“You think they hurt him?”
Dear God, no.Bear might live up to his name and be this big tough German shepherd, but he was her cuddly baby too, and she couldn’t stomach the thought of anyone hurting him.
Warren turned onto her street. “Or maybe the guy on the video drugged Bear.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.” She pointed out the window at the house three down from hers. “Pull up here.”
She ran her gaze over the modest ranch that her parents had owned since the seventies—the house she’d grown up in. After Addison split with Mack, she’d moved in with her mom, and they’d just painted it a deep gray with white trim. The lawn was neat and tidy, thanks to a landscaping crew she paid to keep it that way. Nancy had parked her older model Honda in the driveway, but there was no sign of any other vehicle.
“Let me try calling again.” Addy got out her phone and dialed.
The call connected and rang but went straight to voicemail.
“No answer.” She shoved the phone into her pocket. “Since we don’t know which room they’ll likely be in, we’ll go in the front where we’ll have the best view of the main living area.”
He nodded. “I remember the layout from your party.”
Party. Right.Remodel of the kitchen and family room celebration. Not something she could even imagine right now with her heart in her throat.
She eased out of the car and drew her gun. The wind, warning of coming rain, buffeted her body. She stayed low by the boxwood hedge that served as a fence and crept up to the front door painted a bright turquoise. Rain started spitting from the gray skies, dampening her hair and face. She swiped it away and dug out her key. As silently as possible, she unlocked the door, her hands trembling. The turn of the dead bolt sounded like a sonic boom in her ears.
If Razo is still here, please don’t let him have heard that.
She turned the knob. Dreaded pushing on the door that stuck on the corner in humid weather like today. Why hadn’t she gotten that fixed?
Because you didn’t know keeping quiet could be a matter of life and death. Howcould you?
She put her shoulder to the door. Pressed. Wood rubbed against wood. The grating noise sounding like a piercing cry, giving them away for sure.
Addy couldn’t hang back. She had to breach with confidence now.
Gun raised, she charged into the room that held the lingering smell of her mother’s arthritis cream. Addy scanned the space. Saw her mom. Then Nancy. Both tied up. Both gagged. Otherwise unharmed and seated in wooden chairs in front of a sheet stapled to the wall.
“Are they gone?” she asked Nancy.
She frantically bobbed her head up and down.
“I’ll clear the house while you stay with your mom,” Warren offered and eased past her to the hallway leading to three bedrooms.
“Check on Bear,” she called after him. “First room on the right.”
As she stepped toward her mother, Addy’s attention was drawn back to the sheet.
The perpetrator had painted a message in a fire-engine red color on the white fabric. The letters were big and bold, and paint dripped from them like blood.
Stop or next time they will pay, and so will you.
The message finally sank deep inside her, and Addy’s heart nearly refused to beat. The video hadn’t been faked. Razo, if it was indeed him, had come into her home. Taken her frail mother captive. Threatened her life with a knife and left her tied up like a trussed pig for Addy to find, then issued his warning.
Her legs threatened to buckle.
“Bear’s in his crate!” Warren yelled. “Sound asleep. An empty meat wrapper by his snout.”
Drugged.Razo had drugged Bear.
Drugging an animal. Taking her mother and Nancy at gunpoint. Calmly making a video.
The man was dangerous. A psycho.
