Trent glanced toward the passenger seat again. Even with the morning’s turmoil, Trent couldn’t keep his thoughts from straying to what had happened between him and Risa. He could still smell her, still taste her, still feel her. He’d been like a starving man at a banquet table, filling himself with her essence, her energy.
He couldn’t get enough last night. Hell, who was he fooling? He still couldn’t. And that was what worried him. Because now that he’d basked in her light again, how would he go back to living without it?
Drops of rain spattered the windshield, turning the winding road ahead into a glistening black snake, the trees whizzing past into a blurred mosaic of green and brown. Trent switched on the windshield wipers. The rhythmic swish over glass marked each minute and each mile ticking by. Reaching the end of the road, he performed a rolling stop and checked traffic before gunning the car out onto the highway.
Once on the straighter road, Rees loosened her grip and turned to him. “Will the FBI beat us to Gordy’s house?”
“Probably.” He’d prefer confronting Young at the prison, a much more controlled and predictable environment. But the guard had the day off, so Trent didn’t have a choice. “The local sheriff’s department will also be there. Young should be safely detained by the time we arrive.”
Her lips straightened in a determined line. A little crease furrowed her forehead between arched brows. “He’ll talk to me, Trent. I know he will. For Nikki.”
Trent didn’t like the idea of dragging Rees into this mess, but she was right. Young liked her. He’d made that clear when he’d opened up to her the last time they’d questioned him. Besides, if Young was any kind of a man, he would feel guilty for the grief his actions had caused Risa. And the danger he’d caused her sister. If anyone could get him to confess what he’d done, what he knew about Dryden, and where Dryden might be hiding, Rees could. “I can think of no one better for the job.”
She nodded resolutely, and he couldn’t miss the small smile that curled the corners of her lips. “We make a good team.”
“That was never in question.”
“I know.”
“And last night… I don’t know what to tell you.”
“You could start by saying it was terrific.”
“It was terrific, Rees. Better than terrific.”
“Then that’s enough.”
Trent knew it wasn’t enough. Not for Risa. Not for him. But he had no clue what they could do about it.
He piloted the car around a bend in the road. Up ahead, the water of Lake Loyal reflected the gray of the overcast sky, its surface rough from rain. The town itself huddled on the far shore, barely visible through the gloom. He made a sharp turn off the highway and onto another winding country road. “Damn. Didn’t they build any straight roads in this part of the state?”
The dark green sedan blocking the next intersection marked Young’s driveway as clearly as a neon sign. Trent pulled into the driveway and hit the brakes. Plucking his ID and badge from his suit jacket, he opened his window and flashed them at the deputy. “Special Agent Trent Burnell and Professor Madsen.”
The deputy nodded. “Special Agent Subera told me to expect you.”
“Is the suspect in custody?”
“Yes. Inside the house. Go ahead.” The deputy moved to the side and waved Trent around the parked car.
Fastening his ID to the outside of his suit jacket, Trent shifted into gear and followed the deputy’s direction. The car bumped and dipped through the shallow ditch flanking the drive. Once the tires hit gravel, he accelerated toward the small house.
A bevy of cars lined the driveway, their roofs and hoods glistening in the now-steady rain. Deputies and FBI agents swarmed house and grounds.
Trent pulled the car up to the garage. “Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.”
They climbed the steps to the front door of the raised ranch, cold rain falling steadily on their heads and shoulders. Two agents flanked the door. “They’re waiting for you in the living room,” one of the agents said.
Trent nodded, and he and Rees ducked inside.
The overcast sky was bright compared to the gloom inside the house. Trent paused for a moment to let his eyes adjust. Dark paneling covered the walls of the entry and stretched up the half-staircase to the living room. A small collection of fishing rods and tackle gathered in a pile just inside the door. A glass gun case displayed an impressive assortment of hunting rifles.
Trent and Rees circled the fishing gear and climbed the stairs to a room decorated with photos of men proudly showing off their catches and kills. A typical Wisconsin fishing cabin stood behind them, raised on blocks to avoid spring floods.
Young stood in a dim corner of the room. Hands secured behind his back in cuffs, he towered over the agents around him. Only Subera came close to matching the hulking guard in height.
Young stared past Trent and focused on Rees. A look of shame so deep it was painful to witness passed over his face, then he dropped his gaze to his feet. “I’m sorry, Professor.”
“What happened, Gordy?”
The guard shook his big head. “I didn’t mean for him to get anywhere near your sister. You got to believe I never meant for that to happen.”
“I know,” Risa said, her voice tight. “What I don’t know is why you helped him.”
Young gnashed his teeth so hard Trent could swear he heard the enamel creak with the pressure. “I didn’t help him. I would never help him.”
“You helped him escape, Gordy.”
Color bloomed on the guard’s cheeks, but he kept his mouth shut tight.
“Why did you do it?” Rees prodded. “So you wouldn’t go to prison yourself when you killed him?”
Young raised his eyes to hers. Tears glimmered on his lower lashes. His chin trembled. “Ashley didn’t deserve what he did to her. I wanted to make him pay. He should pay.”
“He was in prison, Gordy. He was paying.”
“You call that paying? Three squares a day, television, exercise equipment, books? Special favors from the guards? A beautiful girl to marry him?” Breath chugged in and out of his flared nostrils. “He deserves a little of the hell he put Ashley and those other girls through. He deserves to die.”
“Maybe so.” Rees shook her head, her eyes sad, dark as bruises. “All I know is that while he was in prison, Nikki was safe.”
“I didn’t mean for him to get loose. I didn’t mean for him to kidnap your sister. I wanted him in pain. I wanted him dead.”
“So what went wrong?”
“I let him into the garbage area, and then I waited for him at the garbage truck’s first stop after the prison.”
“And the truck never arrived,” Risa said.
“It didn’t occur to you that he might not wait for the first stop?” Trent didn’t even try to keep the disbelief from his voice.
“I’m sorry.”
A bitter taste tinged Trent’s mouth. He understood what Young had done. Understood the reasons behind it. The hatred, the regret, the failure. He understood all of it. Far too well. “Do you have any idea where Dryden might be now?”
The guard closed his eyes in defeat. “If I did, I would have killed him already.”
The chirp of a cell phone cut through the heavy thud of disappointment in Trent’s stomach. He reached for the phone clipped to his belt, but the light indicating an incoming call wasn’t flashing. “It’s not mine.”
Subera looked up from his own phone and shook his head.
The phone chirped again. This time the sound seemed clearly to be coming from Rees’s direction.
“Sorry.” She dipped her hand into her jacket pocket and retrieved her phone. Turning it on, she held it to her ear. “Hello?”