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“You think she’ll remember more with time?” I asked Luke.
“I hope so, but it’s doubtful. The doctor thinks she got the laceration on her temple from hitting the windshield, so she was likely knocked out immediately and probably suffered a pretty major concussion. He told me he didn’t think she was conscious for most of it.”
“And then she woke up in this nightmare,” I concluded.
“She’s tough,” Luke praised. “Not many people could’ve done what she did with her injuries.”
I thought about Jane and how she felt about herself and wondered if she knew that everyone saw her strength.
Everyone but her.
I was going to make sure I helped her see it.
“Let’s check the basement,” Luke suggested.
Bear and I followed through the house until we found the door leading to the basement. We walked down the narrow and steep stairs, but the closer we got to the bottom, the angrier I became. It was cold, and there was nothing but concrete and silence. She had to have been terrified when she was awake, which only infuriated me more.
Luke turned on his flashlight and scanned the room. He slowly turned to face us and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Camera on the far left, small and black. Don’t look. Doubt it has audio, but let’s be cautious. We don’t want to call attention to the fact that we saw it, but I can have Kyle try to tap in before we collect it for evidence. Have a feeling if it’s still on, Manny’s watching to see who’s investigating, and with any luck, Kyle can get into it before Manny shuts it down.”
Bear cleared his throat and turned to face the pole in the center of the room as if that was what Luke was talking about. We slowly walked toward the pole, and I squatted down, running my fingertips over the blood splattered on the floor.
And then my eyes landed on the ropes, and I picked them up, anger searing through me when I saw the amount of blood on each of them. Angry, I put them back on the ground, knowing they would need to be collected for evidence.
Standing up, I faced the window and walked toward it. “Jesus, there’s blood all over the windowsill.”
“She was lucky she could pull herself through with a sprained wrist,” Bear muttered.
“It was raining too.”
“She said it didn’t start raining until she cleared the window,” Luke said.
“That gave her a chance,” I pointed out. “Not sure she could’ve pulled herself through if the window and sill were wet.”
“It’s a miracle she got out of here.” Luke sighed. “Not much else down here. Let’s do another walk-through upstairs and head out. She said she had an overnight bag, her purse, and a phone, which are all missing. Rachel is helping her call the bank and her credit card companies so no one can access her accounts. She’s also making sure she gets a new phone so I can stay in contact, but it would be nice if we found her shit.”
“We won’t.” I shared a look with Bear before facing Luke. “We’re not gonna find anything proving Jane was here except her blood.”
It was obvious by Luke’s expression that he agreed. With one more look around, I followed him upstairs, careful not to look at the camera in the corner, but it took everything in me.
I wanted to stare into that camera.
And let the fucker who hurt Jane know I not only saw him.
But I was coming for him.
28
JANE
When the doorbell rang,I froze. I knew it would take time, but I hoped I'd feel safe once I locked the door. Rachel picked me up this morning and brought me home with her after a week in the hospital. I was hiding at her place for a lot of reasons, but the main being that she lived in a secure building. There were several security guards both in her building and around the perimeter at all times, including the ones my father paid to be there. I hadn’t told him where I was going because I didn’t want anything from him, but Rachel told her mom, who told mine, and he used his resources to get more security on me. The police walked the building and the perimeter before finally conceding it was safe. They explained they hadn’t found who did this and didn’t have any leads, so they would make sure to have an officer patrolling the neighborhood often. It was two hours from where I was abducted, but to me, it didn’t feel far enough.
I already knew it was Bree because the guard at the desk had checked her ID and escorted her to Rachel’s apartment, but I still looked through the peephole and breathed a sigh of relief when I saw her on the other side.
I threw open the door, and she smiled. “There’s my newest employee.”
“Aren’t I your only employee?” I asked as she walked inside, but I liked how that sounded. She’d asked me again when she stopped to see me, and without thinking about it, I agreed. I was serious when I told my parents I was planning to start my life over, and on my terms, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that until Bree dangled the job I really wanted to try in front of me. I was nervous that I might disappoint her, but I needed to start somewhere, and party planning was something I knew very well.
“Do you need anything else, Ms. Williams?”
