Page 152 of Valor

“No one is going to find you, Lani. No one is coming.”

The confidence in her tone does nothing to break my faith that I will be found. “You clearly underestimate them,” I say. “Don’t worry, you’re not the first person to do so.”

She chuckles and shakes her head. “So much confidence. What you can’t even see through your own arrogance is that you brought this on yourself.”

“You won’t win.”

She completely ignores me and continues, “I knew from the moment I met him that I couldn’t have Gibson. Not when his mind was so focused on you. I’d been planning on letting you go as soon as I knew he was over you.” She looks back at me. “Eventually, he’ll forget you. Goodnight, Lani.” She shoves the gag back into my mouth and slams the lid shut.

I scream as loud as I can against it.

The whirring of a drill fills my ears as screws are tightened into the wooden coffin. Even if the paralytic wears off, I won’t be free. As the first shovel of dirt hits the top of the box, some of it making it through the cracks and down on top of me, I close my mouth and do what I can to regulate my breathing so the oxygen doesn’t run out too quickly.

Then, I pray. Because even though I’m trapped in this box, being buried alive, I know I’m not alone. God is in the fire with me. And He will wrap me in His loving embrace until I meet him face-to-face.

GIBSON

The car isa dead end just as Deputy Brown said it would be.

“I’m sorry there’s not more,” she says softly as she shakes her head. “I truly wish there was.”

“Thanks. No one saw the car get dumped?”

She shakes her head. “Like I said, I asked around. Checked with neighbors. No one even remembers ever seeing that car in or around town.”

“Out of towner?” Lance questions.

“Maybe. But my gut says no.”

A truck pulls off to the side of the road, and Elliot and his wife Nova get out. “No luck at the hospital,” she says as they cross over toward us.

“We smelled a lot of people,” he says. “No floral perfume.”

“Floral perfume?” Deputy Brown asks.

“Lani said her abductor smelled of flowers,” I tell her.

“Oh, and you think it might be perfume?”

“Maybe,” I say. “It’s a lead we’re running with.”

Deputy Brown nods and leans back into the car.

“Could be that whoever took her was just not there,” Bradyn offers. “Given that she’s holding Lani.”

“Everyone showed up for their shifts both this morning and afternoon,” Nova says. “And with how short-staffed they are, everyone who’s on payroll was there at one point or another today.”

“Making it less likely it’s someone who works there.” I run both hands over my face in complete frustration. “No evidence here. No evidence at her apartment. What are we missing?”

“Maybe we need to start back at square one,” Deputy Brown says. “You told me during training that sometimes the best way to move forward is to go back.”

She’s right. It’s exactly what I would do if this were any other case. But it’snotany other case. It’s Lani. And right now, all I can think about is how terrified she must be. Did she see her dad get shot? Is she fearing for her own life even as she wonders what happened to his?

“You go back to her apartment. Talk to neighbors.”

“You got it, Sheriff,” she says with a nod, then heads back toward her car. As she’s passing, though, I get the faintest hint of wildflowers. It’s subtle, and only noticeable because of the breeze blowing this direction as she passed by.

Flowers.

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