Page 64 of Be Very Quiet

Luca and Christian worked out an issue with the camera they’d placed at the back exit of Liliana’s studio. An alert indicated the battery had malfunctioned, so they changed it out, and it was now operational again.

When they returned to Liliana’s office, she wasn’t at her desk. Luca glanced at the private bathroom, but the door was open and the light off. “Where’s Liliana?”

“There was an issue in the women’s locker room,” Audria said. “I’ll go see if I can help.”

Luca and Christian followed her out as she disappeared down the hall. His stomach dropped when she came jogging out, a look of concern on her face.

“She wasn’t there.”

Luca turned and headed to the check-in desk. “Kasey, have you seen Liliana?”

“I was on the phone but saw her step outside about ten minutes ago.”

What the hell? She knew not to go anywhere without one of them. He jerked his phone from his pocket and noticed a missed text. It was from Liliana.

His jaw clenched as he skimmed the message she’d forwarded to him. “She left.”

“What?”

Audria and Christian crowded around him to read the message. Audria pulled the car keys from her pocket. “Let’s go.”

They ran to the SUV and jumped inside. Audria tore out of the lot hell-for-leather, and they raced through the streets to the address she’d sent them. Luca traced Liliana’s phone, and the blinking dot told him it was in the general vicinity of the meeting point.

“This is it.”

Audria screeched to a stop and parked illegally against a yellow curb. Christian and Audria fanned out to check the surrounding perimeter while Luca followed the beacon of Liliana’s phone. It led to a dented blue dumpster. With his heart hammering, he flipped open the brown plastic lid, but the only thing inside besides a mound of refuse was her cell. He let out a relieved breath and reached in to snag it.

Christian jogged back. “No sign of her.”

Audria returned and shook her head. “She’s not here, but I found this.” She held up a white handkerchief.

Luca sniffed and jerked his head back. “Chloroform.” Though his eyes were watering, he pulled out his phone. “I’ve got another tracker on her.”

#

Liliana’s head pounded, and her mouth was as dry as an overcooked steak. She tried to remember the last thing she’d done to leave her in this condition, but it wouldn’t come to her. Then it hit her like a freight train. Nina kidnapped. Tied up. She’d come to trade herself for her friend.

Liliana was lying on her left side with her hands bound in front of her. The tile floor beneath her was chilly. An air conditioner running somewhere close spit out cool air. She listened for other noises, and a faint sound attracted her attention.

“Liliana?”

She blinked her eyes open to see Nina a few feet away, tied to a bed. “Nina. Are you okay?”

“I’m mad as hell,” her friend whispered angrily, “but okay.”

Good. That meant Rader hadn’t touched her yet. If Nina was talking, he must not be in the room. She lifted her head and glanced around but didn’t see him anywhere. She rotated her wrists back and forth to loosen the rope and tugged on one strand with her teeth. If she could get out of the restraints, they had a chance. He hadn’t tied her ankles.

Liliana froze at the sound of a key being inserted into a lock, and then the door slammed open against the wall, no doubt leaving a sizable dent from the knob. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and prepared herself to come face to face with the monster from her past. She could do it to save Nina.

When she blinked her lids open, the person who sauntered in wasn’t who she expected to see. Though his face was scabbed over and bruised, and one black eye was swollen shut, she recognized her former employee. “Douglas?”

“About time you woke up, bitch.”

Nothing made sense. Why was he here? What did he have to do with The Mortician . . . unlesshewas the copycat? “You abducted Nina?”

“Now, don’t say it like that. I asked her out and everything. All the proper channels. Hell, I’ve wanted to date her since I first saw her. Just because she thought she was too good for me and turned me down doesn’t mean I’m a kidnapper.”

“It so does, you stupid, moronic bastard.”

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