Page 71 of Midnight Creed

Had Gregory just taken her on a long distance road trip and bailed as easily as getting on a flight to who knows where?

“I’m working on something that ties him to Pensacola,” Alonzo said.

“You mean like family?”

“Yes. Maybe.”

“Which is it, Alonzo? Yes, or maybe?”

“A very strong maybe.”

She was exhausted and didn’t bother to hide it. She felt drained. Not to mention her shoes and pant legs were muddy from tromping around a swamp. She wanted a shower. A couple hours of sleep. The only things keeping her going were that image of Nessie and a promise to Racine’s partner.

“Also, I finally found a photo of him. It’s a group photo. I had to crop and zoom in,” Alonzo told her. “I’ll text it to you. It’s about four years old, but right now, it’s the best I can do.”

“Are you sure it’s him?”

“Considering I’m starting from zero, no. Not a hundred percent. But there are others from his management office. The caption identifies him.”

Right now, a photo wasn’t going to help her. She’d tried to get a look at him when he picked up the Mercedes at the Amtrak station. Shadows made it almost impossible. Nessie had described him as tall. The man Maggie saw running away in the D.C. streets looked young and agile.

“Speaking of the management company, are any of their properties here in Pensacola?”

“Already thought of that. They don’t distinguish between what they own and what they just manage. In Pensacola plus Navarre, there are thirty-three.”

“Thirty-three? Am I headed toward any of them?”

“No. Most of them are on the beach.”

She turned the corner onto the final street. A sigh of frustration escaped before she could tamp it down. She pulled her rental to the nearest curb and stopped.

“What?” Alonzo wanted to know. “What is it?”

“A storage facility. Probably over fifty units.”

“No way. It doesn’t show on my satellite feed.”

“Maybe it’s new. My monitor shows it’s somewhere inside. He parked his Mercedes in a storage unit.”

She rubbed her fingers over her eyes, then leaned her head back.

All their efforts and here they were. A dead end.

47

Baptist Hospital

Pensacola, Florida

Taylor still had three more hours of her shift, and she was exhausted. She’d spent most of the night missing Will and battling with herself. After having such a great day yesterday, how was she supposed to tell Jason they should take a break? And right before Christmas?

She was almost grateful to have four long days at the hospital. She could avoid talking to him. He was good about letting her have alone time. Letting her call when she felt like talking or getting together.

The unit secretary waved her down, holding up the telephone receiver.

“Taylor, call for you.” She kept her hand over the mouthpiece as she handed it to her. “Your mother-in-law.”

“It’s super busy today. Tell her I’ll call her back.”