Page 39 of Once Marked
“Let’s get going then,” Beeler ordered, as he headed for the door.
As Riley and Ann Marie turned to leave, Grace stood up abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor.“I wish I could come with you.I have an appointment to show another property, but I suppose I can cancel—”
“Ms.Mitchell, I think it’s best if you keep that appointment,” Riley told her.“Try to maintain as much normalcy in your life as possible.It’s important for your well-being.”
Grace’s eyes searched Riley’s, brimming with an uncertainty that made her look vulnerable, a stark departure from the composed realtor she had been hours before.Grace hesitated, the internal conflict clear on her face, then slowly her posture yielded to resignation.She nodded, the faintest tremor in her voice as she replied, “You’re right, of course.Thank you, Agent Paige.Please, find her.”
Riley gave a single nod, a silent promise before she, Ann Marie, and Sheriff Beeler moved swiftly out the door,
As the trio made their way to Sheriff Beeler’s cruiser, the sky above Darnley was beginning to darken, almost as if mirroring their concerns.They piled in swiftly, the sheriff’s hand steady on the wheel as they pulled away, the flashing lights casting a blue pallor over the quiet streets.
The cruiser soon slowed to a halt before the handsome beachfront house surrounded by a wooden deck, with the grandeur of the ocean stretching beyond it.Riley led the way up the stairs and unlocked the front door.
As they entered, Sheriff Beeler’s hand rested on his gun belt—a subtle gesture, but it spoke volumes of his readiness to confront whatever they might find.There seemed to be a stillness in the air over the beachfront property as Riley moved through the rooms, her senses on high alert.The ocean breeze that slipped through open windows carried the salty tang of the sea and the undercurrent of danger.
It didn’t take long to see that something had gone wrong here.A side table near the doors on the ocean side leaned precariously, as if recoiling from an unseen force, and the vase that once adorned it lay shattered, its floral occupants strewn about like colorful casualties.Water bloomed across the floorboards, dark and ominous.
“There was a struggle,” Ann Marie murmured.She turned on a light so they could see things more clearly.
“Not much of a fight though,” Beeler observed.“It ended quickly.Just looks like someone might have been dragged through here.Maybe a dead body.”
“Or just unconscious,” Ann Marie said, looking into a bathroom.“At least there’s no sign that anyone might have been drowned in there.That bathroom is spotless.”
“You’re right,” Riley said.“There’s no sign that whoever took her spent much time here.They must have had a safer place in mind.”
“Whoever did this knew what they were doing.Quick, efficient,” Sheriff Beeler muttered, surveying the disarray with an experienced eye.
Riley nodded silently, piecing together the scene before her.The isolation of the house lent itself to secrecy, while its location close to a road offered a swift escape route—the perfect spot for a calculated ambush.She could almost hear the silent footsteps of the perpetrator, feel the rush of adrenaline at the prospect of the hunt.It was a pattern she’d come to recognize, one that now had the life of Rachel Brennan hanging in the balance.
As Riley’s gaze lingered on the displacement of the furniture, her mind raced, fitting the scattered pieces of this grim puzzle into place.The methodical nature of the crime suggested someone who reveled in control, who took perverse pleasure in the fear they sowed.
Her training at the BAU and her years in the field had taught her to think like these predators, to anticipate their moves.Her own special skills had taught her to experience their thoughts and actions more intimately.But all she was getting here now was a vague sense of brief activity, a flash of panic, nothing more.
The three of them moved deeper into the house and made a quick check of the upstairs bedrooms and baths, the air thick with unanswered questions.
“This place is immaculate,” Ann Marie observed.“Except for that disturbed area, it could be ready for someone to move in.”
“Well, it’s going to be closed off now,” Beeler declared.“We’ll want a forensics team to go over everything more carefully just in case.No tourists need to be trampling around here.”
He stepped aside and made a phone call, summoning officers with yellow tape to seal off the house from any prospective vacationers or curious townspeople.
Riley stood aside, hoping for a moment of quiet that might give her a glimpse into what had taken place here earlier, when the sudden vibration of her phone jolted her back to the present.
When she saw the caller ID, a current of anticipation charged through her veins.With a steady hand, she silenced the device’s insistent buzzing and gestured to Beeler and Ann Marie for quiet.
Her finger hovered over the answer button, hoping she might get some answers in this phone call from ‘Harry Winters.’
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Riley answered her phone: “Thank you for returning my call, Mr.Winters.”
Harry Winters’ voice crackled through the speakerphone: “Agent Paige, I got your message.You said it was urgent.What’s this about?”
“I’m an FBI Special Agent assigned to a case in Darnley, North Carolina.And I’m here with Sheriff Smitty Beeler and my partner, Special Agent Ann Marie Esmer.We’re working on a case that may have potential connections to your late wife, Elaine.”
A long pause followed her words.
“Elaine?”Winters’s voice wavered, a note of bewilderment.“I don’t see how...”
