I hadn’t been wrong. I just had to hope Mac and Hardin would see that. And find me. Please.
“I was wrong about you, Sam. Fucking two men isn’t what I expected from you. I thought you were a virgin. I could have sworn it.”
He studied me as I remained silent. I wasn’t telling him anything about what I’d done with Hardin and Mac. I wasn’t telling him he’d been right, that I’d been untouched, that if I’d told him yes months ago like he’d wanted, he’d have found me innocent. I didn’t think telling Mark that Hardin had gotten what he had wanted would make him happy.
He shrugged.
“Virgin, whore, it doesn’t make a difference to me. I just get to have a different kind of fun now.”
MAC
* * *
Nix didn’t have to break into Mark’s house since Hardin had a key. Once the door was unlocked, three police officers along with Nix and Miranski stormed in. Hardin and I followed, but within seconds they’d called the house clear. No one was here.
Sam wasn’t here. There was no sign of her at all.
Hardin slammed the door to the garage shut. “His car’s gone.”
Everyone met in the living room. The house was outside of town, set on two acres with views of the mountains all around. It was ridiculously big for a single guy, but Mark liked things. A big house, fancy car, fancy lifestyle. I hadn’t given a shit if he took his clothes to the dry cleaners or not. He was a nice guy.
Had been. That had been a fucking lie.
Jesus, Mark could have killed Erin Mills. Talk about leading a dual life. While we’d eaten pizza, drunk beers and watched football with him, he might have been holding on to the secret that he’d killed a woman.
Erin Mills, though, was dead. No one could help her. Sam was alive, and we had to find her now before Hardin’s sick-as-fuck brother hurt her, too.
“Did you call him?” Miranski asked Hardin.
Hardin looked around wildly, as if Sam might be tucked in a kitchen cupboard or behind the sofa.
“Twice. No answer.”
“That’s possible though, right? It’s not like Mark can take calls if he’s in the operating room,” she stated.
“Did you call the hospital?” I asked. “Is he in surgery now?”
“They said he left at two. Hasn’t come back or been called in,” Nix said.
The timing made sense with his visit to the diner.
“Maybe it’s not Mark who’s behind this and we’re wasting our time,” Miranski said.
“It’s him,” Hardin stated. He had no doubt and neither did I. “He wants Sam. She told him no, and he doesn’t like that. I had breakfast with him this morning. He told me of a woman he fu— Sorry, he had sex with last night. Blonde.” He said the last to reiterate our theory of Mark’s obsession with blondes and the possible connection to Erin Mills. “Then there was the waitress this afternoon. She was a sure thing. She wasn’t going to tell him no.”
“Blonde, too,” I added.
“And yeah, if we hadn’t shown up, they’d be together now.”
The other officers left the house to wait outside. There was no crime here, and we had no real proof Mark was involved. Just gut feelings. We’d told Sam to go with her gut, and we knew ours were right now.
Fuck, I hoped so.
“He’s too smart to bring her here,” Hardin said, rubbing his beard. “We’ve wasted our time.”
“An officer went to Sam’s place. Empty,” Miranski said.
“There are hotels, vacation rentals,” Nix added.