Page 71 of Cut Off from Sky and Earth
“Go find Graham. Please, Loretta. I need to know if he got ahold of Alex Liu.”
My attorney gives me a concerned looked. “Tristan, we need to focus on these charges. They’re serious.”
“Emily’s in danger,” I insist. “And so is Alex.”
Loretta takes off her glasses, polishes them with her sleeve, and returns them to her face. Then she peers at me, owlish and alert. “Tell me again what you think happened.”
“I know what happened.” My voice is raw. “My father was a voyeur. Tate, too. But watching wasn’t enough for Tate. He … escalated.”
“To attacking women.”
“Killing them.”
“Including your wife’s college roommate years ago?”
“Cassie. Right. And a woman in Arizona. Before that, the one who started it all, was Alex Liu. But she survived.” I can see the question forming in her mind and answer it before she asks. “With no memory of the attack.”
She considers this. “And Tate’s dead now, but you didn’t kill him.”
It’s a statement, not a question. I nod in agreement anyway. “I think Wilde killed him. Tate got close to him somehow. And now Dr. Wilde is—” My throat closes around the words.
She waits.
“—finishing what Tate started,” I choke out. Then I stalk back to the table and press my palms against the cold metal surface. My gut twists. “Tate wanted a partner.”
Before I can go on, the door bursts open. Detective Dunn, trailed by Graham, rush in. Their expressions are grim.
“Did you speak to Alex?” I demand.
Graham shakes his head. “The storm knocked out her landline.”
I clench my fists.
Dunn clears his throat. “I contacted the local PD. Their 911 service received a call from Alex Liu’s mobile.”
“What did she say?”
“There was nobody on the line when the call came through. The operator tried calling back, but there’s no answer. Either she lost her signal or her phone died.”
“Or she died. Do something.”
I hear the pleading tone in my voice and I hate it. I hate being helpless, trapped here hundreds of miles away while Emily’s in danger. I can’t rescue her. The only thing I can do is convince the authorities to take me seriously. A bleak comparison springs to mind: I’m like the characters in her manuscript—trapped in a windowless room, lacking agency.
“First responders are on their way, Tristan,” Graham tells me levelly.
“How long until someone gets there?”
“Emergency vehicles are ten minutes out.” Dunn hesitates. “But it could be longer. The mountain roads are slick.”
My stomach lurches. “That might be too late.”
“Emily’s a smart woman,” Loretta says. “If she and this Alex woman already called 911, they know something’s wrong.”
“Wilde’s been her therapist for years. He knows how she thinks. He’ll be able to anticipate her every move—if she even realizes she can’t trust him, which isn’t guaranteed.”
Loretta pauses, lets this sink in. Then she counters, “If what you say is true, Alex Liu is a survivor. Emily isn’t alone.”
Alex was lucky. And everybody’s luck runs out sooner or later.
