“Troy Martin.”
“You know it’s him?”
“I don’t, but someone must have taken her. And Merrick said his uncle was after her. His uncle, Troy Martin.”
“Okay. Okay,” Hawk said. “This is all my fault.”
“Now isn’t the time, Hawk.” Jo was gone. It didn’t matter who was to blame. Cole paced. “I’ve got to find her.” But, God help him, he didn’t know how.
Where areyou?
And when he found her—Lord,help me findher—he would never leave her again. She’d have to kick him to the curb if she didn’t want him around. But Cole couldn’t stay here and wait. He would get out there and actively look for her.
“Come on, Hawk. I’ll take you to the lodge. You’re not staying here alone.”
“But what about all those emergency people you called? I’ll be fine. I need to guard the place. The evidence someone was here.”
“You’re not thinking clearly. That doesn’t matter anymore. He has Jo. That’s all that matters.”
Remi rushed into the house. “Hawk! Why haven’t you answered my calls?” She moved to her fiancé. “What happened? Where’s Jo?”
“He took her,” Cole said.
“Who took her?” Remi asked.
But Cole wasn’t answering her questions. He exited the house and got back into Jo’s Land Rover.
Think. I’ve got to think.He had to think like a space-shuttle engineer turned mechanic. If Martin had her, he would use her to draw her father to him. So Cole had to think like Ransom Driscoll, who never did anything without a reason. Everything he’d done had a reason behind it.
Cole just couldn’t see it...
Until now.
39
In the cold, dark space of Pop’s office at the R&D, Jo tried to escape the ties on her wrists and legs. She’d suffered so much already.Why did Ilet him take me?
When he’d walked through the door at the safe house, she instantly recognized him as someone she’d seen in Michigan. A random guy on the sidewalk. Someone who hadn’t registered in her mind as anyone but a stranger. She’d sketched an image of him. Troy Martin had aged more than she could have imagined from that original picture of him with her parents, Mason Hyde, and his wife—Helen Martin.
He most certainly was the one to send Mom the skull. That he had the skull was enough to confirm to Jo he was the one to both murder his wife and hide her body. Helen had gone missing and had never been found. But this man had known exactly where her body was.
Jo should not underestimate how far this man would go.
He was holding Jo, waiting for Pop. He wanted to trade her for her father. How did he think he could get away with this? What if her father just called the police? Then again, she had a feeling that her father had already experiencedjust how nasty this man could be, and a call to the cops would risk Jo’s life. He would probably make the trade. Still, what if her father showed up to trade himself for her? Then what? Like Martin would let her live. She knew too much. Right. Finally, she knew something.
Footfalls alerted her that he’d come back from wherever he’d gone. She’d hoped to get out of these ties and escape before he returned. But she had made zero progress.
“The secret’s out, you know. You can’t get away with this.” Why did she bother? This guy was some sort of rocket scientist and thought bringing her here was a good idea.
He paced the greasy, exhaust-filled space. Growled, then scraped all the model cars off the shelf. And stomped on them. The space shuttle and rocket were missing.
He was losing it. Really losing it. And Jo shouldn’t antagonize him, but man, she really wanted to. She wished she had her wrench, Little Jo.
“So, what was with the skull you sent to my mom?” Though she knew, might as well get the whole story if she could. “That was yourwife. Did you kill your own wife?”
He turned and walked toward her, anger and fear twisting his face, then he relaxed. Composed himself and looked at her like he knew what she was trying to do and he wasn’t falling for it. He wasn’t going to tell her what she wanted to know. Wasn’t going to monologue like the villain in every superhero movie.
She said nothing more. What could she say?
