Scream For Me: A Novel of the Night Hunter (For Me 3)

Cadence sat beside him, still too conscious of what had been said in the captain’s office.

He’s hoping to find his sister.

She’d known that, though, from the minute he came to her desk back at their main office, his eyes shining with barely contained emotion.

We have to go to Paradox. A woman’s missing.

“I knew her.” Heather Crenshaw, a slim redhead with a steady, green gaze, gave a slow nod. “Lily was a few years ahead of me in school.”

Cadence glanced at Heather’s partner. “What about you?”

Jason Marsh. Tall. Dark. Handsome. He spoke with a faint southern drawl. A thin scar snaked out from the corner of his left eye, disappearing into his hairline.

“Yes, ma’am,” Jason said with a nod as his eyes stayed on her. “I’d seen her at Striker’s plenty of times. In a town this size, folks pretty much know everyone else.”

True enough. But Lily hadn’t recognized the officer with her. Because it wasn’t a cop at this station. Her gut had told her it wasn’t, but the interviews still had to be conducted.

“Where were you patrolling last night?” Kyle asked. His voice was smooth, low, emotionless.

She’d seen the emotions blazing in his eyes moments before. The past was haunting Kyle, tearing him apart on the inside.

“We were near the town’s main street,” Jason said easily. “Some kids spray painted the side of the school gym a few nights back, and we were making sure they didn’t come back for another run at the place.”

Kids and graffiti. Paradox wasn’t exactly the crime capital of the world.

I’m wasting time with the cops. They weren’t going to give her any information she could use. Sitting with them wasn’t where she needed to be. She and Kyle both needed to be out there, joining the teams already searching for Lily. She’d immediately ordered for the searches to start, pulling in local and state help in the woods, even as she set up the interrogations.

It was the locals who would be of the most help. And since she had locals in front of her, she needed to ask different questions. More useful ones. “If you were going to dump a body in this area, where would you go?”

Silence.

Kyle turned his head slowly. Stared at her.

Her gaze cut back to the two cops. “Someplace secluded,” she added. Hell, the whole town was secluded. Surrounded by miles and miles of forestland. Mountains, lakes, thick woods. But maybe the locals knew one spot that would work best for making a body vanish. “There’s got to be a place around here folks don’t visit. Some spot a hunter wouldn’t stumble on when he was chasing game.”

“Cadence.” Kyle’s voice held a warning edge.

He’d realized she was looking for a body, not a live victim. Lily could still be alive; I’m not saying she isn’t.

She was also covering as much ground as she could. “I need you both to think of areas like that. Get trackers out there. Get the county’s canine unit, and give them some of Lily’s clothes.” They needed to start tracking right away. Cadence pushed from the table and rose to her feet. “Let’s not waste any more time.”

“Does that mean we’re clear, ma’am?” Jason wanted to know. He’d risen too, cautiously unfurling from his seat.

“It means I’m not spending any more time in here. We all need to be searching the town, the woods, to see if we can find Lily.” Cadence knew exactly where she’d start her hunt.

The last spot Lily had been seen alive.

She opened the door, marched outside. “I want everyone’s attention!”

She already had it. All eyes had sprung to her the moment the door flew open.

“Canine units.” She snapped out the words and gestured over her shoulder to Jason. “Officer Marsh is calling them in. We want them searching the woods for Lily. Start at the spot where her car was abandoned and work out from there. Check any”—damn, she hated to say it, but—“potential body dump sites you can think of. You know this area. Search it.”

Kyle had come to her side. “We need a guard to stay with Lily’s family, and we want a trace put on their phone lines.” He knew the drill perfectly. After a year working with her, he should.

“Why?” This came from Officer Randall Hollings. They’d talked to the slightly paunchy, balding officer earlier. “Do you think whoever took Lily might call for some kind of ransom?” He shook his head. “Lily didn’t have any money. Why else do you think she was working a double shift at Striker’s?”

“It’s not always about money,” Cadence replied. If only it were. Greed was easy to understand. The sadistic motives of the killers she had faced over the years? Not so easy. “It’s possible our perp might want to taunt the family, or…” Hate saying this, hate saying it… “If he has already killed Lily, then guilt might grow in him. He may feel the urge to reach out to the family. Even to confess his crimes.” She’d seen that happen, too.

Randall gave a low whistle. “That’s messed up.”

Killers often were. That was why they were killers.

“We’ll all need to stay in close contact,” Kyle said, his voice strong and hard. “If you discover anything, everyone needs to know. Lily Adams is out there, and we are going to locate her.”

It wasn’t a promise Cadence was ready to make. It was a vow Kyle shouldn’t have made.

Cadence had checked the weather report earlier that day. A major storm system was coming their way. They needed to hunt, before that storm hit. Because once it did, the storm would wash away any trace that Lily’s abductor might have left behind.

Mother Nature was going to work against them. That meant they had to work even faster, even harder, if they were going to beat her.

Then the doors to the station opened. A woman with graying hair and worried eyes stepped inside. A little girl, blonde, shaking, was at her side. Cadence recognized the girl from pictures she’d seen just a little while before.

Lily’s daughter. Carrie.

“Please,” the woman said, as she glanced around the station. “Please, tell me where my daughter is!”

Tears slid down the little girl’s cheeks.

Deep inside of Cadence, something seemed to break.

“What happened back there?” Kyle asked as the car they’d taken from the station slid to a stop. It was a patrol car, so it wasn’t like they were keeping a low profile as they headed toward Striker’s.