard that.”

Evelyn nodded, skeptical. “Maybe.”

“You think Jack told him?”

“No. We questioned Darnell together last night. He wouldn’t have told Darnell where I was.”

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I did a little searching into Jack last night and nothing raised any flags.”

Evelyn frowned. “Jack’s not a suspect.”

“Well, I didn’t like his attitude the other day. But he’s got a near-perfect track record as a cop. He’s been married a long time. Overall, he seems solid. The Nursery Rhyme case eighteen years ago looks like one of the few he was on that didn’t get solved.”

“His attitude toward me is kind of weird.” She suspected it had to do with the color of her skin, at least in part. But she didn’t want to get into that now. “Whatever the reason for his resentment, I can handle it.”

“I think he’s pissed because you remind him of his one failure. And I think he’s scared that now you’re going to outshine him by solving the case he couldn’t.”

“Jack was a rookie back then. His dad was the police chief.”

“All the more reason Jack can’t let this case go,” Kyle said. “Trust me. I know exactly what that’s like.”

He smiled at her, one of his knowing, dimpled smiles that made her feel like she was fifteen years old and just discovering boys. “Before I came to the Bureau, I was a cop, remember? Like my older brother. And my dad, the police chief.”

“Really?” Kyle had told her he used to be a cop, that he’d come from a family of cops, but she hadn’t realized his dad had been the chief of police. And for some reason, she’d assumed Kyle had made the transition to the FBI quickly.

She tried to imagine him wearing a police uniform, but all she could picture him in was his bulletproof vest with FBI emblazoned across the front. “I guess I thought you’d come into the Bureau like I did.”

“Always knowing I belonged here?” He shook his head. “Nope. It was a total fluke, me deciding to apply. One day on the job we had a situation that brought some agents from the local field office to town. I saved a kid that day. Caught their attention.” He shrugged, fiddled with her fingers. “One of them suggested I apply.”

“And it wasn’t quite like you expected?”

He smiled, a soft, quiet smile so unlike his usual big grins. “Oh, in some ways it was better. But you know how HRT is.”

She did. She knew he didn’t just have memories of the people he’d saved, but of the ones he hadn’t been in time to help.

Maybe they were more alike than she’d ever thought.

“Mac...”

A loud honk cut her off, turning Kyle’s head, too. Pulled up beside their car was an old gray sedan. When the window rolled down, Evelyn went light-headed.

Kyle looked at her questioningly, but she was already opening her door to go talk to Cassie’s parents.

By the time Julie Byers climbed out of her car, Kyle was standing beside Evelyn. He’d taken a protective stance, close enough to lend support without actually touching her. He’d obviously figured out who this was.

Julie Byers’s blond hair was like Cassie’s, although it was probably from a bottle now. Her blue eyes, too, were the same shade as her daughter’s, but they seemed tired and sad, dragged down by dark, heavy moons. Lips that had once been so quick to smile were pressed together tightly.

“Mrs. Byers.” Evelyn’s voice cracked and she tried again. “I’m sorry I haven’t come by...”

Julie’s lips lifted into the facsimile of a smile, her eyes watering as she drew Evelyn into a tight hug. “Thank you for coming.”

She smelled like lilac, a scent Evelyn had always hated, although she wasn’t sure why. Julie was bigger than Evelyn, but she felt frail, like if Evelyn hugged her back too hard she’d break.

“Of course I’m here,” Evelyn said, and even to her own ears, her voice didn’t sound right.

Julie pulled back. “I knew if anyone could find Cassie...”

A heavy weight settled on Evelyn’s chest, the knowledge of all the people counting on her. “I’m not leaving until I do.”

Julie nodded sadly, as if she knew the only way Cassie was coming home was for a long-overdue funeral. As Evelyn tried to hold back her tears, Julie looked over at Kyle as though she’d suddenly noticed he was there.

Evelyn felt Kyle’s hand low on her back and it evened out her breathing as he introduced himself to Julie’s mom.

“Arthur’s in the car,” Julie said, looking back at Evelyn. “I’d better get him home, but do you want to come over and say hi? I’m sure he’d love to see you.”

Cassie’s dad. Evelyn nodded, feeling as though her feet were encased in concrete as she plodded toward their car, Kyle’s hand at her back.

When she peered inside, she realized she wouldn’t have recognized Cassie’s dad. It had been thirteen years since she’d seen him, but he seemed to have aged more than twice that. His bony hand trembled as he held it out to her and his eyes were hazy and unfocused.

“Evelyn Baine,” he said, taking her hand briefly. “Julie told me you were coming to find my Cassie.”

“Yes,” Evelyn choked out.

“And the other girl,” he said, glancing off into the distance, where the search parties were barely visible. “It’s just like eighteen years ago,” he mused, apparently lost in a memory, not talking to her anymore.

Her own memories rushed forward like a blast of hot wind—the feel of her grandmother’s wrinkled hand clutching hers, the adults in front of her walking a search pattern. Keeping her head up, eyes dry, trying to be brave as she searched for her best friend. The days stretching into weeks and then months, until finally the search parties dwindled down to nothing and her grandparents wouldn’t let her go out looking anymore. The whispers she’d overheard, saying Cassie was never going to be found.

Then the present filtered back in. The smell of exhaust in the briny heat. The huge live oaks stretching across the road from either side to meet in the middle, creating a canopy of shade. The comfort of Kyle’s hand at her back as he urged her away from the car. And the sound of Julie’s voice...

“...heart attack,” Julie was saying. She shook her head. “And he’s had a couple more since then. He just never gave up on finding her. After eighteen years of hoping, it’s taken its toll, a little more each year.”

“I’m sorry,” Evelyn whispered.

Cassie had been their only child. And she’d been missing for more years than she’d been with them.

Julie reached out to pat her hand. “We know how much you loved her, Evelyn.” She glanced back at the car where her husband stared blankly off at the search parties. “We’re glad you’re here. We need closure. I just don’t know what he’s going to do when we find out...”

Julie sobbed, then straightened her shoulders and said, “Well, I’d better get him home. I saw you through the windshield and it didn’t matter how many years it’s been.” A real smile, tiny as it was, curved Julie’s lips. “I knew it was you.”

Evelyn tried to smile back, but she couldn’t do it. How hard was it for Julie to see her daughter’s best friend eighteen years later, when Cassie would never have the chance to grow up?

“Say hi to your grandma for me. She’s still with you, right?”

Evelyn nodded.

“And say hi to your mom, too, if you see her, okay?” Julie said as she started walking back to her car.

“My mom?”

Julie paused, glancing back. “I ran into her upstate a few months ago. She’d moved in with a new boyfriend. So I thought...”

“Oh, okay.”

“You still don’t talk to her.”

It was a statement, not a question, but Evelyn answered, anyway. “No.”

When Evelyn was seventeen, her grandma had had a stroke, and Evelyn’s mom had reappeared. Evelyn had graduated early so she could leave for college instead of living with her mother again.

“You might want to bury that hatchet while you still can,” Julie suggested as she got back into her car.

She drove away and Evelyn just stood there until Kyle guided her back into his car.

Once he’d gotten in the seat beside her, he asked softly, “You okay?”

From the way he was looking at her, he knew she wasn’t. But she could tell he assumed that she’d simply nod and get back to work. Just like she always did when emotions hit too hard.

She could feel his surprise when instead she launched herself across the seat and held on to him so tightly it hurt her arms. She buried her head in his neck as his arms wrapped around her, comforting and solid. She’d thought the tears building up in her eyes were going to burst free as soon as his arms closed around her, but they didn’t.

Somehow it felt exactly like eighteen years ago, when she’d tried to hold back her fear. As though crying for Cassie meant she really wasn’t ever coming home alive.

Intellectually, Evelyn had accepted it a long time ago. But damn, being back in Rose Bay, really being back here and searching for the truth, made the same stupid hope spring to life again. The hope that somehow, against all logic, Cassie was still alive.

That if only Evelyn could find her, she’d finally come home.

* * *

Her fingers felt clumsy as she held the tiny teapot and poured more pretend tea into her cup. The purple flowered tea set had been a present, but she hardly ever got to use it. Usually, tea party was her favorite game, but today, the little girl across from her refused to play.

The girl was crying again and she curled into herself, refusing to understand what she had to do. The dress she’d been wearing for two days was starting to smell and she wouldn’t change into the new outfit spread out on the bed.

“I just want to go home,” the girl whimpered.

“You are home.”

The rough dirt walls and floor might not have been plush, but she’d worked hard to make it nice. To make it all a little less scary.

She’d started out small, asking for things she knew he wouldn’t deny her. A pretty pink cover for the bed. Crayons to draw a picture she could hang on the wall.

He’d given in reluctantly, slowly, because decorating this place hadn’t been his priority. It was eighteen years since she’d asked for those crayons, and the bedcover smelled musty. The drawing was yellowed, curling around the edges. But this felt like a place someone had once loved. It felt almost like a home.