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A man dressed in black, wearing a ski mask.
Holding a flaming bottle in one hand.
FIVE
Sienna’s heart pounded against her rib cage as the masked man with the flaming bottle rounded the curve of the garage, heading straight for her. She was unarmed. Outrunning him was possible, but unlikely if his aim was accurate.
“Police!” Eli pointed his weapon, moving directly into Sienna’s path, blocking the masked man from getting to her. “Freeze!”
The intruder drew up short. He tossed the flaming bottle in their direction, but it landed short of its intended target, smashing into the ground. A flash of heat followed as the gasoline ignited. Sienna clutched her laptop and the files she’d managed to rescue from her office against her chest like a shield. Behind her, the blaze of the house fire illuminated the night well enough to see the masked man turn tail and run.
Eli took a step forward in pursuit and then halted.
She didn’t hesitate. Sienna took off after the intruder, intent on stopping him before he escaped. Within seconds, Eli was at her side. They rounded the corner in time to hear an engine roar.
“Stop!” Eli shouted.
It was too late. Tires squealed as the assailant took off on a dirt bike down the street and out of sight.
* * *
Eli splashed water on his face before wiping at the soot with several paper towels. The last few hours had been spent giving a statement to responding police officers. Then he’d argued with the emergency room doctor about being allowed to stay with Sienna while she received treatment for smoke inhalation and the burn on her arm. An argument he’d won. After the attack, there was no way he was leaving her side for any reason.
He exited the bathroom. Sienna lay on the bed. Her complexion was pale, nearly as white as the sheets, her lips flattened into a thin line. An IV delivered fluids and equipment monitored her heart rate and oxygen levels. The mask that was supposed to be over her nose and mouth had been tossed to the side.
Eli closed the distance between them and picked it up. “Put this on.” He scowled. “You need the extra oxygen to help your lungs.”
The stubborn woman pushed his hand away and hit the button to shift the bed into a sitting position. Her burned arm was bandaged. “I feel much better. Besides, you and I need to talk about the case. About Albert.”
“We can do it later—”
She captured his hand. “No, Eli. We need to do it now. I’ve been arrested and nearly killed in the span of twenty-four hours. Things are escalating. Someone is desperately trying to prevent me from finding Ruby Morales. If something happens to me, I need you to continue looking for her.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to say that nothing was going to happen to her, but Eli bit back the words. That wasn’t a guarantee he could make. Instead, he said, “In order for anyone to hurt you, they’ll have to go through me. And I don’t plan on making it easy.”
The corners of her mouth quirked up. “I know, but I’ll feel a lot better once we talk.” She released his hand and pointed to the stack of papers and the laptop saved from the fire. “Can you grab those for me?”
He did as she asked. Sienna fished a photograph from one of the file folders and handed it to him. The young woman in the picture had a high-forehead covered with side bangs and deep-set brown eyes. Her cheeks were rosy with youth, a crooked tooth gave her smile character, and a cross necklace was nestled in the hollow between her collarbones.
“Ruby is twenty-two.” Sienna’s voice was hoarse from the smoke inhalation. “Her parents passed away in a car crash when she was five, so she was raised by her maternal grandmother. Ruby works as an administrative assistant for a local charity and was enrolled in online college classes to obtain her master’s in business. Three weeks ago, right after New Year’s, Ruby met up with some friends at Lone Star Saloon, a local bar. She left around midnight. Alone. Never made it home.”
“Had she been drinking?”
“Nope. According to the bartender and her friends, Ruby didn’t have anything other than a Diet Coke and water. She’s not much of a partier. The initial investigation run by Chief Ramirez didn’t yield any significant leads. Her last text was to her grandmother saying she was on her way home. It was sent as she left the bar. Shortly after that, her cell phone stopped transmitting to the towers, as though it’d been turned off. Her car hasn’t been found, and no one has heard from her.” Sienna leaned against the pillow. “I think something happened when she got to her car that night. The bar doesn’t have cameras in the parking lot. Just over the entrance.”
Eli surmised where Sienna was headed with the story. “You believe someone kidnapped her?”
“I think it’s the most likely scenario. Chief Ramirez believes Ruby simply ran off and she’ll pop back up in a few months when she runs out of cash.”
“Any reason to believe that?”
“Ruby’s debit card has been used in different locations throughout the state. But when footage was pulled from the ATMs, the person who withdrew the money placed a hand over the camera. There’s not a clear shot of the person’s face.”
She pulled out another photograph and handed it to Eli. It was a still taken from an ATM video camera. The person had a hoodie pulled up for concealment and the darkness of the surroundings made it hard to distinguish features. “This does look like a woman.”
“I know. The person is about the right height, but Ruby’s not the kind of girl who’d simply leave town on a whim. She’s responsible. Never missed a day of work or school. Plus, Ruby’s dedicated to her grandmother. I find it hard to believe she’d take off without a word to the woman who raised her.” Sienna smoothed out an invisible wrinkle from her sheet. “There’s one more thing. Two weeks after Ruby disappeared, her grandmother, Amelia, received a phone call from an unknown cell phone. It was Ruby. She begged for help and then whispered something Amelia couldn’t make out before hanging up.”
“Did Amelia report the phone call to the police?”
