“I didn’t want to insult you by asking in case you have a compulsion,” Laurel admitted.
Kate finally cracked a smile. “The high school is having a Christmas fundraiser called Red and Green tonight to make money for the sports teams, and I’m trying really hard to help my girls get used to their new school, so I signed up to help. I chose red.” She cut Laurel a look. “My job is to just drop you off, because I have to attend this fundraiser for my kids. If I can somehow make friends with a couple of the moms, then maybe I can help the girls. They’re having a rough time of it with the move.”
That made sense. “I appreciate the ride, especially since it looks like we’re headed into the mountains,” Laurel said.
“Are you sure you just want me to drop you off at some man’s home in what looks like the middle of nowhere?” Kate asked.
“Yes.” Laurel took a deep breath. “Captain Rivers’s week off just ended. Let’s find him, and he can take me to the crime scene.”
* * *
Lisa Scotford awoke shivering in the cold, her bare butt freezing on the cold metal floor. A flickering lantern illuminated the interior of her prison. A blanket lay in the corner and she crawled to it, wrapping the scratchy wool around her nude body and huddling down. Her head hurt. She blinked away the fog and pain to focus on the situation.
Where was she?
One minute, she was leaving her apartment outside of Genesis Valley and getting into her car, and the next . . . nothing. Something hard had hit her head and then blackness. Gingerly, she reached to the back of her head and winced at the lump there. When she pulled her hand back, blood coated her fingers.
Nausea attacked her, and she shifted to the side, heaving up the leftover spaghetti she’d eaten for lunch at her apartment.
The wind howled outside, and ice clattered against the metal.
She looked down inside the blanket. Whoever had kidnapped her had taken her clothes. Her stomach lurched again, and she dry heaved. How long had she been unconscious? She had taken the upcoming week off work, saying she was headed out of town, when she’d planned to mediate and figure out her life with some alone time. Nobody even knew she was missing.
Terror made her feel lightheaded. Her skin prickled.
Despite unsteady legs, she stood, keeping the blanket around her. The harsh material smelled like a mix of different perfumes, and something had dried down the side of it. Could be blood. She pushed her mind away from the thought. She had to get out of there. Her throat hurt from the cold, and the floor freeze-burned her feet, but she tiptoed quietly across it to the metal double doors. Was she in some sort of cargo hold? Like the ones she saw in harbor ports on television shows?
Four metal hooks had been attached to the walls near the floor, and she didn’t want to think about why. Blood and other frozen liquids dotted the area between the hooks, but the smell of bleach covered whatever they’d been.
Trembling, she reached out and tried to turn the lever to open the door. Nothing. She tried harder, but the thing didn’t move. It had to be locked from the outside.
She looked up at the metal roof and then along all the walls, searching for a weak spot. Nothing. Then she pressed her ear against the metal, listening for any sign of whoever had kidnapped her. Her legs shook. There was only one reason for him to take her clothes. She had to figure out a way to get free.
Merely the wind whistled outside, the sound forlorn. “Hello?” she croaked. When there was no answer, she cleared her throat and started to scream. She yelled for as long as she could, until her voice gave out.
Nobody came to help.
Chapter Three
Captain Rivers lived outside of Genesis Valley up a winding road blanketed by pine and cedar trees shivering in the bitter storm. A screeching wind hurled snow and freezing rain across the unpaved driveway to a log cabin placed at the bend of a swollen river. The cabin logs had darkened with age but were as solid looking as the craggy rock cliff on the opposite side of the river.
Kate rolled the car to a stop in front of a two-car garage. A massive wooden shop with four metal garage doors lay to the north, surrounded by bare trees. Her phone rang and she glanced at the screen. “They’re almost set up for the dinner.”
Laurel scouted the location and noted a figure moving inside the house. So the captain was home. Good. She opened her door and tugged her carry-on luggage from the back seat before slinging the large laptop bag over her shoulder. “Thank you for the ride.”
Kate sat back. “Are you sure you just want me to leave you?”
“Yes.” Rivers was a captain with Fish and Wildlife and wouldn’t shove a woman back into an oncoming storm, even if she was FBI. Probably. “Have a good time at your fundraiser.”
“I’ll do my best,” Kate said. “Good luck to you, too.”
“Great. Thanks.” A dog barked from inside, the sound more cheerful than angry. She stepped out of the car, and her feet instantly chilled in the thin black flats that had been perfect in Los Angeles. Swallowing, she gathered her light suit jacket tighter around her torso and ducked her head against the wind to hustle up the porch to the solid wooden door. At least she’d chosen to wear black slacks today with her light cream-colored blouse and jacket. She knocked just as Kate’s taillights disappeared down the long drive.
The dog barked louder inside.
A male voice rumbled an order and the dog subsided.
The door opened to reveal a man.
