He shook his head. “He took her.”

“Yes, he did.” She believed it with every fiber of her being. There were too many signs pointing to the killer. Lily’s abductor and the man who’d taken Maria—Cadence definitely thought they were one and the same. “When Lily wakes up, she’s going to give us a description of the perp. We’re going to post his picture everywhere. We’re going to track him.” She waved behind her, to the caves. “They’re going to get inside that sick freak’s torture chamber.” What was left of it. “We’re going to find a fingerprint. DNA. Something we can use in there. We are going to get him.”

“Maria—”

“If we get him, then we find out what happened to Maria.”

Kyle stared at her. No, glared. “I know her voice.”

She licked her lips, hurting for him.

“I never forgot her voice.” He glanced away, as if he couldn’t meet her stare any longer. “She was crying, then she was screaming.”

Cadence had to touch him. “Kyle.” Her fingers curled around his arm. It wasn’t enough.

“I should have been with her. If I’d gone on the trip like I was supposed to, she’d be with me now.”

“You can’t change the past.” Hadn’t she wished her own past would be different, again and again? “You didn’t hurt her.”

“I could have saved her. I didn’t.” He pulled away.

“We can’t save the world.” He should have known that truth by now.

But he kept walking, heading toward the excavation team.

“Sometimes,” Cadence whispered after him as she felt the ghosts from her own past slide around her, “we can’t even save ourselves.”

The agent had taken the bait.

You won’t find her.

It must be absolute hell to spend so much time searching for what he’d never have again.

A life lived like that might just drive a man to the edge of sanity.

He would enjoy watching Kyle McKenzie fall into madness. The great agent. The hunter of killers. You’re nothing compared to me.

The bastard deserved to suffer.

And you will.

He planned to make Kyle McKenzie suffer more than any other man had.

McKenzie had started them all down this path.

McKenzie’s name was the one that had ripped through too many nights. Maria’s big brother. The hero.

You think you’ve lost everything? Not even close. Not yet. But you will.

It was time to prove that McKenzie wasn’t as damn smart as he thought he was. McKenzie didn’t deserve the fame and the attention in the papers.

McKenzie was nothing. Not compared to me.

When the FBI agent crumbled, he would be there to watch.

He’d be smiling the whole time.

“What are you doing?”

Cadence stiffened at the question. She’d shut the office door for a reason, but it looked like Detective Marsh had ignored the not-so-subtle cue for privacy.

She glanced over her shoulder and found him lounging in the doorway.

A few scrapes lined his cheek. A bruise skirted under his jaw. Otherwise, it looked as if he’d escaped the cave-in without any serious damage.

He stepped into the room. Left the door open behind him. “I was worried about you.” His voice had dropped. All warm, southern charm. His brown eyes glinted with his emotions. “I tried to crawl back to you.” He held up his hands, and she realized he did have more injuries. Cuts, lacerations, bandages. His hands had been ripped raw. “But I couldn’t get through. I ran out, got help, and we were going to dig our way to you. We weren’t going to stop, not until you were out.”

But they’d gotten out on their own. Brought Lily to safety.

“I didn’t leave you. Don’t think that.” His voice roughened.

Cadence shook her head. “I didn’t think you had. The stones fell so suddenly, Kyle and I were afraid you had been hurt. Killed.”

Jason shook his head. “It takes more than a bit of darkness to take me out.”

He was standing right in front of her. Staring at her with far too much intensity in his eyes.

“Jason.”

The cry was sharp, annoyed, and coming from the open doorway.

Cadence glanced over and saw Heather Crenshaw glaring at them.

“We’re needed back at the caverns,” Heather told him. “Captain said for us both to go.”

There was something in her voice, her gaze.

Heather’s stare cut to Cadence.

Jealousy.

So Heather and Jason were more than just partners on the force.

“On my way,” Jason murmured. But his eyes drifted back to Cadence. “I’m glad you’re safe.”

“I wish the same could be said for all his victims,” she told him. Dani should be sending an updated missing-persons list to her at any time. Cadence needed to start matching victims to those tally marks. Because as soon as she understood the victims, then she could better understand the killer.

“If there are more bodies in that place,” Jason said, beside Heather now, “getting them out is gonna be hard. We can get to the one in the Statue of Liberty chamber, but any others…” He exhaled on a rough sigh. “You’re talking months of work. Maybe years, if it’s even possible.”

The cave-in had been so complete.

The killer had intended to cover his tracks. And he had.

“It’s a good thing I don’t give up easily,” Cadence said quietly.

He glanced back at her. “I don’t either.”

Then he and Heather were gone.

Cadence booted up her laptop. The Wi-Fi in the office was perfect. One good point for Paradox. She immediately opened her e-mail because Dani had told her that the files were incoming…

They were. As she scrolled through the information that Dani had sent to her, Cadence’s heartbeat felt too heavy in her chest.

Twelve names were listed, including Lily’s. Twelve women. Four states.

Alabama.

Georgia.

Twelve old missing cases. But when you add Lily Adams to that list…

Thirteen. A perfect match to the tally marks that had been carved into the dirty cave wall.

“Did you get the intel from Dani?” Kyle asked as he came into the room.

Cadence didn’t look up at him. Right then, she couldn’t take her gaze off the screen. “Yes.”

Tennessee.

Mississippi.

The disappearances had been over such a vast amount of time. Across state lines.

The dots hadn’t been connected before. No one had put these women together.

Tags: Cynthia Eden For Me Thriller
Source: readsnovelonline.net