Ten
Justus
Iwhistledas I stepped out of the hotel, shaded from the morning sunlight by the covered drop-off at the front of the parking lot. The day was shaping up to be hot, even though it was hardly past nine am, but the rental car had a great air conditioner and Kaciwas—
Where wasKaci?
Frowning, I rounded the side of the hotel building headed for the back of the parking lot, expecting her to pull alongside me in the car any moment. She liked to drive, and for all I knew, she’d gotten bored waiting for me and had decided to fill up the tank. And grab snacks for theroad.
But the car was still in the lot, exactly where I’d parked it the night before. The trunk was closed, the doors locked, with no sign that she’d ever opened them. I tried the trunk, but it could only be opened from inside the car or with the key fob. Fear building inside me like a steady, bitter pressure, I’d just decided to break open one of the windows when the tip of my shoe landed on something that scraped against theconcrete.
Keys.
Ourkeys. I bent to pick them up and discovered Kaci’s phone lying just underneath the car. The case was scuffed, the screencracked.
Kaci wasgone.
No.
“Kaci!” I shoved the keys and phone into my pocket and raced toward the rear hotel door—the one she’d gone out—but it required a hotel key card to get in, and I’d already given ours back to the clerk. So I jerked on the door as hard as Icould.
Metal groaned, but the door was solid. Itheld.
I pulled again with both hands, wedging one foot against the door frame. Something popped, and the door flew open. Something small and metal bounced off my shoe, but I was already pounding down the back hall before I realized it was the bolt from the busteddoor.
My shoes skidded on the tile floor as I raced past the elevators and rounded the corner into the lobby, then stood in front of the desk clerk, panting not from exertion, but from utterterror.
Kaci wasgone.
I had let her out of my sight forfour minutes, and she wasgone.
“Have you seen her?” I demanded, and the clerk gave me an alarmed, but blank expression. “Kaci. The woman I checked in with. She’s about five-seven. One hundred ten pounds. She has hazel eyes and long, dark hair, and she’s gorgeous. You would noticeher.”
“I do remember her sir, but I haven’t seen her since lastnight.”
“Okay, what about…cars? Did you see any cars leave since I checked out? Is there a back way out of the parkinglot?”
“The only way out is right through there.” He pointed behind me, at the parking lot entrance in front of the hotel. “But I think I did see a car leave while you were checkingout.”
Fuck!
“What did it looklike?”
“I—” He frowned, clearly trying to remember. “I’m sorry, sir, I don’tremember.”
“Was it a car? A truck? AnSUV?”
“Definitely a car. I think. Four doors. Oh!” His brows shot up. “It was low to the ground. It nearly bottomed out on that bump in theentrance.”
“Great. Whatcolor?”
“Um… Something dark. Red, orgreen.”
A growl exploded from my throat. “Those are twocompletelydifferentcolors.”
“I know, sir.” He looked flustered. “But my point is that it definitely wasn’t white or silver. It was arealcolor.”
“As opposed to a made-up color? Honestly, I don’t even know what to do with thatdescription.”
