Page 45 of Sensual Nights

"How do you know?"

"He told me."

"Well, I'm going to see about getting it back and if you're lying, you're going to pay for it."

Her stomach rolled. What did that mean? Scenarios ran through her head. None of them seemed good. For her at least. It was better not to worry about it.

A finger slid down her bare arm, from her shoulder to her wrist. Slowly sliding the length of her arm. Then his finger traced her collarbone slowly, and her breathing hitched and came in shallow spurts. She closed her eyes. She couldn't see anything anyway. Praying he wouldn't do anything awful, she tried pushing the thoughts from her head as they threatened to plant themselves in her mind. His finger then slid across her forehead and down her temple. "You're beautiful."

Her stomach tossed and she thought she'd vomit her casserole up. "Can I have some water?"

He removed his hand from her face and sat still for a moment. Then she heard the cap of a water bottle twist, and he held it to her lips. She was lying down and tried lifting her head to drink, but she was in an awkward position, so the water rolled down her cheek and onto the bed. He pulled it away and recapped the bottle. At least she managed some water. Her throat felt better.

He stood abruptly and walked across the room. She turned her eyes in the direction of his footsteps and held her breath. As soon as the door opened, light shone into the room. She managed to glance down at her hand to see what it was tied to. It looked like the springs of a bed. She might be able to use a sawing motion and cut the zip ties. Her left hand didn't have a lot of room to move at all. She'd focus on her right hand.

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Mason grew irritated with the questioning. They weren't looking for her. "Please, please get out there and look for her. She's not here. She needs help."

Both Tray Fielding and Erin Moody stared into his eyes. They were just doing their jobs.

Trey said, "Mason, we understand, and we're doing all we can, but we have to gather as much information as we can so that we can help her."

Quinn rushed into the building. He stopped at the table where they sat and looked down at him.

"Are you alright?"

Mason shook his head, closed his eyes, then said, "She's out there. Somebody has her and I'm stuck here answering questions as if I've done something wrong. We need to find her, Quinn."

Quinn nodded. "We'll find her. Luckily, I do have some security footage. At least I have a bit. I managed to see it on my phone."

He motioned to Tray Fielding. If you follow me, the security closet is over here. Mason got up to go but was halted by Officer Moody. "I'm sorry you have to stay here with me."

"I want to see. I might be able to help. I might know the person. I might be able to identify him."

"In due time," she responded. "First, let Chief Fielding see what he can see."

Frustrated, Mason sat back in the chair. "This is ridiculous."

It wasn't long before Chief Fielding and Quinn came back into the room.

Mason sat up straighter. "Can I see? Did you see him? Did you see somebody? Do you know who it is?"

Quinn glanced at Tray and then back to Mason. "We can see a man. He's wearing a dark jacket. His hair is lighter. Military cut. He was sitting in his car a couple of cars away from where Carley parked. He got out as she was digging her paperwork from her car. He caught her by surprise. And it looked like he injected her with something. We don't have his face, though. I don't know if he realized that there was a camera watching the parking lot or if it was dumb luck on his part. But she was definitely taken."

Mason's stomach turned. What to do now? What if she needed him and what did he inject her with? Things started running through his mind. The different drugs that would render somebody unconscious or unable to move. "She might need medical help. We don't know what he injected her with."

Chief Fielding nodded. "Yes, we've taken that into consideration but first before we can do anything else we need to find her."

"So what do you have to go on?"

We have the car on camera. We managed to get the plate number, and I've called it in. Blossom Springs PD is running it now. I've called in the state police. We're running the photographs of the car, the plates, and his picture through thedatabase. Hopefully, someone will be able to identify him. But in the meantime, we'll be patrolling, and so will state and county police. Do you have any other questions?"

Mason's breathing was ragged and measured. His hands shook slightly. He picked up the water bottle Jace had brought him and took a healthy drink. She needed help. She needed someone to help her. This all seemed slow and agonizing.

Then he blurted out, "So we're supposed to just sit here and wait and hope that you see a car driving by? What if he's already got her somewhere?"

"Mason, we know this is difficult. Believe me, we know, and we're doing the best we can. We have protocol we have to follow, and we're doing everything we can to move as expeditiously as possible."

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