Page 69 of Scorched

“Here. Your messages are coming up. You have two.” Mel shoved the phone against his ear.

“Paul! Luke is missing.” Elise’s panicked voice filled his ear. “I can’t wait for you, I have to find him. I’m sorry I’m breaking my promise to stay put, but I have to go home.”

Paul’s jaw tightened at the fear in Elise’s voice. He quickly skipped to the next message.

“Agent Fletcher, sir. This is Brandon Johnson.” The boy sniffed into the phone. “Please come help my mom. We’re at the Guadalupe River bridge on Highway 474. Please hurry.”

Paul dropped the phone into Mel’s lap and swung the truck in the direction of Highway 474 leading north out of Breuer.

“Who was it?” Mel asked.

“Brandon Johnson.” A scared little boy who might not live to see the next day. And if he did, he might not have a mother or little brother to go home to.

“You know where they are, don’t you.” Mel held onto the handle above her door, her expression grim.

“Yes.” He told her what he’d heard. “Ten minutes. It takes ten minutes to get there.”

“Make it five.” Melissa grabbed the handle above the door and held on.

Paul held the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles turned white. They had to get there in time. Elise needed him and he wouldn’t let her down. Not again.

CHAPTER 17

“Please,take me. Don’t hurt my son.” Elise begged on her knees in the mud. She’d say anything,doanything to keep her son safe.

As she pushed against the ground to rise to her feet, her hand closed around a stone the size of a baseball. She curled her fingers around it and hid it behind her back, hoping her aim was as good as it had been when she’d played softball in high school. She’d have to be good. The rock and her brain were her only weapons in the face of certain death.

“What you don’t understand,Alice, is that I’m in charge here. You don’t get a say in what happens.”

“My name is Elise.” Anger washed over Elise’s fear, pushing it aside to make room for more rage. “Who are you, anyway?”

“Your boyfriend doesn’t talk about me? He never mentioned Trevor Cain?” He snorted. “Figures.”

“What boyfriend? I’ve never heard of you, and I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“The man you slept with last night. Don’t play dumb with me. I know what’s going on.” He kicked at the boy lying on the ground. “You and these brats are all he cares about.”

“Did Paul have you sent to prison or something?”

The man laughed. “Hardly. I’m one of the good guys. I put the bad guys behind bars. Besides, he’s not smart enough to figure out who’s responsible for the deaths of those women. And I’m not going to give him the opportunity to figure it out. Helps when you don’t leave any witnesses.”

Elise’s body went cold. She gulped hard to keep from screaming. She’d suspected as much. This man wouldn’t be telling her as much as he was if he planned on letting her go. That went for Luke as well, which made it all the more imperative that she keep a level head and figure a way out of this on her own. “Paul’s smarter than you are. At least he doesn’t have to go around killing innocent women to prove he’s a man.”

The man’s mouth tightened until his jaw twitched. “Fletcher hasn’t got anything on me, except pure dumb luck. He couldn’t even figure out this case before two women died. Make that three.” He nodded at the gun in his hand. “Now, not only will he lose his golden-boy prestige, but he’ll also lose the woman he’s gotten stupid over. Seems like a fair trade to me. My career for his girlfriend. I’ll bet you even helped him solve theDakota Strangler case. What, were you and him doing it on the side while your husband killed those women?”

Anger flared inside her over his callous words. As Paul had said,Stanwas responsible for the murders in North Dakota, not her. And just like Stan,thisman was responsible for the deaths of Lauren and Mary. She couldn’t let her emotions take over. She had to use her head. How ironic, when her husband hadn’t wanted her to be smart or think for herself. Now shehadto...or die.

She sucked in a deep, calming breath. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. None of this is making any sense.” She inched closer, her worry for Luke outweighing her concern over the gun pointed at her chest. In order for the rock in her hand to be of any use, she had to get close enough to hit her mark. “What is your career, anyway? Murdering women?” Keep him talking, maybe she’d figure out some way to disarm him and get Luke away. Far away.

“No, murdering women was only my way of showing the world Mr. Perfect Agent Fletcher isn’t so great after all. While he was out playing with you, women were dying, and he could do nothing to stop it.”

“Paul will stop you.” If she didn’t stop him first.

“Sorry, but he won’t. And he won’t be able to save you or your son in time. Now won’t that just kill him?” His laughter echoed off the concrete and steel of the underside of the bridge. “And the beauty of it all is that once you’re gone, he’ll lose his job and I’ll be promotedin his place. With no one the wiser. The country will think the Dakota Strangler is still alive and killing.”

Her heartbeat faltered. She knew Cain was a murderer but hearing him promise to kill her and her son made it all the more frightening. What he might not fully appreciate was that she wasn’t going to die yet, nor was Luke, and she refused to go down without a helluva fight.

While he’d been talking, bragging about his prowess as a crafty murderer, Elise had worked her way closer until she stood within range to do some damage with her rock,ifher aim struck true.Please, please, please remember everything Coach Wright taught you about throwing a ball in high school.

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