“He has a point.” Jake turned to Theo. “Walcott’s obsessed with her father, and we know for a fact Charles Connell has been watching her. What’s the betting Walcott knows it too?”
Mac glanced between Theo and Jake. “Look, I know you’ve got no reason to trust me, but I want her back safely as much as you do, and I can’t do that if I don’t have all the information. So, for God’s sake, someone fill me in, will you?”
“Why?” Theo snapped.
“Why do I want you to fill me in?” Mac frowned.
“Why do you want her back safe?” Theo asked, his dark eyes blazing.
“Because I was there.” He sighed. “The night her father fled with her to Philadelphia, I was one of the officers on duty. I was the one who held her while she watched her father being taken away in cuffs, ranting about demons and devil’s traps.”
Theo and Jake exchanged a sharp look.
“She was this tiny, beautiful dark-haired child with sad eyes the color of single malt whiskey, her clothes covered in her mother’s blood and clutching onto her dog as if her life depended on it.” Mac shook his head. “She got to me. I used to check in on her while she was in Philly. When she was moved by child services, I lost her for a while, but I picked her up again when she turned eleven. By then she didn’t remember me, so I kept my distance, but I kept tabs on her to make sure she was okay until she turned eighteen. Even though she doesn’t know it, I look in on her every couple of years. If I’d known what was going on since she came back to Mercy, you can bet your ass I would have done something about that lunatic Walcott long before now.”
Theo glanced at Jake, who nodded in silent agreement.
“Thomas Walcott and Charles Connell used to be best friends back in the day,” Jake told him. “They came up through school together with another guy by the name of James Talbot.”
“James Talbot?” Mac frowned. “Wasn’t he one of the original victims?”
“Yes, he was,” Jake replied in surprise. “The three of them were tight, like brothers, well, except for Walcott and Talbot. They had a relationship of a different nature.”
Mac stared at Jake.
“They were lovers,” Theo answered for him, seeing how hard it was for Jake to tell the other man’s secret despite everything Walcott had done.
“I see,” Mac murmured.
“Olivia’s dad was the only other person who knew about them. After James Talbot was killed, Walcott was convinced Connell was the murderer and that the killings only stopped because of his arrest,” Jake continued. “Walcott knew Connell for years. He can read the man, so if he’s going after the man he believes killed his lover?—”
“He’s using Olivia as bait,” Mac cut in. “He will have figured out Connell is watching her. The question is, where would he take her?”
“We need to run all his addresses, any properties he owns or is connected to.” Jake nodded.
“Okay, let’s move.” Mac scratched his stubble thoughtfully. “We don’t know how much time we’ve got.”
Olivia swam through layers of fogginess, trying to regain consciousness. Her vision faded in and out of focus as she lifted her head with tremendous effort, aware that she could hear a clicking sound. Looking across the cramped room, she could vaguely make out Walcott sitting on the bed, waiting and impatiently cocking and uncocking the hammer on his gun.
He looked up in surprise as he caught Olivia looking at him through slightly unfocused eyes. He stood abruptly and headed back to the table behind her where the small half-filled vial and syringe lay.
“I thought you’d be out for longer,” he murmured, almost to himself. “Maybe you need a larger dose.”
Something about what he said triggered a thought. The drug was spread throughout her body via her blood. She already knew her body ran at a higher temperature due to her magic, so what if that was why the dose was wearing off so quickly? If she could focus enough to use her magic, she could raise her body temperature higher, forcing her heart to work faster. If she could speed up her metabolism, burning the drug out of her system quicker, she might stand a chance.
“No,” she slurred.
He once again grabbed her hair and yanked her head to the side, ready to plunge the needle into her neck. She turned and sank her teeth viciously into his hand, drawing blood.
“You bitch,” he hissed, pulling back his fist and punching her in anger.
Olivia felt rather than heard the cracking sound her cheekbone made and could almost see her cheek swelling from the corner of her eye. He grabbed her hair, yanking her back harder than before and jammed the needle into her neck, causing her to cry out in pain.
“Nothing.” Jake smashed his hand against the desk in frustration as his search came up empty again.
“What?” Theo stopped pacing and stared at him.
“We’ve run every search we can think of, but he only has one address listed, and we’ve already got a team over there waiting in case he shows. But he’s not stupid enough to turn up at his own house.”
