Moonlight streamed through the windows, and my eyes adjusted to the dim light of the cabin. I picked up my boots then tiptoed to the kitchen and felt around the counter for my keys. Damn it, I know I left them here. Frustrated, I flipped on the light over the sink.
“Looking for these?”
Keys clinked, and I turned. Gabriel was sitting at the far end of the dining room table, holding my key ring.
“Do you always sit in the dark?” I emptied the coffee pot. “I was just going to make a pot of coffee.”
He laughed softly. “You’re as good a liar as I am.”
I finished making the coffee then filled two cups and joined him at the table. “You’re as good a sleeper as I am.”
“Care to share where you were going?” Gabriel sipped the coffee.
“Home. I heard what Karen said earlier. She acts like we have all the time in the world. We don’t, and neither do those poor women Christian is torturing. I think the woman was my mother. I need to talk to the Dicksons.”
“Don said you were a good detective before this happened. You’re also a good person, Dakota. You can’t keep blaming yourself for what Salyer does.”
“Look who’s talking.” I met his gaze, intrigued by the changes in color as light hit the golden highlights of his hazel eyes. “I heard the guilt in your voice earlier. You can’t keep blaming yourself for my being here. I would have been here anyway, even if you hadn’t agreed to use me as bait.”
“Looks like we both have our demons to keep us awake.” Gabriel took a swig of coffee. “What do you propose we do about it?”
“We find the answers and try not to worry too much about the consequences.”
“I don’t think I can do that. Remember when you asked me if I wanted to kiss you?”
“Vaguely.” I smiled. “You said no and shook the hell out of me.”
“I lied. I did want to kiss you.” He drained his cup. “I wonder if things would have been different if I had.”
The information didn’t come as a total surprise. I’d felt his attraction several times in the past few days. A deep ache filled my heart and moved into my abdomen. I didn’t want him to die, but that choice had been taken away from us. He was going to die, and so was I. It was the only way to save Emma and give her a chance at life. I had a darkness in my mind that hadn’t been there before, and I couldn’t take the risk that one day, I would hurt her or someone else.
I smiled at him. “It wouldn’t have changed anything. Our destinies have been set since the moment Salyer came into our lives.” I rose, approached him, and placed my hands on his cheeks. “And it wouldn’t have been the same type of kiss as this one.” I placed my lips on his, waiting for his response, which came immediately. It was sweet, painful, and conveyed the need of two dying people sharing a moment of bliss. We both had tears in our eyes when I pulled away. “Go have that cigarette you’ve been wanting. I’m going to finish packing. We’ll head for Beaufort at first light.”
Gabriel walked outside, breathing in the fresh air. It would be dawn soon, and the moon would disappear and allow the sun to rise. He’d always viewed that as a ritual of life and death. Though he didn’t believe in reincarnation, he did believe in some form of life after the body died. If he didn’t believe that, he would have gone insane after Colleen’s death. As a cop, he could understand Dakota’s guilt over Salyer’s murders. He had his own load of garbage to carry around. The van was only a few feet away. Inside was the carton of cigarettes he’d purchased before he and Max had left Beaufort. There was no reason he couldn’t smoke anymore. He was going to die either way.
Moonlight glistened on the lake, casting a spellbinding beauty that created an ache inside him. He’d trusted his gut instincts all his life, and they were telling him Dakota was going to die. Salyer had set up his endgame to put her behind bars for the rest of her life, but he’d also started another game in case that one failed. She would die in more ways than physically behind bars, and he wasn’t going to let that happen. He opened the van door and pulled the carton of cigarettes from beneath the front seat then opened a pack and lit one. The pain was getting worse, and the pills were only working a short time. He needed to force Salyer’s hand—shake him up and scare him into making a deal. “We need to know where that house is.”
Dakota wouldn’t be asleep yet. Gabriel finished his cigarette and walked back to the cabin. He checked the coffee and knocked on her bedroom door. She opened the door, her eyes slightly red.
“Let’s put our heads together and come up with a plan to find these women and your daughter.”
She nodded. “Okay. But what about the consequences?”
“We’ll worry about that when the time comes.” He smiled. “Buy you a cup of coffee?”
“Let me grab a couple of notepads and pens.” She closed the door, and Gabriel refreshed their coffee. He could hear the sound of water running and knew she was washing her face to erase her tears. At least she can cry now.
The door opened, and Dakota dropped a notepad in front of him and took her seat. “I think the house is the key. You could be right, and he knocked me out and took me somewhere else, but my gut is telling me I was kept in that house for at least a while.”
“Can you remember anything about it?”
“Just the front room and bits and pieces of the hallway.”
“I know you don’t want to look, but it could help if you did. If you can describe the furniture and interior, we could get an idea of how old it is.” Gabriel wrote the numeral one on his pad and circled it. “I’ll take notes.”
She closed her eyes. “The living room is to the right when you go through the front door. There’s a picture window along the front wall. Lacy white curtains. It’s kind of creepy, as the walls are white, too, and so is the carpet.”
“What about the furniture?”
“Expensive, and I doubt anyone ever sat on it. It’s Victorian in style. A beige chenille with floral print. The coffee and end tables are carved with designs and have marble tops. There are pictures on the wall, but they’re all landscapes. No family pictures.” She opened her eyes. “I don’t see or remember anything else that stands out.”
“We can assume whoever lived there was fairly well-off.” Gabriel wrote a few more notes. “What about the hallway?”
“More white and bloody hand prints. That’s all I remember.”
“You said your father was meticulous in keeping notes. You wrote down the address. Would you have kept it?”
“I must have taken it with me. Otherwise, my father would have given Max the address where I was going.”
Gabriel stared at his notes. “If I had a note with an address, and I took it with me, I’d leave it in the vehicle. What happened to the car you were driving?”
“They found it on a farm several weeks later. It had been torched.” She rose to refill their cups. “It was the same day they found Tristan’s body. Salyer had killed him and left him near the car to make it look like I killed him too.” She sighed. “Looks like we’re back at ground zero. If so much time hadn’t passed, we could follow my cell phone like we did Day’s.”
“Would you recognize the house if you saw it?”
“I don’t know. I think I would.” She placed his coffee in front of him. “What are you thinking?”
“We know the house is in or close to Beaufort, or you wouldn’t have answered the call. We’re going back anyway. If the Dicksons won’t tell you what you need to know, then we’ll tour the streets and see if you recognize anything. It’s not a perfect plan, but it’s better than sitting here doing nothing.” He placed a hand over hers and squeezed gently. “We’ll find her. Let’s wake the others up and get packed. We’ll head for Beaufort as soon as everyone is packed.”