Sound of Darkness

The call from Angela came just as the television screen in the hotel’s coffee shop showed the police arriving at a wooded section of road where a corrections bus was slammed against the trees at an odd angle.

“Mark, he’s out—Jim Carver is out. He and other inmates being transferred managed to take out the guards and escape. The police just found the bus. They had lost communications, and there had been some flooding in the area they had to travel. You and Ragnar must take extreme care. He’s going to be out for your blood.”

“What the hell?” Mark demanded, standing, almost knocking the table over. “They had a man who was possibly—no, probably—a dangerous serial killer—”

“And several other inmates. They didn’t kill the guards. From what they’ve gleaned, Carver wanted to kill them. But one of the other inmates was in for armed robbery and wasn’t adding murder to his charges. Thank God for small favors. Anyway, it’s all over the news. Direct order from Jackson. Stay together today and be on the lookout. He is holding a terrible grudge against the two of you—and Red.”

“And Colleen. She questioned him. She just went upstairs to get something. I’m hanging up, Angela. I’m going to look for her.”

“What the hell?” Ragnar said.

“Yeah, what the hell? Stay here in case she comes back. She’s been up there a long time to just get a phone charger.”

“Got it,” Ragnar said, standing, throwing bills on the table for the food they wouldn’t eat, and then walking with Mark toward the entrance.

“Red, come,” Mark said, and he hurried out, too anxious for the elevator. If she came down that way, Ragnar would see her. He bounded up the stairs to the third floor.

Colleen wasn’t in the hallway.

And she wasn’t in the room.

“Colleen!” he shouted her name.

There was no reply.

He didn’t even know if she’d actually been to the room or not.

Yes. She had been there, he thought. His keys had been on the bedside table.

They were gone.

“Colleen!” he said again, knowing it was useless.

But why would she have just disappeared? She was competent. She carried a gun, and she knew how to use it.

Could someone have surprised her in the room?

No, not with her hearing.

Then what was going on?

“Red?” he asked, not sure in what way the dog could answer.

Red whined; he knew something was terribly wrong.

Mark took the stairs two at a time again back to the hallway by the diner. Ragnar was in the hall waiting for him.

“I talked to one of the bellmen. He saw Colleen leave.”

“He knows it was Colleen?”

“Yes, he recognized her. And she waved and said good morning to him politely as she exited the hotel. That’s all I know.”

“She walked out of her own volition?” Mark asked, bewildered.

“No one near her, according to the bellman. Let’s get to the cars.”

“My keys were gone.”

“She took your car then. Mark, what the hell could have made her leave like that? She’s a smart woman.”

Mark’s phone was ringing. It was Angela and he answered it quickly.

“Angela, she’s gone. He’s gotten to her somehow. Ragnar and I are going to follow, but I have no idea how... She just walked out. Alone. Did she call in?”

“No, Colleen didn’t call in. But I know why she’s gone.”

“What? How? Why?”

“I just received a call from a young woman named Casey at Megan Law’s publishing house. Colleen was supposed to call her right back—and she didn’t. She had called Colleen because Megan Law never came back to work after her trip to the DC area.”

“She still wouldn’t have gone off on her own. She would have come to us and given us that information!” Mark said.

“Not if someone else called her.”

“Carver!”