Unease pricked Trent’s skin like a thousand tiny needles.
Rees swallowed hard. Color drained from her face. “Nikki? Is that you?”
Risa
Risa’s pulse thundered in her ears. She clutched the phone tighter, as if it were Nikki herself and if Risa were to let go, she’d lose her sister forever. She lifted her eyes to Trent’s.
He made a few gestures to Special Agent Subera, and then moved to her side. Putting an arm around her shoulder, he pulled her close and pressed his head next to the phone.
She angled it away from her ear so he could hear. “Where are you, Nik? Tell me. I’ll come and get you.”
A sob, followed by another, sounding some distance from the phone. “I have to… He’s coming for you, Risa.”
“Where are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did you call 911? They can locate—”
“No. No. I had to call you. I had to tell you I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? Nikki, you need help. You need—”
“I need to save you. He wants you, Risa. He’s after you.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is he in the house with you?”
“I… I don’t know. He didn’t know I could reach the phone.”
Horrible images of what Dryden would do if he found Nikki on the phone hovered at the edge of Risa’s mind. “Are you sure he won’t walk in on you?”
“I don’t care.”
“Can you get out of there, Nikki? Can you run?”
“No. No.”
“Can you try? Reach a neighbor’s house?”
“No neighbors.”
“Okay, a highway? Someplace where you can get help?”
Her breath came hard over the phone. “I’m… I can’t get away. I can’t. I’m tied, and I reached the phone, but it’s still too tight… I can’t…”
“Slow down, Nikki…”
“I could have gotten away before, but… but I didn’t. I couldn’t. I knew he would… hurt me. Hunt me down. That’s what he likes to do. That’s what he did to—Oh, Risa.” Her voice erupted in anguish. Sobs broke through the static. “I screwed up.”
“It’s okay, Nik.”
“I thought he loved me. He told me he loved me.”
The agony in her sister’s voice ripped her heart. Poor Nikki. Just out of high school, and she’d been through so much. Guilt throbbed in Risa’s chest. “I know, Nik. I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t—”
“It wasn’t your fault, Risa.”
“I should have stayed. When we were kids.”
Nikki was quiet so long, Risa wondered if the call had disconnected.
“Nikki?”
“I wanted to hurt you, Risa.” Nikki’s voice faltered. “I wanted Eddie to love me so badly, and I was so scared, but I also wanted to hurt you.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s not.”
“We’ll make it okay. In time. But first, you have to tell me where you are.” Risa glanced at Trent, willing Subera to have located the phone call.
Trent shook his head.
“It was all about you, Risa. Eddie never loved me. You were right. It was always about you.”
“Where are you? Do you know?”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Nikki. Tell me where you are.”
“Promise you won’t blame yourself. No matter what happens.”
No matter what happens. Risa closed her eyes, trying to beat down the images that phrase evoked. “I promise. Now where are you?”
“I can’t tell you. You’ll come after me. That’s just what Eddie wants.”
“Nikki, please.”
“Give me the phone.” Trent held out his hand.
Risa hesitated. Trent would know what to do. Trent could help. But for a second, she felt that if she let go of the phone, she’d never hear from her sister again.
“Is that Trent?” Nikki said. “Put him on.”
“You’ll tell him where you are?”
“Just put him on the phone. And Risa?”
“What, Nik?”
“I love you.”
Risa’s throat tightened, and tears stung her eyes. “I love you, too, Nik.” Swallowing hard, she handed the phone to Trent.
“Nikki? Where are you?” Trent’s steel-gray eyes drilled into Risa, penetrating, assessing, as if he knew how much turning Nikki over to him cost her.
“Okay, okay. What if I take Risa to the Lake Loyal police station? She’ll be safe there. She won’t come after you.”
“Trent.” Risa reached for the phone.
He twisted away, blocking her with his shoulder. “I promise. It will just be me, the FBI and the sheriff’s department. Now, what can you tell me about the house?”
Nikki
Nikki told Trent all about the cheery farmhouse, the view of Lake Loyal in the distance through the front windows, the wooded bluff to the northeast. Was there a barn? No. Was there a house nearby? No. She told him about the elderly couple and what details she remembered of the drive there from the musty little river cabin. She told them the name of the highway, County PF… or maybe it was FP… or possibly something else entirely.
Trent told her they had a lead on where she was. He promised he would find her. He promised to keep Risa away, keep her safe.
Nikki could count on Trent, she knew. He was a good man. He loved her sister. He had been the one to catch Eddie the first time.
And yet, when Nikki heard the low battery warning on her phone and let her throbbing head fall back against the mattress, she had the chilling sense that she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life.
Trent
Trent pulled the car in front of the police station’s front door and stopped. He stared straight out the windshield, careful not to let his eyes stray to Rees sitting beside him in the passenger seat.
Jaw clamped shut and arms folded across her chest, she sat stone still.
“Schneider is waiting for you.”
Risa didn’t answer. She also didn’t move.
“Subera and the county SWAT team are going to be waiting for me.”
“Damn you, Trent. I need to be there.”
“No, you really don’t. Even Nikki sees that.”
“I need to be there for her. Who knows what she’s been through. She’s bound to be half out of her mind.”
“I’ll take care of Nikki. And I’m going to take care of you, too.”
“By shutting me away where I can’t get hurt.”
“Exactly.”
“I never should have told you about what Dryden said.”
“About you not being willing to sacrifice yourself for your sister?”
“Now you think I’m going to go out of my way to prove him wrong.”
“Are you?”
“Of course not. So why are you trying to keep me from going with you?”
“To keep you safe.”
“I’ll be surrounded by law enforcement. How much safer could I get?”
She might have a point, if that was what was really worrying him. But Trent was focused on Nikki, on the strong possibility they wouldn’t find her alive. “I don’t want you there, Risa.”
“And that’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? You don’t want me with you. Even after all that’s happened.”
“I want you with me always. It’s just not possible. I need to know you’re safe. Nikki does, too.”
“Away from you.”
“Yes.”
“So last night didn’t change anything?”
“Last night was a fantasy. Bullets are reality.”
“And this morning with the files, with questioning Gordy... It was all just to keep me quiet?”