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The driver simply glanced in the rearview mirror.
The ten-minute drive to the Ackerman’s house seemed to take forever. Tempted to urge the man to speed, she held on to her self-control. She couldn’t afford the time it would take for the cop to write him a ticket.
When the taxi pulled into the driveway, she hopped out. “Wait here, please.” She didn’t want him driving off if Janice wasn’t there. She ran to the front door.
Banging on it brought no results. No one was home. Groaning, she ran back to the taxi and told him to just wait a minute while she thought.
He did.
She checked her cell phone to see if Mason had called. He hadn’t.
The next logical place to go was Janice’s store. Mind made up, she gave the driver the address.
When Lacey arrived, her heart dropped to her toes once again. This place also looked deserted. She frowned and bit her lip. What should she do?
Climbing from the vehicle with another request that he wait, she approached the front door, absently noticing the greenery entwined around the white-painted stair rails. Green wreaths with red bows hung on the double wooden doors. An Opening Soon sign hung from a nail at eye level.
Lacey knocked.
And waited. Nothing.
Great. Now what?
A crash from inside made her gasp.
She banged on the door. “Janice? Janice? Are you in there? Are you all right?”
A muffled scream?
“Janice!” Lacey twisted the doorknob and the door flew open.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mason finally got Daniel on the phone. Just as Daniel answered, he heard the call-waiting signal. Lacey. She would have to wait. To Daniel, he said, “We need to talk, Ackerman.” It was all he could do to keep the fury out of his voice. This man had lied to him all these years, terrorized Lacey and kidnapped Bethany.
“Sorry, I was working an accident out on the highway, then just now finished questioning a suspect in Bethany’s kidnapping. Billy Rose admitted that someone paid him to watch for her and inject her.”
Was this guy for real?
“Did he happen to say who that someone was?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“Of course not.”
“Look—” Daniel cleared his throat “—we need to talk. Where are you?”
“About ten minutes away from the station. Catelyn’s with me.”
“Meet me in the parking lot at the corner of Henry and Pine.”
“I’m on the way and you’d better be there.”
Mason hung up and looked at Catelyn. He said, “I’m confused. Your partner is not acting like a guilty man.”
“He wants to meet?”
“Yeah, he said we needed to talk.”
