“Kelsey’s going to try and talk her into staying in Lusty,” Matthew said. “She’s going to offer her a job. We’ll get her a place to live, too. We’ll all take care of her from now on.”
Adam inhaled deeply, then let it out. “Good. Your instincts were right about Ginny. I should have listened to you. I’m sorry.”
“You did listen. That’s why you were at the diner, out of uniform.”
The phone rang and Matthew answered it. “Lusty Sheriff’s Department. Hi, Burgess. Any luck with those tapes? Oh yeah? Great. I don’t suppose you got the license plate?” Matthew listened for a moment then frowned. “Yeah, a bit too much to hope for. Still, I’m glad we’ve got the guy going and coming. Send it to my e-mail. Thanks.”
He hung up the phone and looked over at Adam.
“That was Burgess with the Waco P. D. They’ve finished scanning the surveillance tapes taken at the mall the day Kelsey was attacked. They show the Taurus arriving at the mall, a female driver getting out, and just a few minutes later, a man getting out of a silver Prius and boosting the Taurus. No clear image of the man and none of the Prius’ plates at that point. And then, several hours later, they show our perp getting out of the Taurus where he dumped it at the commercial unloading area. This one gives us a clear shot of him. Burgess is sending the footage as an e-mail attachment.”
“Good. Maybe I can take my frustration out on that s.o.b. when we catch him.”
The door to the office burst open, and Michelle rushed in. Nearly hysterical, she grabbed Matthew by his shirt. “Oh, God. Oh, God. He has her. Do something. He has her!”
* * * *
“Who are you? What do you want?” Kelsey had never been so terrified. The sight of the gun had momentarily overwhelmed everything and she’d gotten into his car, unable to do anything else.
Slowly, Kelsey’s mind cleared. The man drove and kept the gun pointed at her as he followed the route out of town, the route that would take them past where he’d rammed her off the road last Sunday.
“You can call me Con. You really don’t know, do you? That’s a shame. I couldn’t take the chance that you’d remember me. You might have. Yeah, you probably would have as soon as my mug started getting flashed all over television screens across the state.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
“I was there that day. The day Jimmy whacked your old man and your kid. He was just supposed to rush in, grab the cash, and get out. Clean and fast. Nobody was supposed to die. Little prick. It wasn’t my fault he was all hopped up on drugs. I was glad when I heard he’d been killed by the cops resisting arrest. No trial and no dropping a dime on me.”
Kelsey looked at the man, the one Michelle had dubbed Mr. Hottie. He looked different without that extra weight he’d been carrying. She studied him but didn’t find anything else familiar about him.
Apparently, he didn’t care for her scrutiny. He waved his gun at her and screamed, “You sat in your fucking car and stared right at me, bitch. Don’t tell me you didn’t see me!”
But she hadn’t. A dam broke in her mind, and images came flooding back.
They’d fought that morning. Kelsey had found a note in one of Philip’s pockets the week before, a woman’s name and a phone number. She’d believed him when he’d told her it was a business acquaintance, just someone he had to call to set up a meeting with. Except the doubts had been there, fed by small clues and changes in his behavior, and the doubts wouldn’t go away. He’d come home late the night before, very late, and while she’d waited for him, while she’d worried that maybe he’d been in an accident, she’d used her computer to check out the name and the number.
Doing a reverse phone number search, she’d learned the number connected not to a business address, but a private one. Marissa Lane. Paying the fee the website charged for extra information, she discovered his business contact worked as a waitress at a bar near his office.
So they’d fought, and he’d told her the truth. And he’d excused his behavior by saying it had only happened a couple of times. That it was only physical. That it never would have happened in the first place if Kelsey would just try to be a little sexier. That it was all Kelsey’s fault he wasn’t fulfilled as a man.
They were expected at a friend’s for the day. She didn’t want to go, but Philip insisted they keep their word and go. When he stopped at the convenience store, she’d been so mad, she could barely see straight. She’d been so mad, she’d been thinking about asking for a divorce. Until a man’s shout had pulled her out of fury and gunshots had thrown her into terror and grief.