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“I heard she was taken. Fuckin’ tell me the rest!”
“Corporal Rollington had tortured her. When he was caught, he promised her that he’d come back for her.”
“Where was this remote cabin?”
“The mountains to the west of Maryland. He rented a cabin.”
“Mountains.” That’s where he’d take her, only this time right here in Montana. There were hundreds of miles, cabins everywhere.
“I can’t imagine what she had to go through,” he said under his breath.
His words meant nothing to me at this point.
The news hit me hard enough I jerked back, a severe ache slamming into my head just behind my eyes. “Why the hell wasn’t he locked away for life?” I wasn’t certain how I was able to speak given how hard my jaw was clenched.
“His attorney used temporary insanity. The jury bought it. But he was given a lengthy hospital stay.”
So, Shelly was right.
“Uh-huh. And you and I both know the system can be faked out. If he’s on the loose, he will find her.” The words stuck in my throat, my mind full of horrific possibilities.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m worried about.” He stared me in the eyes. “But, if he’s still locked away, then we may be dealing with something else. A copycat maybe.”
An ache in my chest felt like a pressure chamber. I pressed my hand over my heart. “Her car needs to be found. If you aren’t going to do anything, I am.”
“Snake. Wait. Just fucking wait. It’s too early to do anything.”
“You sure about that?” I refused to blink, staring into his eyes for a full minute. He was the one who looked away.
“I’ll have the deputies start to look. Okay? That’s all I can do right now.”
“And you’ll talk to Drake again, because if you don’t, I will.”
“Goddamn it, Snake. If you’d wanted to be a deputy, why haven’t you done anything about it?”
“Because I’m far too dangerous.” I grumbled under my breath as he half laughed.
“Yeah, I’ll talk to Drake.”
“Fine. You do what you need to do. So will I.” I threw his door open, shoving aside anyone who got in my way. As I headed outside, I made the woman I was falling in love with a single promise.
I would unearth every rock, search every forest, and drop into every hole until I brought her home.
And the asshole who’d dared touch her would never again see the light of day.
* * *
“Jesus,” I said under my breath, forced to sit back from the computer. As Apollo jumped up on the edge of the desk, I absently scratched behind his ears. I’d never been the kind of guy to be afraid of anything.
Until I’d spent time in the closest thing to hell I ever wanted to face. The days had turned into nights, the anguish I’d suffered nothing in comparison to what the worthless piece of shit had done to Chasity.
There were few pictures of her taken during the trial, most of them providing nothing of value, but what little that had managed to escape to members of the press churned my stomach and it was made of iron.
The fact she’d gotten away from him not once but twice continued to stun me. I glanced at my watch and realized I’d never felt so helpless in my life. Even worse, I was plagued with deep emotions that were eating at my insides, furrowing their way into my intestines.
I was sick from worry, tense from rage, every muscle aching from need and forget about my heart. It was a twisted mass of muscle, the ragged thumping driving me insane. “What are we going to do, buddy?” I’d searched the limited areas of town where I’d either seen her or knew she’d gone. Nothing. There was no sign of her. That didn’t make any sense. I’d even convinced Shelly to call her folks so I wouldn’t be the big brute dropping a heap load of concern on their laps.
They hadn’t seen her in a few weeks.
