“N-no. I mean, yes. But our vet tech is out sick today. She got food poisoning yesterday,” Susan stammered.
Food poisoning, the day before Hallie wasscheduledto bring Thor in. It was all a little too convenient.
Anson scanned the small parking lot. There was only space for four vehicles, and it was flanked by thick woods. “Is that your vehicle or Dr. Miller’s?”
Susan glanced at the maroon Subaru. “That’s mine. His SUV is gone. Did someone steal that, too?”
My throat burned as if someone had poured acid down it. “I need you to cancel appointments for the rest of the day. Don’t let anyone else into the building. This is a crime scene.”
* * *
I paced backand forth along the side of the conference room. My skin felt too tight for my body, and my heart beat so hard it felt as though it might rip right out of my chest.
On one side of the table, Anson’s fingers flew over a laptop keyboard. The team at Holt’s security company had pulled everything they could find on Damien Miller. Anson was combing through it, comparing it to the previous data he’d compiled.
On the other side of the table, Holt, Grae, Caden, and Roan pored over maps of the area, trying to figure out where to start a search. There’d been no sign of Miller at his house, and he had no other properties on record. Crime scene techs were searching his home now, looking for anything that might give us a lead.
Some officers questioned whether someone had taken both HallieandMiller, possibly forcing them into Miller’s vehicle. Possible? Sure. Likely? No.
Miller had her. The woman who’d become everything to me in such a short time. And God only knew what he was doing to her.
A hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Law.”
My father’s deep timbre made everything hurt more.
“I have to keep moving,” I muttered. If I stopped, it felt as if my body would explode.
Dad squeezed my shoulder harder. “We’re going to find her.”
I whirled on him. “You don’t know that. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
He gripped both my shoulders then, so hard there was a bite of pain. “I know that none of us will stop until we do.”
Bile surged in my throat. I knew he was right. I understood my family would never give up on Hallie. But what would we find when we finally located her?
It wasn’t just me. Mom had gone to pick up the boys from school to keep them with her and Wren. But I knew they were beside themselves and scared out of their minds because they’d fallen in love with Hallie just as much as I had.
“I can’t lose her,” I croaked. “I don’t think I can do life without her.”
My dad’s eyes filled. “You won’t have to.”
“I love her,” I whispered.
“I know.” Dad pulled me into a hard hug. “I know.”
There was a flurry of activity as Nash strode into the conference room, Clint and Abrams on his heels. His face was a mask of stormy fury.
The world dropped away. “What?” I rasped.
Nash’s throat worked as he swallowed. “We found trophies in the basement. More than two dozen of them. Jewelry, driver’s licenses, clippings of hair. And not just from this past year.” His gaze cut to me. “I’m sorry, Law. It’s him. It’s been him from the beginning.”
48
HALLIE
A shiver rackedmy body as I rolled to my back, smacking my lips. My head felt like it was stuffed full of cotton—my mouth, too. The blanket over me felt rough and unfamiliar. I blinked against the faint glow in the room.
It came together in terrifying snapshots, one at a time, each giving me a different piece of the puzzle. A rough, rocky ceiling. A thin mattress on the floor. A chain secured to my ankle with a cuff. And the flimsy white nightgown.
