“She’s missing.Someone took her—”
“What?” Desiree’s shriek crackled his speakers.“I’ll be right there.Do you have any idea who did it?”
“Yeah,” he said, his grunt thick with contempt for himself.“Frasier Donohue.”His own stupidity shook him to his core.His head pounded where he’d been struck.When he got his hands on Frasier again, he wouldn’t walk away.
Dez sputtered.
The tire tracks weaved to the right and disappeared down a narrow gravel road.“Look, I’ve got to go.Tell Hank the tire tracks lead into the woods near Grotto Pointe.He’ll be able to find us if he comes through the field behind Josie’s.”
“On it.”
He moved his finger to the button on his steering wheel to disconnect.
“Quin?”
“Yeah,” he barked, as his vehicle rolled into the woods, the moonlight above shrouded by the trees and clouds.
“Find her.”
Quin’s heart twisted.
He had no other choice.
***
Josie pressed herback against a tree.Her chest rose and fell in frenzied gasps.The tree bark dug into her shoulder blades, her wet shirt providing no protection from its sharpness.She slowed the breath hissing through her nose.
Cody.
For god’s sake.How could he have done this?She squeezed her eyes against the debilitating ire that threatened to make her do something really stupid and show herself.Quin had been right all along about Liam’s death, but he’d been way off about the culprit.She had to get word to him.
Even if she died today, she had to get justice for Liam.
The slow cracking of twigs sounded in the distance.Rain pounded on the leaves above and filtered through to splatter on her head.She turned her gaze to her destination: Whistlemore Logging’s main building.
Cody wouldn’t expect her to circle back and break into the office.If she could get to the phone or computer before he found her, she just might make it out of here alive.
She wriggled her wrists.She had to get free first.Once she got close to the main building, a sensor or alarm might go off and she’d have only minutes to achieve her task.
She turned to face the tree she was pressed against.She needed something sharp.A nail would be wonderful, but an unlikely find.She scanned the ground then turned in a circle.Her gaze stopped on a broken tree branch, the nub sticking out close to the trunk.That could work.She lifted her arms and dragged the tape over the jagged piece of wood.
Sweat collected at the back of her neck, the cool air making it icy on her skin.
C’mon, c’mon.
The tape ripped.She yanked her wrists free and the rest of the adhesive parted.She peeled the tape off her skin, wincing as it waxed her arm hair.
“I know you’re out here, Josie!”Cody’s voice bellowed around the trees.
Her throat tightened and her heart rate spiked.
“The longer you make me walk through the woods the more pissed off I’m going to be when I find you.Let’s make this easy.”The whacking of tree branches reached her ears.He was getting closer.
Once she made it outside the forest she’d have to move quickly.
Crouching low, she pushed through the low-lying branches.Her bare feet squished over the soft, wet ground.Grass tickled her ankles and she lifted her gaze to the main building ahead of her.The back entrance was closest.She darted across the lawn to the steps leading to the back door.The wood groaned beneath her weight as she climbed the stairs.She grimaced and pressed her palm into the railing as if to lighten her load, but it didn’t work.
She hopped over the final step.Gripping the doorknob, she pushed open the wood.Warm air coated her damp, frozen skin.She closed the door behind her and secured the lock.Not that it would do much, since Cody had a key, but it might just slow him down.
