“Hospital security called. Seems Sam’s car is in the lot, door open. Keys on the ground.”
“Holy. Fucking. Shit.”
Mac strode over. “What?”
“Sam’s missing.”
Mac snatched the phone from my hand, pressed the button for the speaker.
“This is Mac. What’s going on?”
“Someone took Sam. Car’s in the hospital lot. Door open, no Sam,” he repeated. “Security looked at footage from the exterior cameras. They’ve got her exiting at three thirteen and walking to her car. No one was with her. No one followed. Her car was at the back edge of the camera’s view, and someone comes in within a few seconds, leaves with her.”
“Voluntarily?” I snapped.
“It’s hard to tell. It’s blurry because of the distance. No way to identify the person, or even male or female with the heavy winter clothing. Dark colors. Did she call you? Say she was going off with someone?”
“No,” Mac and I said at the same time.
“You said she looks like Erin Mills. Do you think…” I wiped my hand across my lips, not wanting to finish the rest.
A murderer was still loose in Cutthroat, and Sam looked like the victim.
“I have to ask,” Nix began. In the background I could hear phones ringing, people talking, and I guessed he was at the police station. “Your brother. I assume you talked to him.”
“We did.”
“And?” He waited.
He wanted to know if I thought he might be the one to have taken Sam. Who might have grabbed her because he was somehow a crazy stalker who’d slashed her tire, fucked with her apartment and then kidnapped her. Who may have a thing for killing young blondes, just like her.
“Three thirteen, you said. We were with him at Dolly’s Diner at that time,” I told him. “Lots of witnesses.”
“You’re sure?”
“That we saw him at the diner? He was with Sarah, a waitress, when we showed up.”
“A blonde,” Mac added, eyeing me.
I nodded, seeing the fucking pattern.
“A different waitress came over to take our order. He was seen there.”
“So it’s not him,” Nix said.
“It’s him,” I told him. He might be a fucking detective and the facts didn’t add up, especially since Mac and I were his fucking alibi. “I don’t know how, but it is.”
“You can’t be sure of that,” Nix countered.
“No, but I’ve just found out my brother’s a total asshole. A man whore is one thing, but t
he shit he pulled with Sam? He denied. He lied.”
Mac looked grim. “Yeah, he did.”
We hadn’t talked about it, but I was glad to know he’d also seen through my brother’s shit when we were at the diner.
“Fine, so he has her, but how did he do it since he was with the two of you?”