Sampson rubbed his face again. “Gabe?”
“It’s your call, Chief. If we go in and he kills her, we’re to blame. If we wait and he kills her, we’re to blame. We’re going to have to live with the knowledge of one or the other.”
“Hell of a choice.” Sampson pursed his lips, his gaze coming to rest on me. “You know the man better than anybody. What do you want to do?”
“Once he watches the news, he’ll head for Savannah, if he isn’t already here. He won’t be able to resist the challenge of putting an end to someone mocking his work. If we leave soon, we can be in Charleston before dark. Get our bearings and scope things out.”
“And if he’s here, we can go in, rescue the girls, and wait for him to come back.” Gabriel’s voice was excited.
It did sound like a good plan, and I wished it were that simple. “Salyer eluded us for months. We also suspected he had an accomplice. Even if he’s here, he’ll have the place booby-trapped. Motion and light sensors will activate timers, and by the time we reach where the women are being held, the whole place will blow up.”
“So what’s the use?” Sampson slammed his hand on the desk. “Every angle winds up with the hostages killed. If we can’t save them, then we’re just wasting time when we could be looking for the killer of the girl we did find.”
“That’s why I said scope it out. He has to have a generator on the property somewhere to feed electricity to the areas he’s using. The sensors could be battery operated, but I doubt it if he’s been using the same place for the last two years. If we find the generator and cut the power, we might have a chance to save them.”
“Still too risky.” Sampson shook his head. “I can’t condone that kind of risk.”
Standing, I said, “I understand you can’t condone it for Detective Browne or any of your men.” I walked toward the door. “I don’t work for you, and I’m going to do it anyway, with or without your permission.”
“That didn’t work out very well.” Gabriel flopped into the armchair Dakota had just vacated.
“Want me to arrest her? I can hold her seventy-two hours without a good reason or longer if I charge her with interfering with an ongoing murder investigation.”
Gabriel placed his elbows on his knees and lowered his head to his hands. “Damn it, Don, this whole thing has turned into a mess.” Dakota wanted to keep the information about her daughter a secret, but secrets were what had created most of their problems to begin with. “There’s a few things I haven’t told you.”
“Can’t say that’s a surprise.”
“Dakota believes she gave birth while in captivity. Salyer has her daughter. I can’t let her go alone, and I can’t in good conscience stop her.” He raised his head. “Do you want my badge?”
Don picked up a pencil and subconsciously tapped it on the desk. “She means that much to you?”
Gabriel snorted. “I quit smoking yesterday. The doctor said I had to quit for three months before they’d even consider surgery. It’s supposed to increase my chances of recovery or survival. There’s not really much of a chance of recovery, but it could add a few months to my survival.”
Don dialed a phone number. “Bring Max Winchester into my office, and don’t take no for an answer. If you have to, arrest him.”
“What are you doing?”
Smiling, Don said, “If she means that much to you, then she means that much to me. We’re gonna find a way to do this that protects you both. And if she has a child, we’re going to help find her.”
“Before Max comes in, there’s something else I have to tell you.” Gabriel drew in a deep breath and let it whoosh out, his shoulders slumping. “Karen thinks Dakota’s suffering from DID. I’ve seen the changes. We don’t really know what part of her memories are real. There may not be a child, but one thing I know for sure—the closer we get to Salyer, the worse she’s going to get.”
A sharp knock came at the door before it opened and Max Winchester was pushed inside. “What is this, Gabriel? Another betrayal?”
Don nodded at the officer and waited until the door closed. “This isn’t Gabe’s idea, Mr. Winchester. It’s mine. Either you can help us, or I’ll have you and Miss Dale locked up until we locate and deal with Christian Salyer.” He rose and walked around the desk. “What’s it gonna be?”
Max glared at Gabriel then back at Don. “You do that, and you might as well kill her.”
“We don’t, and she’s going to get herself killed. We’re trying to protect her and bring down Christian Salyer. And if she really does have a missing child, we need to find her before Salyer kills her too.” Don stuck out his hand. “We can’t do that without your help. Have we got a deal?”
Max stared at the hand. “She’s gonna hate me.”
Don nodded. “She’ll probably hate all of us for a while, but at least she’ll be alive.”
Max gripped the hand. “Tell me what you want me to do.”
15
“Do you know how beautiful you are when you sleep?” Christian slid the knife below my right eye. “Should I destroy that beauty, Dakota? Leave you scarred for all the world to mock?”
I didn’t answer him. He didn’t want an answer.
“She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; and all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes.” The knife traveled down my cheek and slid beneath my chin. “Lord Byron. He knew what the world has never accepted. A woman’s beauty isn’t on the outside. It shines from the inside. I’m going to make you ugly on the inside, Dakota. So ugly that everyone who looks at you will turn away in disgust.”
Not wanting to think about what was happening in the chief’s office, I studied the photos of the naval base as Calvin ran through them on the screen. “How many buildings in total are there?”
“Over thirty. I don’t see a good surveillance spot or a way to approach without being seen.” Calvin pointed at the interior pictures. “This is the most disturbing. They’re all falling in, and I didn’t see any notes of a basement in any of them.” The area behind his freckles flushed a delicate pink. “I know I’m just a clerk, ma’am, but I don’t think this is what you’re looking for.”
“I agree.” I chewed on my bottom lip. We’d underestimated Christian before, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’d led us on a wild-goose chase. “The phone pings, can you trace them back to see if Day’s phone ever goes near the area where Angelina’s body was found?”
Calvin went back to the sheets he’d printed, following the path from the first ping in Charleston. “Damn. We should have finished this. The phone never leaves Charleston.”
I’m too close to this case. I studied Calvin. He was young, but he was also smart, and his mind worked fast. “How much do you know about this case, Calvin?”
“Mostly what Gabriel told me. You suspect Christian Salyer is still alive, but the murders so far have been copycat killers.”
I wasn’t the only one too close to the case. So were Gabriel and Max. The hatred we felt was blinding us. “If you were searching for Salyer, where would you look?”
“I guess I’d go back to the beginning, ma’am. Look at all his murders, his background, and where he grew up. Map out everything I could find about him and his victims. The answer is usually in there somewhere.”