“You wouldn’t know that by how you all treat me.” Fallon turned to me. “What else do you need to know?”
I did my best to ignore the family drama playing out and focus on what was important. Each sliver of information was another puzzle piece on the board. “Where did his mom and sister live?” If they owned property, it was likely sold, and that would require a paper trail.
“They stayed in the house Silas grew up in. From what I heard, it was a pretty rundown place up in the mountains. A ways out of town.”
I turned to Trace, whose fingers were already flying across the keyboard. He frowned at the screen. “It’s still in Lucinda Arnett’s name, but the property taxes haven’t been paid in”—his head jerked up—“six years.”
Hell.I was right. He’d killed them both. They were likely his first hands-on kills. Up close, more than setting a fire that took people out in its path. Something must have set him off and made him snap. “Where?”
The prickly sensation across my scalp intensified. The house was the place. I knew it in my gut. It was where he’d brought Rho.
“I’ve got an address,” Trace said. “Let me call in SWAT and get blueprints sent to our phones.”
I shook my head. “There isn’t time for SWAT. We’ve got Feds and county deputies. We go now.”
Helena stood, shoving her chair back. “You aren’t on the job anymore, Anson. And this is a conflict of interest anyway.”
I struggled to hold back the choice words I wanted to spit at her. “I’ll go on my own if I have to. You know better than anyone that every second matters. And you know that I’ll never forgive myself if I’m not there.”
Helena cursed. “You stay back. You do not engage. But you can be there when we bring her out.”
I didn’t argue, simply moved. Officers spat orders, and radios crackled, but I was already heading toward the rented Suburban I knew would be Helena’s. I climbed into the front seat while Trace took the back. I knew he was trying to sneak in under the radar, but he’d also come prepared.
“Take it,” he said, handing me a set of body armor. “Just in case.”
I pulled the vest on over my head and secured it while Trace did the same.
Helena scowled at us both as she climbed into the SUV and started the engine. “You both stay back, or I’ll put you in cuffs myself.”
We grunted in response.
“Men,” she huffed.
The parade of law enforcement vehicles raced down the two-lane highway, but none used a siren. The only sound was the discussion of our approach to the property. The plan was to park a ways back and make the assault on foot, hoping for an element of surprise. But no one knew exactly what we’d be walking in on.
Trace and I studied the blueprints that arrived. It was a two-story cabin plus a basement and attic. Lots of little hidey-holes. And that was never good.
Helena made a right onto a winding gravel road. Each hairpin turn made my gut twist tighter, and Rho’s face played on repeat in my mind. The way her eyes lit when she laughed. Her wild waves fallingacross her face as she sank her hands into the dirt. The way her lips parted as I sank intoher.
Pain ground into my chest, followed quickly by a dose of fury—at myself for failing Rho and not telling her what she meant to me. At Silas for everything he’d done and what he was doing now.
Helena jerked the SUV into park as other vehicles filed in. Hushed orders were whispered, and everyone went radio silent.
Trace and I both checked our weapons as we followed behind Helena and her new partner. The climb to the property was steep, and my thighs started burning a few minutes in. I relished the sensation. It was a reminder that I was alive and had me believing with everything I had that Rho was, too.
Helena held up a hand as we reached the edge of a tree line, and I froze. There was no house in front of us. Just a burned-out shell of what had once been an old cabin. But there was more.
There was Rho.
And Silas had a knife pressed against her throat.
49
RHODES
The bladeof the knife pressed against my neck, piercing the skin as white-hot pain bloomed. It was so similar to the feeling of a burn. Too similar.
“I tried to come up with another way, Rho. I really did. But nothing will hurt him more than losing you. But it has to be right in front of his eyes this time. It’s the only way to end it,” Silas said, desperation in his tone.
