Page 127 of Asher's Assignment
“Come, now, Esther. Don’t make me search for you. I know you’re here. I watched your lady friends leave a while ago. Your boyfriend too. It’s a shame you took that bullet for him. I am sorry for that. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I should have killed him outside Lindy’s house instead of taking him hostage. Would have saved all of us some trouble.”
The door to the garage opened. “Well, it’s not the breakers.”
Faye darted out from their hiding place and grabbed Edie’s arm, yanking her down. Just in time too. A bullet plowed into the wall near the door.
“Jesus! What the hell?” Edie pushed her hair out of her face as she maneuvered into a crouch.
No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Lennox appeared in front of them. In the dim light, Esther could see the glow of his white teeth as he laid a merciless smile on them.
“Well, hello, ladies.”
Fifty-Three
Absently, Asher flipped his phone over as it buzzed in his hand. He and Stroud had just left the station and were on their way to Coos Bay.
The alert that appeared on the screen turned his blood to ice water. He muttered a curse.
“What?” Stroud asked.
“The alarm at Esther’s is off. The power went out.”
Stroud reached for his radio. “I’ll ask them to check if it’s her street or just her house.”
Asher logged into the doorbell camera while Stroud talked to dispatch, hoping it was still transmitting. If the power was out, the Wi-Fi probably was as well. It would back up to the chip in the camera, but wouldn’t sync to the cloud until the power was restored.
The live feed was down, as he’d feared, so he accessed the stored footage. He rewound it to the time he left, then hit play, speeding up the recording until he saw a vehicle drive past. After doing that several times, one caught his eye. It was a burgundy SUV. A nice one. It approached the house and slowed a little. Asher saw the glow of brake lights before it sped up and drove away.
A couple of minutes later, it returned, moving even more slowly.
He muttered another curse. “I think we might have a problem.”
Pinching the screen, he tried to zoom in, but the car was too far away.
A message from Esther popped up on his screen.
Someone broke in. Called the police.
“What the hell does that mean, Essy?” Was she safe? Was the person still there? Was anyone hurt? Asher looked at Stroud. “Turn us around. Someone broke into Esther’s. She said she called the police.”
Stroud pulled a U-turn and hit his siren. “She say anything else?”
“No.” He clutched the phone, staring at Esther’s words.
As they rocketed down the road, Stroud called dispatch again to ask about the call Esther made to the department. Asher’s jaw clenched as the dispatcher relayed that the call actually came in as a text and that they were unable to establish contact with them. Units were on their way.
“Could Lennox get in?” Stroud asked.
“Yes. But I’m not sure how far he’d get. Edie was there. Audra wasn’t, though.” He slammed his hand onto the dash. “Dammit, I should have brought them all with me to come see you.”
Stroud’s lips thinned. He stayed silent, but Asher noticed the car went a little faster.
Fifty-Four
“Get up.” Lennox motioned with the gun in his hand for them to rise.
Esther glared at him as Edie and her mother helped her to her feet.
He tipped his head, eyeing them. “All the Campbell women in one place. Esther, I see where you get your beauty.”
