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Greeting Smudge at the door, he pushed past his eager dog, wondering where Lacey had got to.He dumped the Chinese takeout on the countertop and called out that he was home.But there was no answer.That’s when he noticed a handwritten note on the kitchen table underneath the bag of food.He was just about to read it when a loud banging alerted him to someone at the front door.Smudge began to bark frenetically.
Immediately on alert, Nico touched his gun, which was still in its holster on his hip.
“Detective Favreau, it’s me, Detective Jay Pederson.”Nico could barely hear the deep voice from the other side of the door over Smudge’s barking.He tried to hush the dog as he made his way down the hallway.
What the hell?Why was Pederson here?When Nico had left the station, Pederson had still been in the ops room, taking phone calls and poring over the whiteboard.He opened the door—there was no mistaking it was Pederson outside, that voice couldn’t belong to anyone else—and stood staring at the tall man standing on his front door mat.
“We have Taylor Longbrook in the car.She’s safe and unharmed,” Pederson said without preamble, almost as if he expected Nico to know.But he didn’t, and he was left gaping like a stranded fish.
“What?”Try as hard as he might, he couldn’t get his mind to function properly.“I don’t understand.”How could that have happened in the short time it’d taken him to drive home?He would’ve seen Pederson drive past him in the cruiser, especially if he had lights and sirens on.Nico had only stopped for ten minutes on the way to get his takeout.Which must’ve been when Pederson passed him.The takeout joint was in Wynyard, a small township halfway between Burnie and home, a few minutes off the main highway.
“The call came in a minute after you left the station,” Pederson spoke slowly, as if explaining something to a child.“A citizen found her wandering a few streets from here and called it in.”
“Okay.That’s good.Isn’t it?”Nico leaned around the other detective and saw the figure of the young woman, long hair pushed behind her ears, staring at him from out of the cruiser window, and he let out a sigh of relief.Thank God.An image of her distraught mother came back to him, and he was so glad they wouldn’t have to make that terrible, soul-destroying knock on the door that every parent dreaded.
“The POI had her, but he let her go again without hurting her,” Pederson continued slowly.
So they’d been right all along, Serge had taken her.But why?And why let her go again, for a second time?But no matter, the outcome was a good one.For Taylor at least.
“That’s good,” Nico echoed his previous sentiment.“That’s a great outcome.Even better than we hoped for.”
But Pederson didn’t seem happy.In fact, the detective looked at him with what could only be called pity in his eyes.Pity?It was unlike Pederson to show any soft emotion let alone empathy or sadness.What was going on?Why was the detective staring at him as if he was about to lose his marbles?
“You don’t know then?”Pederson said in that annoyingly calm voice.
“Know what?”Nico’s elation at the girl being found alive and well was quickly turning to irritation.Then he remembered Lacey’s note on the bench, and he stilled as a frisson of fear ran down his spine.
“I had Sally-Ann try to call you.Did you have your phone turned off?”Nico shook his head.Of course his phone had been on.But he’d forgotten to charge the battery on his helmet’s headpiece yesterday and so he couldn’t receive or make any calls while riding the motorbike.He hadn’t yet had a chance to check if he had any missed calls.
“The suspect—your father—let her go because he now has Lacey instead.Lacey swapped herself to make sure Taylor could go free.”
Nico merely stared at the other detective.It took many, many seconds for Pederson’s words to sink in.Then the world spun on its axis, and his body went suddenly numb.
“No!”This wasn’t right.Pederson was lying.No!No, no, no, no, no.Not Lacey.This couldn’t be happening.
“Serge doesn’t have Lacey,” he snarled at Pederson.“You’re lying to me.”
“I wish I were,” Pederson replied, hand outstretched, watching him carefully, much as you would an unstable person, teetering on the very edge of a precipice.
“Oh, God.”Nico could barely believe it.How could she have done this?Why…
Then a second, even more devastating thought hit him.
The baby.What about the baby?Surely, she wouldn’t put the baby at risk?
Nico dropped to his knees, a primal roar echoing in his chest, an animalistic howl of pain and anguish ripping up his throat.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
LACEY STOOD IN the corner of the empty room, eyeing her nemesis warily.This was the same man who’d beckoned to her from across the road in Strahan all right.Except now the beard and mustache were gone, his face shaved clean to reveal a strong jawline and a shallow cleft in his chin.Lacey absently documented the fact that Nico had not inherited that cleft chin, but hehadinherited the high, dark eyebrows.And where this man’s eyes were dark, almost black, Nico’s were a brilliant blue, bright and clear, but just as piercing.
Lacey had described Serge as handsome, in a silver fox type of way, and that was even more evident now she was up close.She could see that Nico’s good looks weren’t only from Catarina.The slightly crooked nose gave Serge the air of a viking warrior, as did his outfit—black long pants and a black tee—stretched over an impressive chest and biceps.The man might be in his early sixties, but he’d stayed extremely fit, perhaps a hangover from his military days.Which would make it harder for Lacey to overpower him, if it came down to it.But she wouldn’t let his physical prowess intimidate her; she’d taken down bigger men than him before.
Serge’s gaze had chilled her to the bone back in Strahan, and even now that she was prepared for it, a shiver of trepidation shook her as he stared at her intently.Don’t show fear.Don’t show weakness.Lacey stood a little straighter and glared back at him.
At least Taylor was safe.Serge had been a man of his word on that front.
It was dark by the time she’d arrived at his hideout, but the warm glow of a streetlight illuminated her surroundings.He was waiting for her in the front garden, holding Taylor by the neck of her shirt, like he was holding a puppy by the scruff of its neck.It wasn’t until she’d got closer that she’d been able to see the gun he had jammed up against Taylor’s ribs.The girl was quietly sobbing, big, silent tears streaking her face.Lacey’s heart had flipped over at the sight, and right then, she knew she’d do just about anything to get the girl out of this situation.She walked slowly up the driveway, stopping around ten feet in front of them.
