Henderson held up his hand. “He’s obviously off his damn rocker. And we’re going to do everything in our power to keep him from harming Gracie. But you need to leave the rest to me. This has to be legal or the scum walks. Is that what you two want?”
Wade’s temper boiled over. “Son of a bitch! I fucking knew this would happen.” Wade’s cel phone vibrated, interrupting his murderous thoughts. He yanked it off the clip and read the words on the little screen.
Jonas stepped closer. “What is it?”
“It’s a text from Gracie. She says her dad was in an accident. He’s at Saint Mary’s Hospital. She’s taking her boss’s car and heading there now.”
“I’ve got a bad feeling here, Wade.”
Wade did too, and it was getting worse by the second. He started tapping the smal keyboard. “I’m tel ing her to wait for me
.” He hit Send.
“Good plan.”
Within seconds he received a reply. Only it wasn’t from Gracie. “He’s got her. That son of a bitch has Gracie.”
“What? How?” the detective asked, as he moved around the desk.
Wade handed Jonas the phone. Jonas read the text aloud. “ ‘Too late. Gracie Lynn is mine now.’ ”
Wade and Jonas took off running, the detective hot on their heels. “He’l take her to the house,” Wade shouted over his shoulder. “He thinks he’s safe there. He doesn’t know we’re on to him.”
The detective caught him by the arm and pul ed him to a halt. “I’l cal for backup,” he gritted out, “but you two need to stand the hel down. This is a police matter.”
Wade shot him a glare. “No way in hel is that happening.”
“Ditto,” Jonas growled.
Henderson seemed at war with himself for a moment, and then he let Wade go. “Christ! Fine.” Before Wade could turn to go, Henderson jammed a finger against his chest. “But if you go in there in the state you’re in now, you’re liable to get Gracie kil ed. Think, goddamnit!”
Wade smiled. Henderson paled. “Trust me, detective, my thinking has never been more clear.”
30
Gracie’s head hurt, but she couldn’t understand why. She tried to open her eyes, but that only seemed to make the ache worse. Tugging on her hands and feet, Gracie realized she was very effectively bound. She remembered everything then. The cal about her father. It’d been a ruse, but she’d been blinded by worry. She’d rushed out to Marie’s car without thinking about her own safety. A hand had slammed down over her mouth. Gracie’s eyes shot wide, and she looked across the room and came face-to-face with her stalker.
“Oh, good! You’re awake,” he said, a maniacal smile lighting his face as he stood across the room, watching her. “I wasn’t sure how long that nasty stuff would knock you out.”
Gracie licked her lips; they were chapped, her mouth dry. “You drugged me,” she muttered. Her throat felt as if it had been scraped raw.
“Yes. I’m sorry, but it was necessary.”
Gracie looked at George, taking note of his filthy appearance. He had dirty, sandy blond hair parted down the side, and if Gracie had to guess she’d say he was in his mid-thirties. He looked as if he hadn’t showered in weeks. He wore a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans. He couldn’t have been tal er than five foot seven. He was thin, almost painful y so. This was the man who’d been sending her e-mails? The person who had run her off the road and had torn up her home? Somehow she had expected someone more sinister. Someone bigger, meaner. This guy looked like an accountant. He was so normal in appearance, so completely average. And yet he was clearly insane. He was also a complete stranger. How was it possible to attract such obsessive attention, and yet she couldn’t even remember seeing him at Charlie’s Market?
“Why? Why me?” Gracie had to know what she’d ever done to warrant such fanatical interest.
He moved away from the doorway then. With each step he took closer, Gracie’s heart beat faster. Once he was standing beside the bed, fear like she’d never before felt fil ed her. She could see it then, the vacant look in his eyes. He was completely insane.
“You know. You already know the answer to that question, Gracie Lynn.”
She shook her head as frustration started to edge out the fear. “I don’t understand any of this! Please, just let me go.” Even as the words spil ed out, she knew it was futile. He would not be letting her go. Wade would come, she thought, hope blooming. When she didn’t show for their lunch date, he would come looking for her.
“Why would you want to leave?” George asked, as if genuinely confused. “We love each other. We’re going to be married.” He picked up a white dress that had been on the bed next to her. She hadn’t even noticed it lying there. Gracie looked it over, then let her gaze travel around the room. She saw it al then. The champagne, the condoms, the pictures of her. Oh, God, there were so many. Thousands of them.
“Do you like it? I did it al for you.”
He wanted to know if she liked it? Gracie started to tel him where he could shove the damn dress and the rest of his crazy little plan, but she stopped herself. Pissing off a madman while bound was not a good plan. Instead, she lied.