She tried the window. Nailed shut. She pounded on the glass. She’d have to break it to escape.
She looked around the room for a weapon, for anything she could use to defend herself or break this window. There was nothing. While at first it looked just like her room, it was a fake.
The drawers didn’t open on the dresser. The closet was empty. Could she break the mirror and use the glass as a weapon? It wasn’t thick enough; she wouldn’t be able to wield the shards in her hands with enough force to hurt someone.
The door opened.
She swung around. A wave of relief rushed over her. She ran to Dave’s partner and hugged him.
“Phil! Thank God. What happened? Where am I?”
He hugged her back, but he wasn’t talking. She slowly pulled away.
“What’s going on?” she asked, her voice cracking. She swallowed and took a step back. Her temporary relief was replaced by fear.
He stepped forward. “I’m sorry, Claire, but it’s over.”
She kept backing up until she was against the wall. He followed.
Phil put his hands on her shoulders, touched the ends of her hair. “Fate brought us together fifteen years ago, but it’s time to move on.”
Claire had no idea what Phil was talking about, what drugs he was on, why he was so creepy-
Fate brought us together fifteen years ago. .
— but she knew she had to get out of here now.
She kneed him hard in the groin. Her lack of strength from whatever drugs she’d been fed prevented her from causing him debilitating pain, but she had the element of surprise on her side.
Hands clasped, she brought her arms up between them and hit him dead-on in the face as he stumbled back from the blow to his balls. Now she had the room and momentum to kick him in the stomach. She pivoted, kicked him again, and he staggered against the bed.
It all took only seconds, and then she was out the door. Running.
She heard the echo of the gunshot at the same time her calf burned in pain. She fell to her knees and tried to crawl.
Phil pulled her up by her hair. His eyes were narrow, furious. His face full of hate and rage. This couldn’t be the Phil she’d gone to Kings games with, who had taught her to shoot at the police range with Dave and Eric. This couldn’t be. .
“What happened to Bill and Dave? The others? What did you do to them?”
“They’ll be waking up soon enough, but they’ll never find us. At least not until they find your grave.”
She screamed at the top of her lungs. Phil didn’t show any reaction. “No one can hear you, Claire. Not where we are. I’m sorry it has to end like this, but I have no choice.” He pulled handcuffs from his rear pocket and cuffed one of her wrists. “I’ll bandage your leg. I don’t want you to bleed to death.”
“Why not? You plan to kill me, right? Why? What did I ever do to you?” She tried to sound tough, but she was terrified. She didn’t see a way out. She was injured and Phil was insane.
He didn’t answer her question, instead grabbing her under the arms and dragging her into another bedroom. A larger room, all white and too clean. A large-screen television was on the wall. On the screen was a still shot of her from years ago. In her old bedroom at Bill’s house, a shot from above.
A camera in the ceiling.
She whimpered, then swallowed her fear. She couldn’t let him know how scared she was. But she couldn’t stop her body from shaking violently.
Focus, Claire! You have to get out of here. Dave will find you. Someone will find you. Get to a road, get anywhere away from this fucking lunatic!
Phil secured the handcuff to a post on the bed. She pulled, but it was locked tight.
“Don’t do that, or it’ll get tighter. You should know that.”
“Bastard! Let me go.”
Her eyes went from him to the picture of her on the television screen. It wasn’t a photograph. It was a still shot from a tape.
He leaned over her and whispered in her ear, “I’ve been watching you for a long time.” He pressed a button on a remote on the nightstand and the image moved.
He’d had a video camera on her. He’d taped her. Oh God, how long? He’d been watching her, filming her. . On the screen she was undressing, oblivious that she was being recorded.
“You were so beautiful,” Phil murmured as her bra came off. She tossed it in the laundry and pulled on a T-shirt that barely covered her butt.
Claire’s face reddened; she was hot and embarrassed and angry.
But more than the anger, cold terror froze her body.
“I’ll get the first aid kit.” Phil left her restrained on the bed watching her younger self reading a book on her bed.
He was going to kill her. And Claire had no idea how she was going to stop him.
FORTY-ONE
Dave Kamanski was the first to regain consciousness.
Mitch insinuated himself between two paramedics working on the younger Kamanski. “Dave,” he said. “Dave, come on, Claire needs your help.”
Dave blinked, his eyes squeezing shut at the light. “Wh-what?” he asked, his mouth thick. He looked around at Claire’s house.
“Who took Claire? Dave, come on, man, I’m counting on you. Who has Claire?”
“Claire?”
A paramedic said, “Sir, you’ll have to-”
“This is a matter of life or death,” Mitch said without budging. “Dave, snap out of it.”
“Where’s Claire?” Dave tried to sit up. He held his head.
“Sir, lie down-”
Mitch interrupted the medic. “Dave, someone kidnapped Claire. Did you get a good look at him? How were you all knocked out?”
Hans said from across the room, “Warren is the only victim with a visible injury.”
“Then how-” Mitch paused. “Poison?”
Grant came in from the kitchen. “There’s a lot of food spread out on the table. We’re bagging it for testing.”
“Poison?” Dave squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them wide and looked around. They were still at Claire’s house. “We all ate the same food. From Claire’s favorite Italian place, just up the street.”
“Who? Did you pick up the food?”
“Phil and Eric got it.”
“Phil?” Mitch questioned. “There’re only four of you here-you, your father, Agent Warren, and someone with an ID and badge named Eric Jordan.”
“Phil-what happened to Phil?”
“That’s a damn good question,” Mitch said, jumping up. He remembered Claire talking about Phil Palmer being Dave’s partner and closest friend. He dialed Meg. “I need everything on Philip Palmer. He’s a cop with Sac PD. Start with his address.”
“I can tell you that,” Dave said, mouth tight. “He lives in South Land Park on Robertson. I’m going with you.”
He tried to stand, then sat down heavily.
“I’ll keep you informed,” Mitch promised Dave and left.
Meg had told him to stand down until backup arrived, but if Phil Palmer had Claire inside, there was no way in hell that Mitch was going to give him one more minute alone with her.
He had Grant and Hans with him outside Phil Palmer’s small post-WWII bungalow in an older, well-maintained Sacramento neighborhood. Grant motioned he would go around back, and held up two fingers.
Mitch painstakingly counted to one hundred and twenty to give Grant enough time to get into place.
Hans had his back, and Mitch knocked on the door.
No answer. Total silence inside.
He knocked again. “Officer Palmer?” he said, forcing his voice to be calm. “There’s been an attack on your partner and we’re concerned about your safety.”
No answer, total silence.
No one was there.
Mitch pounded on the door. “Palmer! This is the FBI! Open up!”
Moments later, gun drawn, Mitch kicked the door twice and it swung in.
Grant came in from the rear entrance. They quickly searched the residence.