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Doug understood. “I see. So you found out where the wedding was from Miss Talia’s post, and you went there and took Miss Pixie away.” The words felt like ground glass in his throat.
Harlan’s eyes grew wide. “I didn’t take Miss Pixie,” he whined. “The bad man from school did.”
“The bad—? How do you know this, Harlan?” Doug’s heart felt like it had stopped.
“I told you. Miss Talia told everyone where the wedding was, so I came. But I wasn’t invited, so I hid. You have to have an invitation to a wedding, you know.”
“That’s right, Harlan, you do. Tell me what happened next,” Doug prompted, his anxiety off the charts.
“I saw the bad man hiding. I thought that meant he didn’t have an invitation, either. But then I saw him watching Miss Pixie, and when she came out of the toilet, he put something over her mouth and dragged her away.”
The bastard. Doug wanted to scream. He was so angry he couldn’t ask any more questions. Thank God for Cisco, who kept digging.
“Did he see you, Harlan? Did you see where he took Miss Pixie?”
Harlan’s eyes grew wide, as if he were reliving the moment. “I knew from TV that I had to be very quiet. Bad things happen when they find you,” he murmured. “The man put a mask on her face and she went to sleep. I knew she wasn’t dead because she was breathing.”
Damn.Harlan must have been close to notice that. It was a miracle he wasn’t discovered.
“Then he carried her to his car and drove away.”
Doug groaned. Another dead end.
“Did you get the license plate of the car, Harlan?” Cisco asked.
“Nope.” Now the man grinned so wide, Doug was surprised his face didn’t split in two. “I followed him.”
Holy fuck.Doug thought he might pass out in relief. Mason and the troops couldn’t get here soon enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The minute she heard Peter’s car drive off, Pixie went into action, albeit in slow motion.
First, she rolled painfully to her side, perusing her hand where it had been bound to the frame.
Idiot. Pixie gave a relieved snort. Peter must have a very low opinion of women’s IQ’s. Either that, or he’d never met a one-armed person before. Having performed everything for years with only a single functioning hand, Pixie had enough dexterity to twist her wrist toward the rope so that her fingers came in contact with the knot which was resting atop the wooden rail.
Pixie didn’t know how much time she had, but she forced herself to proceed slowly and methodically. It wouldn’t do to panic and have the loop slide into a less than favorable position.
She imagined, while attempting the manipulation, that Doug talked to her.
That’s right, sweetheart.Easy now.
Yes…Doug had called her sweetheart once, and she’d hugged it to herself for days. Hearing it now, if only in her imagination, gave her confidence.
You’ve got this,he continued.Just a little more.
She knew the voice wasn’t real, but she desperately needed a cheering section. She wanted to find her way out of this, making Doug proud; making Talia proud. Pixie might be a simple schoolteacher, but she could have mad skills, too. Not that Tallie had ever made her feel like she didn’t, but Pixie had always harbored those doubts on her own. Talia was out there in the world saving lives, making a huge difference. And Pixie was, most of the time…hiding at home.
You make a difference, Pixie.Doug’s voice came to her again, this time with a hint of chastisement in his tone.Look what you do for your kids.
His voice was lulling her into a state of complacency when she needed to focus. She shook her head and it hurt, but the pain brought her back to her vital task, fuzzy-brain be damned.
Pixie knew she must be slow because of the drugs Peter had given her, or maybe she was a slight bit concussed from where he’d hit her, but this time when she welcomed Doug into her head, she talked to him as she worked.
You say I make a difference because you’re my friend, she responded.
I’m more than a friend, and you know it. Now keep working. Get loose and I’ll tell you what you really mean to me.
