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The word came out harsh. Sienna sensed he wasn’t angry with her, but was with himself. Eli had lost the upper hand in the fight. That wasn’t something a man like him could let go of easily. Thankfully, his pride seemed to have taken the worst of it. He sported a cut on his cheek and a darkening bruise along his chin, but otherwise appeared unharmed.
Eli patted down the intruder for any other weapons, but came up empty-handed. The man didn’t have any ID either.
Once he was finished, Sienna extended the gun for him to take. Her gaze swept the bedroom, but there was no sign of Ruby’s grandmother. “Amelia?”
Eli tilted his head toward the bathroom. “In there. She and the intruder were wrestling over the door when we arrived.”
Sienna crossed the carpet as Eli called for backup while keeping his weapon trained on the masked intruder. The door to the bathroom was closed tight. Sienna knocked on the wood. “Amelia? It’s Sienna Evans. You’re safe now. Can you open the door?”
Shuffling came from inside the bathroom, and then the lock snicked open. Amelia appeared. She wore a housedress and one slipper. Her normally tidy gray hair was flying in all directions. Thick silver tape hung from the corner of her mouth and rope dangled from one wrist. A huge bruise marred her cheek. More covered her bare arms.
Relief flickered across her face. She swayed.
Sienna caught the frail woman before she hit the tile floor. “Eli, ask for an ambulance.” She barely registered his voice as he complied with her order. Her sole focus was on assisting Amelia to the bed so she could sit down.
“I’m fine.” Amelia’s whole body trembled and her complexion was pale.
“You’ve been through an ordeal. It’s okay not to be fine.” Sienna snagged the comforter off the bed and wrapped it around Amelia’s shoulders. Shock was a real threat. It could kill the older woman.
Tears filled Amelia’s brown eyes. She grabbed Sienna’s hand. “Thank God you came when you did.” She licked her lips. “He rang the doorbell. I answered without looking through the peephole, thinking it was my neighbor who often comes over for breakfast.” The tears spilled over her wrinkled cheeks. “I realized my mistake too late. He pushed his way into the house. Punched me and then tied me up. I got free while he was searching Ruby’s bedroom, and ran for the bathroom to lock myself inside, but he must’ve heard me.”
That explained why they were wrestling over the bathroom door when Eli arrived. Amelia’s cries had been muffled by the tape covering her mouth. Sienna gently removed the offending item from the corner of the older woman’s mouth where it dangled after she tried to rip it off once she was locked in the bathroom. “You’re safe now. Everything is going to be okay.”
The words of comfort seemed to provide Amelia strength. She straightened her spine, turning her gaze toward the intruder. “Who is he?”
“An excellent question.” Eli ripped off the attacker’s mask. The man had a square face with pebbled cheeks and chapped lips. His bald head reflected the sunlight streaming through the bedroom windows. A cut from the photograph frame dripped blood down his scalp and around his ear. Bruises from the fight spotted his cheeks and chin. His pupils were dilated.
Was he high? Sienna suspected as much. Her sister’s eyes had looked the same when she was using. It also explained why the man didn’t seem bothered by his injuries. He probably hadn’t felt a thing during the fight. Judging from the veins popping in the man’s forearms and the acne on his face, his recreational drug use included steroids.
“Who are you?” Eli barked out.
The man scowled and kept his mouth shut tight. Sienna didn’t recognize him. From the look on Eli’s face, neither did he. Was this the same man who’d attempted to kill them in the marina? Was he also Albert’s murderer? Ruby’s kidnapper?
Amelia studied the attacker’s face for a long moment, her brow crinkled, as if she was trying to drudge up a memory from the recesses of her mind. Then she gasped. “You’re from Fresh Start. I remember seeing you at a fundraiser a few months ago. Ruby told me your name was Jesse.”
“Fresh Start?” Shock rippled through Sienna. The non-profit organization provided support and encouragement to those who suffered from addiction. They helped former addicts find jobs and housing, provided meals, ran vocational classes. There was counseling too. A few members lived on premises in the upstairs bedrooms in exchange for assisting at the center.
Ruby worked there as an administrative assistant. Sienna hadn’t had a chance to interviewed any of her colleagues, or her boss, the director of Fresh Start, Gideon Wade yet.
Amelia rose. Her expression shifted from fear to fiery determination. “Where’s Ruby? What have you done with my granddaughter?”
“I ain’t done nothin’ to Ruby,” he snarled. “I want a lawyer.”
Sienna scoffed. The man might be high as a kite, but his brain cells were still firing. Sirens from approaching first responders wailed in the distance. They would be here soon, and once that happened, she wouldn’t have a chance to question the intruder again. She stepped into his line of sight. “The only thing I’m concerned about is finding Ruby. If you know where she is, you need to tell us so we can help her.”
“I don’t know anything. I was hired to…” His mouth clamped shut as his gaze darted around the room. “I can’t say any more. I’m a dead man if I do.”
Hired? A streak of horror ripped through Sienna. She shared a quick glance with Eli and saw her own fears reflected in his gaze. Then he focused back on the handcuffed criminal.
“I’m a Texas Ranger. Whoever you’re scared of, I can help.” He crouched down to look the man in the eye. “I can make sure you’re protected.”
The wail of sirens grew louder. Jesse swallowed hard and shook his head. “No way.”
“What were you looking for in Ruby’s room?” Sienna tried a last ditch effort to get the man to talk. Time was running out for Ruby. She could feel it in her bones. Whatever the young woman had stumbled into, it was bad. They needed something more to help narrow the search for her. “Whatever it was, you didn’t find it. That’s why you needed her grandmother alive. To tell you where Ruby hid it.”
Jesse pressed his lips together. No amount of questions or pleading would convince him to talk. They were wasting time.
Sienna turned away from him in disgust and went back to Amelia. “Do you know what he was looking for?”
