Molly’s pale eyes swung to his face. She took a shaky breath. “I think Daniel meant the words as a warning.” Tears welled. “Sarah should have listened. She should have . . .” She whimpered and glanced away.
“It’s all right,” Edge said more softly. “Take your time.”
Molly swallowed. “One night Sarah tried to escape. She had it all planned out. I wanted to go with her, but I was . . . I was afraid. At the last minute, I decided to go after her, make her see reason. I tried to catch up, but I was too late. I saw wh-what they did to her. I hid in the bushes and watched them beat her to death.”
Molly pressed her lips together. “My husband, Harley . . . he was one of them. I saw them bury her body behind the toolsheds near the vegetable garden.” Molly started sobbing. Skye pulled her into her arms, and Molly cried against her shoulder.
Edge got up and walked out of the motel room.
* * *
By the time Skye saw Edge a little before dawn the next morning, his iron control was back in place.
“How’s your leg?” were the first words out of his mouth.
“It’s fine. I just stepped on it wrong.” They sat down on a wooden bench in the corridor outside her room. Molly was inside, still asleep.
“I should have looked at it last night,” Edge said. “Let’s go to my room, and I’ll check, make sure nothing’s broken.”
The thought of Edge looking at her withered and burn-scared limb made her stomach draw into a knot. The IED that had exploded beneath her Humvee had rained fire down on top of her, searing her flesh from mid-thigh all the way to her ankle.
“I’m okay, really,” she said. “It’s only a little sore this morning.”
Edge cast her a disbelieving glance. “It’ll only take a minute, and I’ll feel better knowing you didn’t do any real damage.”
Skye glanced away, afraid he would see the truth in her eyes. She never let her injury get in the way of her job. Normally, she didn’t care what people thought. But this was Edge. Everything was different with him.
She squared her shoulders. “I’d know if something were wrong,” she said tartly. “Please, let’s just focus on what we need to do.”
She didn’t know what Edge read in her face, but he backed off and nodded.
“All right, fine.” Mercifully, he changed the subject. “One thing we know for sure. Henson has to be stopped. We need to bring the sheriff in on this.”
“We can’t,” Skye said. “After you left, Molly told me the sheriff knows what’s going on out there, but he says the women are adults—they can do whatever they want.”
“We need to call him, get him over here to talk to her. If Sarah was murdered, Molly can lead the sheriff to the body.”
“I think that’s going to be a problem.”
“Did you ask her if Henson’s doing something illegal out there—aside from kidnapping and murder?”
“I asked. She says something is going on, but she doesn’t know what.”
“Whatever it is, I’m guessing the men are on Henson’s payroll and providing them a woman is part of the bargain.”
“Good chance. Most of the women seem to be orphans of some kind, either alone in the world or estranged from their families. A couple of them were living in homeless shelters when Daniel found them. The problem is the sheriff may be on the payroll, too.”
Edge fell silent. Skye could read the worry in his amazing blue eyes. He always felt responsible for the people around him. He’d do anything in his power to protect them.
Though he was unbelievably handsome, her attraction to him ran deeper than the beauty of his face. She liked the man he was inside. She respected him as a fellow soldier, a Green Beret, one of the country’s most elite.
Her gaze met his, and desire slipped through her, a feeling that had been growing since their trip together to Mexico. As they sat next to each other on the wooden bench, Edge’s hard thigh pressed against hers, and a sliver of heat curled low in her belly. She tried to shift away, but the bench wasn’t long enough.
She forced herself to focus, to continue the conversation where they had left off. “Molly says most of Henson’s men carry weapons. She says they’re extremely dangerous, especially Harley. He’s a big man, I gather, and tough. Former military. All of the men like the control they have over their wives.”
“Why don’t you go check on her?” Edge suggested. “When you talk to her, get a description of Harley. As soon as she’s up and dressed, I’m calling the sheriff. Once he finds out about the murder, he’ll have to step up and do his job.”
But what if Molly was right and the sheriff was involved? Skye opened the door to her room and heard the shower running. Last night, the woman had been completely exhausted, both mentally and physically drained.
