"Thanks."
"Call as soon as you get there and let us talk to her."
"I will."
He kissed his mother and moved in for a hug from his father.
"I have to go."
They waved him off, arms around each other as they watched him run towards the steps. And did not move until the plane was just a dot in the air.
"I need to go to the chapel to say prayers."
Her husband nodded. Moving his hand from around her waist, he took her hand and lifted it to his lips.
"We'll pray for our boy and the woman who has so captured his heart."
He couldn't settle. After buckling in and waiting until he was airborne, he placed some calls. The first one was to Margo for an update.
"I'm on my way back to the states. I need something. I need to know if there's a lead to this son of a bitch. Something."
"The lab came back with the blood sample. He was bleeding like a hog, lots of blood on the boat, which was stolen by the way. We've been scouring hospitals, clinics and other places, but he hasn't shown up so far."
"Who the hell is he?"
"His name is Ed Graeme. He has no priors and coincidentally lived with his mother until recently. His mother died a week ago and was cremated almost immediately."
"Have you picked him up?"
He shook his head tersely when the flight attendant offered him a drink.
"He's disappeared. The place shows signs of him living there until recently."
She hesitated.
"What is it?"
"The place is like a shrine to Kiara. Her pics are plastered all over a room off his bedroom. Creepy as hell. He's religious, so there's an altar and whips, signs he was punishing himself for some sort of sin he committed. Bibles mixed with several copies of Kiara's books. He has pictures of you as well, with the eyes gouged out. There's one where you and Kiara were coming from a function. He cut out your pic and pasted one of his beside Kiara. He's obsessed."
The icy fear trickling along his spine was sharp.
"Any idea where he is?"
"No. We're checking into his financials. Apparently he cleaned out his account as well as his mother's and has gone to ground. But we're combing the area. Eric got him good so there's no way he could have gone far."
"Thanks."
Hanging up the phone, he turned to look out the window, his expression bleak. The sky was clear and the pilot had assured him that they would make good time. If he could grow bloody wings, he would be flying to her.
He wanted to be with her so badly, he felt as if he was crawling out of his skin.
Alongside the fear was the rage, walking hand in hand. He wanted to catch the bastard and cut off his air supply. He wanted to see him dead. But most of all, he wanted to be there to see and touch the love of his life.
Burying his head in his hands, he allowed the fear to surface.
He was in excruciating pain. The bullet had slammed into his left arm and fortunately for him had been a through and through. But he was bleeding like a goddamn pig. He had lost so much blood, he was amazed he was still alive.
He had somehow managed to make it to the car he had stolen and drove like a maniac to the out of the way cabin.
