Page 31 of Twin Threats In Austin
Weapon leading the way, Camden pushed farther inside toward the door leading to what had to be the master bedroom.
The scene inside was similar. Brown carpet. Brown curtains. Brown everything. Nothing out of place.
The window, however, was still open and the curtains were blowing in the wind.
Rochelle bit back the same curse Camden said out loud as they cleared the room before running to the opened window. There was no sign of Kage. After quickly clearing the whole apartment to make one-hundred-percent certain he wasn’t hiding or trying to pull one over on them, they exited the window and split up.
There was a neighborhood with chain-link fences backing up to the apartment complex. At the end of the alley Rochelle took, there was a strip shopping center. She remembered there being a clothing recycling store, phone repair, and furniture consignment. Spin Cycle was in the opposite direction, the direction Camden had taken. Would Kage go to the Laundromat? Why?
To destroy evidence if there were cameras. It made logical sense.
The fear in his eyes earlier wasn’t as simple. There’d been real fear, like he was suddenly aware of the gravity of the situation and expected to be accused of kidnapping and murder. Now he knew someone had been abducted from the place where he did his laundry.
He’d denied being responsible. Rochelle wanted to believe him. Otherwise, he was one helluva good actor.
She continued jogging, listening for the roar of an engine in case he had a motorcycle stashed somewhere, or the loud barking of dogs that would signal a direction change.
The dogs started barking in both directions, which meant they might not be too far behind Kage.
Running didn’t make him look innocent. Dammit. Had her instincts been dead wrong? She’d hoped to be able to bring himinto the Laundromat. Rochelle picked up the pace to a light run. She didn’t want to go full out until she saw him. Saving some of her energy had paid off when she’d found herself in similar situations in the past.
If they could pin the kidnappings on him, what would happen to the victims while he sat in jail? Would they die of starvation? Were they bound somewhere? Locked in a shelter?
Frustration had her pushing her legs a little harder, a little faster, to the point that her thighs started burning. She couldn’t let these women die. Their blood would be on Rochelle’s hands. Just like when she wasn’t there for Victoria.
Clamping her eyes shut to block out the images of her helpless friend and now, these ladies, Rochelle almost tripped over a large rock in the alley. Dammit.
With a few deep breaths, she managed to push on. Her foot was going to hurt like the dickens, and she would most likely lose a toenail or two. There wasn’t time to worry about small injuries even though she had to hop a few times due to the pain. At least she’d been injured on her left foot instead of her dominant side.
There was no sign of Kage in the alley. Had he outsmarted them by hiding in shrubbery near his apartment? He would know the area better than either of them. A skilled criminal would definitely map the area around his or her home for situations like these, looking for an escape route.
Had they been outsmarted by Kage?
Why did her gut say no?
Kage could be running away so he could search for the doppelgänger he swore was at work. This fact was all the more reason she wanted to talk to the man. Did he have any idea who this other person could be?
Rochelle slowed her pace as she approached the strip mall. A blast of cold air made her wish she’d worn a heavier jacket.
A dog barked to her right as something jumped out from behind the building on her left.
She gasped, pivoted, and took aim at the moving object. “Police. Freeze.”
Lungs burning,thighs on fire, Camden realized he’d taken off in the wrong direction. After turning around, he sprinted. Could he catch up in time? Had Rochelle already caught Kage?
In Camden’s career, he’d faced plenty of felons with nothing to lose. It wasn’t good and he sure as hell didn’t like Rochelle being in that position if she’d caught up to Kage.
Pushing himself to run faster, he finally caught up to Rochelle, who was in the middle of a serious conversation with a pair of tween-looking boys. As he located them, he realized she was giving them a dressing-down over startling a police officer. He had no idea what had just gone down, but decided the boys weren’t likely to make the same mistake in the future after Rochelle finished with them.
Once she excused them, they apologized and took off for what he assumed would be home.
“They could have been shot,” she said, turning to Camden with a panicked look on her face. “And they distracted me from continuing, so I lost Kage. Though, to be fair, I’m not sure I really had him in the first place.”
“He knows this area better than we do,” Camden said, trying to offer some reassurance. He felt her frustration though. “We didn’t have a fair chance. Not once he got a head start.”
“I was beginning to be convinced of his innocence until he pulled a Houdini.”
“Same here,” Camden said. “I did wonder if he was convinced that we were about to arrest him, so he took off to find this doppelgänger himself.”
