“Yeah, but are you and that team of yours going to do it before or after I have to clean up more bodies?”
* * *
THE SNOW WAS RED.
Thomas stopped instantly when he caught sight of the red drops. He lifted his hand, an old habit, as he signaled to Aaron.
Aaron bent low and gazed at the blood and at the faint trail that led across the street. The trail ended right at the door of an old pharmacy.
The lights were out in that pharmacy. Odd, since power had come back to the city an hour ago.
“Cover me,” Thomas said flatly. He advanced toward the building, aware of Aaron following him. Thomas had his gun out, and he was more than ready to use it on the man who’d nearly killed Noelle the night before.
There were more droplets at the door, as if the guy had paused for a moment before he’d gone inside. Thomas reached for the knob. It twisted easily in his grasp. He shoved open that door and rushed inside.
Aaron was right on his heels.
Drops of crimson dotted the aisle. He followed them, then saw the heavy, blood-soaked cloths on the counter.
A quick search showed no one was in the pharmacy. The back door was unlocked. Just like the front.
“Looks like the guy got away again.” Aaron shook his head. “But we had to be close.”
Thomas studied the discarded bandages—and the bullet that had been left behind.
“He dug it out, huh?” Aaron whistled. “I had to do that once. Thought I’d pass out before the bullet came out of my stomach.”
Thomas’s gaze swept the scene once more. “He didn’t dig it out himself.” That just made things so much worse.
“What? How do you know?”
Thomas grabbed the purse that had fallen on the ground near the red-stained counter.
“Hell,” Aaron muttered.
Thomas pulled out the ID inside. Sarah Finway. A Sarah Finway who was most definitely not there any longer.
“He’s got another victim,” Thomas said.
* * *
NOELLE STARED AT the photos on the wall. All of those girls. Scared. Blindfolded. So alone.
But you weren’t really alone, were you? Because their abductor had been the one to take the photos.
“I’ve got more men coming in,” Mercer said.
She nearly jumped at his voice. She’d been so intent on those girls Noelle hadn’t even heard him enter the little office.
“They’ll be here in two hours.”
Right. When Mercer said jump, people flew.
“They’ll search every inch of the senator’s house, and if there’s more evidence to find,” he nodded and said, “we’ll have it.”
Her phone rang. Noelle glanced down, saw it was Thomas, and she answered immediately. “Did you find him?”
“He’s got another victim.”