“We still don’t have a plan. Gwendolyn is out there. She’s scared. She’s trapped. She has to have a place to hide. Somewhere we don’t know about. What would you do if this was any other suspect?” Montgomery asked.
Lorelei and Adam exchanged a look. They were the ones in charge of the investigation and the team.
“We’d ask the public for help,” Adam said. “We would put her face everywhere and offer a reward for any information leading to her capture.”
“Then why don’t we do that?” Montgomery asked.
“We don’t know what she looks like. Any photos we have are from years ago, and they’re not clear. We can’t go to the public unless we can tell them who we’re looking for,” Lorelei said.
“I know what she looks like,” Nina whispered. “I can describe every detail of her. And the others who are probably with her.”
All heads turned to Nina as she spoke, as if they just realized what she was saying. Zeke wondered why none of them thought to ask her to describe Gwendolyn before, but he was so damn proud of Nina for offering.
“Do you have a sketch artist I can work with? Someone you trust?” Nina asked.
Marcus and Adam smiled at each other.
“Yeah, we know someone,” Marcus said.
Adam left the room, his phone already to his ear.
The others looked at Marcus in question.
“His cousin is an owner at F-BOMB, and their office manager is an artist. Kyra was a witness to a bank robbery a few years back and drew the sketch of the crew and was instrumental in capturing all of them,” Marcus explained.
Adam walked back into the room and pocketed his phone. “They’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“Sounds like we have time for coffee. Anyone need a cup?” Dawn asked. She stood and led the way to the serving table set up on one side of the room, most people following her.
Zeke headed for Nina, catching her elbow before she was able to trail after the others.
She turned quickly, gasping in shock.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Zeke said.
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I guess I’m just on edge.”
Zeke pulled her into his arms, closing out the world around them and protecting her from everyone else. “You are so fucking brave.”
She held onto him, her body trembling. “No, I’m not. I’m hiding.”
“You’re helping find the woman who tried to break you. You’re fighting back.”
Nina exhaled. “It doesn’t feel like I’m doing enough. I know her. I’ve been with her for years. I should know where she is.”
“If you knew everything, this would be a totally different situation.”
“I thought I knew. I should know.”
Zeke pulled back and tucked a strand of Nina’s red hair behind her ear. “You are amazing. She lied to you, manipulated you, and hid a lot from you. She didn’t trust anyone.”
Nina swallowed. “It’s like that Stockholm Syndrome. There are moments when I struggle with the woman they all know and hate so much. She was good to me sometimes. She treated me like a sister at first. Gave me a place to live. I thought when I turned eighteen I could leave. That was my plan. Figure out what I wanted my life to look like and go out on my own. Back then, she really was like a sister. We would talk about my future, about the dreams I had and the things I wanted to do with my life.”
“And she used all of that against you.”
Nina sniffed. She swallowed. Her lips lifted into a sad smile. “She did. God, I was so stupid.”
“No, you weren’t. You’d never met anyone like her. You didn’t understand how she operated.”
