AllFreeNovel
Share Us
This was too important, this was more than a hunch, more than just a gut feeling.Nicoknewthis was the answer they’d been looking for.But he was banned from the case.Pacca was linked to Serge somehow.And Serge had been pointing the finger at him all along, by dumping the girls on his property.
He needed to do this himself.Lacey was missing.Lacey, his heart, his soul.His whole world would crumble without her.His bastard of a father had her, and Nico could only feel one emotion.Pure rage.When he found his father, he would rescue Lacey; then he’d make Serge pay.In every way possible.
Nico was out the door before he had time to second-guess himself.He’d need to take a police vehicle; his own was still at home.But he could make up some bullshit story about having to go back and talk to Mary, the psych at the hospital.He assuaged some of the guilt by telling himself that if he found anything of import, he’d call it in.
The midday sun beat down hot and hard on Nico’s shoulders by the time he climbed the stairs to the old homestead.When Pacca answered his front door, there was an empty bottle in his hand and he already reeked of alcohol, was already slurring his words.The old man had taken to drinking in the middle of the day now.Nico swore loudly, knowing this was going to make it harder to interrogate him.Nevertheless, he pushed his way past Pacca, towing him inside and forcing him to sit down in one of the battered armchairs in the front living room.He was already breaking so many rules by coming here against orders and without a warrant and no permission to interrogate this suspect, manhandling a witness was a minor infraction by comparison.
“You’re going to tell me everything about your son, and what he has to do with the man who abducted my partner,” Nico demanded, taking the seat opposite the old man and staring directly into his face.
Pacca’s features crumpled into lines of fear and despair.“You know about my son?”he asked, tears springing to his eyes.
“Yes.And I know you’re withholding information.I know you have a connection to these murders.It’s time to come clean, old man.”
Surprisingly, Pacca nodded his head.“I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time,” he admitted.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
BRIGHT SUNSHINE GLIMMERED outside but inside, it was dim and eerily silent.Through the corner of the window, Lacey could see high clouds scudding across the sky, half-obscuring the sun and casting crazy shadows beneath the two large eucalyptus trees that marked the entrance to a main driveway.Those trees had become familiar to her over the past few hours as she stared out the window, hoping and praying.She was huddled in one corner of a living room, hands and feet bound tightly, while Serge sat beneath the window opposite, his head resting just below the decaying wooden sill.He looked so relaxed he might even be asleep.She stared mutely at him, trying to figure out his next move.
The room contained a few pieces of dusty furniture, left in position as if the person had just got up and stepped outside.A scratched wooden coffee table in front of a filthy couch and an old television set on an equally shabby sideboard.A dent on the left-hand side of the couch marked where the owner of this property might have once sat—in his favorite spot—and the watermarks on the coffee table hinted at many cups of coffee being sat down without a coaster.No one had lived here in quite a while, however, that much was blatantly obvious.
In her imagination, Serge might’ve taken her many places totalk, as he so eloquently put it, but this abandoned farmhouse hadn’t been on her list of likely locations.Last night, he’d ordered her to lay her head down on the back seat as he drove and keep out of sight, so she had no idea where they were going until he’d pulled up behind this old place and told her she could sit up.They hadn’t driven far, only twenty minutes or so, and that limited the area to somewhere around Burnie.It was dark when they arrived and Lacey could see nothing of their surroundings except that they were in an isolated spot somewhere in the country.
She’d flinched away when Serge had opened the car door and asked her to step out.But then she’d gritted her teeth and followed through with his order; she was the one who’d willingly put herself in this situation.Serge had taken her lightly by the shoulder and guided her up a set of rickety stairs and in through a door that was half hanging off its hinges.It was surprising the way he was so gentle with her, touching her respectfully, not pushing or cursing at her.She wasn’t sure if she was reassured by his treatment, or not.And just because he was being nice to her, didn’t stop her cataloging every angle, every movement he made, waiting and watching for a chance to escape.His congenial treatment hadn’t extended to leaving her feet unbound, however; he was clearly smarter than that.The second she’d sat in the corner, he’d politely but firmly told her to put her legs out, feet together, then he’d used two more cable ties to make sure she wasn’t going to walk out of this room anytime soon.
Last night had possibly been the longest night she’d ever endured.She guessed the old place no longer had electricity running to it and Serge didn’t bother to provide any other form of light, possibly because he didn’t want to attract any attention.So they’d sat in the dark; to what end, Lacey had no clear idea.The silence stretched between them, and Lacey was happy to let it flourish at first; it gave her more time to think.But it didn’t seem to make Serge uncomfortable.In fact, it was the exact opposite.
Meanwhile, her mind was whirling like a dervish, until finally, she could stand it no longer.“I thought you wanted to talk to me,” she’d challenged after half an hour of maddening quiet.Better to get it over and done with, because this dark solitude was driving her crazy.
“Why don’t you try to get some sleep.We can chat in the morning.”He sounded almost bored as he spoke.
Lacey gave a most unladylike snort.Sleep wasn’t an option.It seemed he was waiting for something.But what?For Nico to come?Was he using her as bait?Had that been his intention all along?She was beginning to think so.That his attempt to contact her, to draw her aside, had in fact been aimed at getting Nico to take notice of him.As if he wasn’t already doing that.But now, Serge had taken it to a totally new level.
This had always been a possibility, but Lacey had hoped that by talking to Serge, she might begin to understand what he wanted, perhaps even talk him out of whatever he had planned.But he’d stymied that idea by simply not engaging with her.
When Gabe had abducted her, he’d been very happy to purge himself of all his misdeeds, as well as gleefully revealing his plans for plotting her demise, so at least she’d known what was in store.But with Serge, she was at a complete loss.Were they just going to sit here all night?Waiting?If that was the case, she needed to warn Nico somehow.Because whatever Serge had planned for Nico, it couldn’t be good.But Serge had divested her of her phone, as well as the burner she’d brought along just in case.So that option was out.How else could she send him a signal to stay away?Set the house on fire?But that’d bring everyone running toward them, not away.
When Gabe had her tied up and helpless in her Kombi van, she’d done a lot of praying that Nico would find her and rescue her.But now, she needed the opposite to happen and wished him as far away as possible.Hope that he didn’t use those incredible smarts of his and figure out where Serge was holding her.
Her mind turned back, almost unbidden to that time when Gabe had taken her.She didn’t want to think about it, about how similar her circumstances were this time.Her hands and feet had been bound together, just like now, but Gabe hadn’t been as thorough as Serge, and had stupidly left her access to a drawer full of cutlery inside the van so she could cut through her bindings.Back then, she’d had to save herself by jumping out of her Kombi van at the last second as it plunged over a cliff.Nico had come too late to stop Gabe driving it over the edge, but he’d been there to help her out of the tree where she’d landed, broken and bleeding.If she’d been able to extricate herself out of that dire situation then, she could do it again.Save herself, and save Nico in the process.
It’d help if she knew where they were.And why Serge had picked this place to stage his ambush—if that’s what this was going to be.It must have some meaning to him, Nico, or both.Otherwise, how was Nico supposed to work it out?
The sun remained stubbornly below the horizon as the night drew on.Lacey must’ve dozed a few times, because she found herself jerking awake more than once.Propped in the corner, her head resting in the crook of the two walls, she let her body relax and prime itself for when she might need it.At first, she’d searched around her for anything she could use as a weapon, or to help her escape her bonds.But it’d been fruitless, as every time she even moved a muscle, Serge turned his piercing gaze on her.
A few more times over the course of the night, Lacey had tried to engage the man who sat like a stone carving across from her.But he politely shut her down each time, only answering in monosyllables.All that military training had clearly stood him in good stead, and was still evident in the way he held himself, using an economy of movement, but remaining focussed and ready.It looked to Lacey almost as if Serge might still consider himself a soldier, and this was his latest mission.Like a sniper waiting silently for hour upon hour for his target to appear between the sights.He sat like a curled viper, loose, but ready to strike at a moment’s notice, the gun resting easily in one hand cradled in his lap.
The sun was sluggish to rise, but Lacey thought she could finally see the sky outside turning a soft gray, then a pastel lilac.She shifted position to get a better look out the window, trying to stretch cramped muscles within the confines of her bindings.Her left calf muscle threatened to cramp, and she grunted, pushing her foot straight to circumvent the spasm.The heat of the day began to penetrate through the thin wooden plank walls into the dingy room.Surprisingly, her usual nausea did not make an appearance this morning.She decided that her stomach was so empty, and so tied in knots from the night’s stress, that it didn’t have the capacity to want to empty itself.
Glimpses of her surroundings through the cracked windowpane showed her open paddocks and farmlands stretching away between scattered patches of gum trees.The area looked familiar, but not enough for Lacey to pinpoint exactly where she was.Serge continued to sit there, wearing black from head to toe, and somehow looking cool and stylish, as if this was exactly where he wanted to be and how he wanted things to go.
Lacey licked her lips and wished she had a bottle of water as sweat ran freely between her shoulder blades.But the urge to pee was getting stronger with every minute.Serge hadn’t offered her a bathroom break all night, and she wondered if he just expected her to pee in her pants.It probably wasn’t good for the baby for her to get dehydrated.With that theory, it was as if she’d allowed a chink in her armor to open, and thoughts of her unborn baby rushed in.Not only was dehydration bad for the baby, this whole damned situation was bad for the baby.What had she been thinking, agreeing to Serge’s terms?With hindsight, she could see her judgement might’ve been skewed.Because it wasn’t only her life she’d traded in exchange for Taylor’s.If this ended badly, she’d made that selfish decision for her unborn child as well.
If she told him she was pregnant, would he let her go?Would the fact she was carrying his grandchild soften him, break through that impenetrable wall he held around his heart and his mind?Would he want to preserve his heritage?Or would telling him do the opposite and make him want to destroy it?
Either way, she needed a drink and a toilet break, and perhaps asking for those things might break the stalemate that’d formed between them.Up until now, pride had kept her mouth shut, but this wasn’t just about her anymore.
Just as she opened her mouth to ask Serge for some water, he preempted her, by saying, “Do you think Nico will work it out?Where we are?I mean, I left him enough clues.”Serge’s words shocked her, and she snapped her mouth shut.This was the first time he’d spoken to her in hours.
