Where Angels Fear (Detectives Kane and Alton)

“Could you pick up my meds from the pharmacy on the way home?”

“Yes, ma’am.” The line went dead.

Her cellphone and Kane’s ringtones went off in unison. “That will be the file.” She smiled at Kane. “Go work your magic.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Nine

It was a nightmare. The heaviness of limbs and the inability to open her eyes had Sky convinced nothing was real. She tried to wake but just as in her childhood night terrors, her eyes refused to open. Somewhere just out of reach she could hear the soft murmur of voices, and bright lights shone red against her eyelids. She tried to speak but her mouth refused to form words. Her ears made a strange buzzing sound and she could hear a slow beep, beep, beep close by.

She tried to rationalize her situation. The memory of the man at the side of the road, the pain in her head, then waking up in the hospital and being told she was going to have an operation. She remembered the headache then the floating sensation after the nurse injected something into the tube in her arm. If she could remember all these things, she sure wasn’t dreaming. Why can’t I open my eyes?

The voices came closer and a familiar smell smashed another memory into her mind—but was it a memory or a bad dream? She remembered the smell of the man who’d hit her and dragged her into his truck. In sheer panic, she used every ounce of strength but she could not as much as flutter her eyelids. Someone touched her face, a gentle touch, almost a caress, her head moved from side to side then she heard a voice.

“I know you can hear me.” The man leaned over her. “Isn’t this fun? You must be enjoying the drugs, well some of them at least.” He chuckled. “I can do whatever I please. I can cut you or pull out every one of your fingernails and you’ll just have to lie there and take it. Does that scare you, Sky?”

Inside, Sky was screaming. Terror made her heart race so fast the monitor sounded an alarm. Someone would come, they had to. She heard soft footsteps and from his voice, it was the nurse.

“Is everything okay?” He moved closer and cool fingers pressed against her jugular. “She may be allergic to the drugs.”

“Nah.” The man’s voice seemed closer now. “She’s just excited to see me, is all.”

Terror gripped Sky and she tried to call out and tell the nurse she was not okay, but she could not move a muscle. What was happening to her? Then she heard a chuckle and hot onion breath brushed her face. She wanted to turn away but every muscle had frozen.

“He can’t help you, Sky. I own him.” The man bent close and whispered in her ear. “I might keep you for two or three days, or a lifetime, before I kill you. Won’t that be fun?”

Ten

Monday

Kane’s patience was at an end. He wanted—no, needed—to get back to work. Being holed up inside the house twenty-four seven was driving him crazy. He’d spent all Sunday tracing cellphones and doing whatever else he could to aid the investigation, but he needed to get out for a while. The search for Sky Paul had come up with big fat zero. The search team had checked all the outlying factories and found no signs of life. All had shut down for the holidays. Snowdrifts of well over six feet deep covered both sides of the highway and with more forecast, they had no chance of finding Sky or her car until the melt.

After finishing a punishing weight training session, he aimed a few experimental kicks at the punching bag and his injured knee held up just fine. Although the reconstruction had compromised his flexibility, with a few adjustments to his stance he would still be able to kick hard enough to take someone down. The pivots would be a problem, though. With a reconstructed knee and repaired tendons he would never be one hundred per cent fit again. “I’ll just have to punch harder.” He smashed his fists into the bag and didn’t hear Jenna walk into the gym.

“If you punch any harder the bag will split.” She gave him a long considering stare. “You okay?”

“Nope.” He grabbed a towel from the bench and wiped the sweat from his face. “I’m going stir crazy. I’d like to get back to work now you’re feeling better.”

“What about the headaches?” Jenna narrowed her gaze at him. “You haven’t been outside for any long period of time to test if you can handle the cold yet.”

Kane shrugged and looked at his hands. “I have. I slipped out to help Rowley with the horses this morning.” He smiled. “Trust me, it’s no worse than before and if I wear a woolen cap under my hoodie it keeps my head warm.”

“I can’t stop you, Dave, but please take it easy for your first day back and take Duke with you or he’ll figure you’ve left him again.” Jenna rubbed the dog’s ears. “He’s worried about you.”

Kane looked at the sad eyes looking up at him and smiled. “Don’t worry, Duke. I’ll take you with me.” He looked back at Jenna. “Anything special you want me to do?”

“Why don’t you interview Ella Tate at the hospital? She’s being treated for exposure, so we have an excuse to keep her there without charging her.” Jenna dropped onto the bench and looked up at him. “The doctor hasn’t mentioned releasing her yet, so we have another day at least.” She sighed. “Wolfe should have analyzed the blood samples he took from her by now.”

Kane hung the towel around his neck and sat down beside her. “It’s no secret it’s Sky Paul’s blood, the Tate girl admitted as much.” He mopped at his face. “With nothing coming up on their cellphones, and no reports of anyone seeing Sky or her car, if what she said is true the killer could have destroyed the SIMs and dumped the car in a million places. Apart from the waterholes alongside the river, there are mineshafts all over the area. Search and rescue have checked the industrial buildings, and they’ll keep on looking for another couple of days, but they don’t hold out much hope. In this weather, if her vehicle is out there we won’t locate it until the melt.” He rubbed his temples.

“Not with more blizzards forecast, that’s for sure.” Jenna frowned. ?

?I know you’ll hate me saying this but I still think it’s too early for you to return to work. Humor me and give it half a day to see how you go. There’s more bad weather due this afternoon and you might get stuck in town.”

“If that happened, I’d bunk with Rowley.” He turned to look at Jenna’s worried expression. “Okay, I’ll go into the office after breakfast and be back before two.”

“That sounds like a plan. Now you’re ready to go back to work, I guess you’ll be moving back into your cottage?” She pushed her hair behind one ear and raised both eyebrows in question.