Page 34 of Provoke You

She nodded. The pained expression on her face made my chest hurt. “We gotta go. No bad guys for us today, I guess. No one’s after me. I think Old Ben just freaked out when two muscled marines showed up looking for him. The three of you together are kind of scary.”

I exhaled. Could it be that my feelings for Ela were clouding my judgment? Maybe I wanted her to be in danger so I’d have a reason to stick around. Maybe it was time I let go of my conspiracy theories and left her alone. This thing with Ela could not end well.

With diffident steps, Mrs. Turner walked out onto the deck carrying a tray with the tea and scones she’d promised.

“Mrs. Turner, I’m sorry to do this to you, but we have to go. It has been so great to see you, though.”

“Oh dear, so soon?”

“I’m afraid so. Please give my regards to Old Ben. When you see him.”

“Of course, dear. He’ll be glad to know you still remember him.”

Ela glanced at her watch. “Mrs. Turner, I hate to impose on you, but do you mind if I use your powder room.”

“Not at all. It’s just through there.” She pointed toward the steps that lead to the basement on the other side of the patio french doors.

Before Ela left my side, she whispered in my ear. “Do you ever include potty breaks into your elaborate plans?”

Without Ela to carry the conversation, Mrs. Turner and I sat in awkward silence. She seemed sweet, and I wondered if maybe Ben never told her he was still in town. “Beautiful home you got here.”

“I’m just the housekeeper, but thank you.” She lowered her gaze, rubbing her inside wrist as her eyes shifted toward the stairs.

“Mrs. Turner, is there something you want to tell me?”

She cleared her throat, shaking her head a few times. A loud thud came from inside the house, and her eyes went wide. Hers was a guilty look if I ever saw one. When I cocked my head to meet her gaze, she smiled as if she hadn’t heard the shuffling and whimpers coming from downstairs. I should have gone with my initial assessment of her. She was lying.

I darted straight for the powder room downstairs. I wanted to stay and ask more questions, but something wasn’t right. All the rooms through there were empty. I took deep breaths to control my heart rate, ran up the stairs, and out the front door to wave at Chase. He shook his head to signal he hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary. He was as surprised as I was when he climbed out of the car.

“You’re not alone?” I shot to my feet. “Is Ben here?” I asked Mrs. Turner when I returned to the foyer.

“No. He left weeks ago.”

“Ela’s gone. Who the hell was here?”

“I’m so sorry. They were here when Ela called. They said if I didn’t stay quiet, Ben would pay the consequences. What more do they want with him? He left. Just like they wanted.”

“They were here before?”

She nodded. “Two men. One young, blond hair. The other man is a bit older. He had a military way about him. Like you. They went out through the basement when you got here. There’s a door that leads to the beach.”

Shit. Whoever had taken Ela had had training. “Are there any back roads out of here?”

“Through the woods. A mile down.” She covered her mouth, blinking away tears. “I promise, if I’d known they were planning to take her, I would’ve said something. Poor child.”

“We’ll get her back.” I headed downstairs and called Chase.

“Yeah.” He answered on the first ring.

“Couple of guys got Ela.”

“Shit.” He hung up.

I raced the rest of the way down and out the back door. Why didn’t she text, or call, anything? ElFor Ela’s sake, I hoped her stepdad wasn’t behind any of this. Though it was getting harder and harder to pretend he wasn’t involved. Who else would know that she would be stubborn enough to make it to Ben’s lake house?

I followed two sets of footprints from the back door all the way to the water’s edge, where I found the phone I’d given Ela in the car. They’d dragged a kayak behind them. Not a single sign of struggle. Had they drugged her or knocked her out? Why wouldn’t they head for the woods? It would have made for an easier getaway.

And then it hit me. Whoever was behind these Ela attacks, they weren’t trying to send her a message, scare her off to get her out of the way. They wanted her dead. Why else head straight for the lake on a nonmotorized boat?

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