Scream For Me: A Novel of the Night Hunter (For Me 3)

Cadence blinked. “I never said you were.” If he only knew about her own roots…but few people did.

That life was over.

She cleared her throat and reassessed the captain. Something had set the guy off. Handle carefully.

He pointed to the car. “Lily Adams has a daughter. A nine-year-old girl who is her absolute life. There is no way—no way—Lily would wander off without her.”

Cadence’s heart beat faster. She’d only had time to learn the barest of details about Lily Adams before she’d jumped on the plane. Kyle had been insistent that they take the case, almost desperate, and she hadn’t been able to turn him down.

It was his eyes. The echo of pain in his gaze pierced through her every time.

Kyle McKenzie was a good agent. A little reckless too often, and too prone to going with his gut, but he was dedicated to the job. Dedicated to saving lives.

He wasn’t her first partner. She’d had several over the years. Some hadn’t been able to handle the darkness of the job. One had been killed in the line of duty by one of the monsters they hunted.

When she’d first been paired with Kyle, Cadence had been less than impressed. Kyle was handsome, wickedly so with his flashing eyes and chiseled jaw. He’d come to her with a bit of a playboy reputation.

She hadn’t been interested in joining his group of admirers. Cadence hadn’t ever been swayed by a handsome face. Handsome was boring, easy. Not for her.

She’d soon learned there were plenty of layers to Kyle McKenzie. What you saw with him was not what you got.

Until recently, Kyle had been almost too perfect with his classic features. But on their last big case, he’d gotten into a vicious hand-to-hand fight with a killer. The result? A broken nose that now gave the agent a rougher, more dangerous appearance.

That dangerous edge of his had been coming out more and more lately. She was too aware of it—and of the growing attraction she felt for him.

They were supposed to be just partners, but lately—I want more.

She wanted him. And if the way he looked at her was any indication, the desire was mutual.

“Lily’s kid has to be frantic about now,” Anniston continued. “She’s probably at home, crying her eyes out.”

Because the girl just wanted her mother back. Cadence swallowed. Goose bumps rose on her overheated flesh.

Back home in Alabama.

The cases involving kids were always the hardest for her to handle.

She kept the emotion out of her voice as she asked, “Just what scenario do you think happened here last night?”

Kyle was walking around the vehicle, studying it carefully. He’d put on gloves as he bent near the driver’s side. Sweat dampened the hair near his temples. His blond hair was so thick and heavy, no wonder he was sweating.

They were all baking out there.

“Lily’s car ran out of gas. She probably started walking.” Captain Anniston turned and pointed north. “Her house is that way. She must’ve started walking and some SOB picked her up. Took her.”

Cadence glanced down at the road.

“Lily probably thought she could make it home. Just a few more miles, and she would have been safe.” Anger rumbled beneath the captain’s words.

Cadence walked to the edge of the road. The shoulder was covered by loose dirt. She glanced to the north, then back to the south before focusing on the captain. “No rain has come through here?”

Anniston shook his head. “Due for some later, but it’s been dry here for the last week.”

There were no signs of footprints, but Lily might have just stuck to walking on the road itself. Then there would have been no prints left behind.

Cadence headed around the car to take a look herself. She stopped at the gas tank. Frowned. There were scratches around the tank. As if someone had pried the lid open.

“You said the car ran out of gas?” She thought of how Lily must have felt as her car sputtered and coasted on this dark road.

Scared. So scared.

“The tank was empty. I checked around the vehicle, trying to figure out why it had stopped. The battery was fine. Engine, oil…everything else was fine. It was the tank that was desert dry.”

“You said her purse was found in the car.” Kyle turned away from the vehicle. His broad shoulders were tense. “If she was walking, don’t you think she would have taken that with her?”

The captain didn’t reply.

Kyle cocked his head as he studied the captain. “What about her keys? Where were they?”

“Still in the ignition.”

Hell. Along with the purse, this put a different spin on things. Cadence put her hands on her hips. “She didn’t start walking anywhere, Captain.”

“But—”

“If she’d walked, she would have taken her purse. Her keys. Women don’t leave their purses behind.” Now she realized why Kyle had been so adamant about taking the case. An abduction like this…a fresh case…we might even be able to find her alive.

If they acted quickly enough.

Kyle opened the driver’s side door and slid inside.

“My men already searched the vehicle,” Anniston called out. “We recovered everything.”

Kyle raised his hand. A cell phone was held in his gloved grip. “This had fallen between the seats.”

Turned out Anniston’s men hadn’t recovered everything.

Anniston hurried toward him. “You think Lily tried to call someone for help last night?”

I would have called for help. On that long, dark road. The cell phone would have been the first thing Cadence reached for.

Some profilers tried to figure out the killers based on their actions and the clues killers themselves left behind.

Cadence didn’t work that way. When she tracked killers, she became their victims.

She had the nightmares to prove it.

“Who was keeping Lily’s daughter last night?” Someone must have been watching the girl.

“Lily’s mother. Lily and little Carrie…”

She saw Kyle tense at the girl’s name. She’d seen a similar reaction from him on other cases. He was always sensitive to the families.

She understood. Dealing with the families was often the hardest part for her.

“They live with Lily’s mother up on Miner’s Way.”

“The mother didn’t report receiving a call from her daughter?” Cadence asked.

“No.”

Cadence considered that for a moment. Maybe Lily wouldn’t have wanted her mother to rush out at night, no doubt dragging Carrie with her. So she wouldn’t have called her…but someone else.