Page 35 of Her Last Promise

“Sorry,” he said.“Never was too good at this stuff.”

Rachel was about to volunteer to take over when the footage came to a promising spot.“Right there!”she said.

Walter let his hands off the controls, and the footage went still.He had zoomed in on a moment just before the attack, when the man had turned slightly toward the camera.The image was grainy, but the face was unmistakable – it looked very much like Nathan Mitchell…but it was not Nathan Mitchell.

"That's our guy," Novak said from behind her.

Rachel nodded, pulling out her phone to capture the image.The face on the screen bore an uncanny resemblance to Nathan Mitchell, but Rachel knew better now.This was Michael Mitchell, the true predator they'd been hunting all this time.

Rachel snapped the image from the screen, capturing the image on her phone.The pieces were finally falling into place, but the satisfaction she usually felt at this point in a case was overshadowed by a gnawing urgency.Somewhere out there, Michael Mitchell had two people trapped, their lives literally in his hands.Every minute they spent chasing leads was another minute those victims spent helpless, trapped in their own bodies.

“Walter, you’ve done a damned good job,” she said.“Just for the sake of covering all the bases, do you think you could email that shot of the man to my email?”

“Yeah,” he said proudly.“Might take some time, but sure.”

“Thanks.Good job.”

As they left the small shed-like structure, they nodded to the officers, then hurried back to their car.The evening sky was nearly all black now, making the stripped trees along the side of the garage look positively skeletal.Rachel felt the familiar tightness in her chest that came with cases like this – when the end was in sight but still just out of reach…and the scenery wasn’t helping at all.

"We should talk to Nathan again," Novak suggested as they got back in the car."Now that we can prove his brother isn't in France, maybe he'll be more cooperative."

Rachel considered this, turning the phone with Michael's image over in her hands."Maybe.But I think we might get more from his Aunt Tanya.She might know something about where Michael would take his captors – old hangouts, abandoned properties, places that meant something to their mother.And I think at this point, Nathan might be done with us.And I wouldn’t blame him."

"We could call her," Novak offered, already reaching for his phone.“Save some time.”

Rachel shook her head."Nathan's house is only fifteen minutes from here.She's still staying there, and this—" she held up her phone with the security footage image "—this will have more impact in person.People tend to be more forthcoming when they can't hide behind a phone call.This is proof, and I think it will pry up whatever information she has."

Novak nodded, though it was also one of those times Rachel almost wished he’d argue his point a bit more.Just because she had nearly eight years more experience than he did, he was always quick to just agree with whatever she suggested.Still, she could feel the shift in energy between them – the same electric anticipation that always came when a case was nearing its end.But this time, the feeling was tinged with something darker.They weren't just racing to catch a killer; they were racing to save lives at the same time.

As they pulled away from the parking garage, Rachel found herself studying the security footage image again.Michael Mitchell's face stared back at her, unremarkable yet somehow menacing.This was a man who had watched his mother suffer, who had transformed that suffering into a mission of revenge.He was clever, patient, and, worst of all, he believed in what he was doing.That made him more dangerous than a mere killer.

The streets passed by in a blur as Novak navigated them toward Nathan's house.Rachel's mind was already formulating questions for Tanya, looking for the thread that would lead them to Michael's victims.She thought about James Harrison and Jennifer Martinez, trapped somewhere with this madman, waiting for either rescue or death.The image made her hands clench involuntarily.

"We're going to find them," Novak said quietly, as if reading her thoughts.

Rachel nodded, her jaw set with determination."Yes, we are."She looked out the window at the deepening twilight."But I’m afraid we’re running out of time to do it."

The world outside their car had taken on the darkened hush of that odd moment between evening and night, but Rachel knew the night ahead would be anything but peaceful.Somewhere in this city, Michael Mitchell was watching over his victims, playing God with their lives just as he believed others had played God with his mother's life.Rachel's fingers tightened around her phone, the image of his face now burned into her memory.They were close – so close she could almost taste it.

But in her experience, these last steps were often the most dangerous.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

The Christmas lights cast an unsettling glow across Nathan Mitchell's neighborhood, transforming what should have been a scene of seasonal cheer into something almost grotesque.Multi-colored strands outlined rooflines and windows, their cheerful blinking now seeming more like desperate signals for help—the same decorations Rachel had seen earlier but now shining in all their glory in the night.Lights glowed and twinkled, inflatable snowmen bobbed in the December wind, their perpetual grins taking on a sinister quality.Rachel found it hard to look at them.

Novak pulled the car to a stop and took a deep breath.The contrast between the festive displays and their grim purpose here seemed to bother him just as much as it was getting under Rachel’s skin.A mechanical Santa on someone's lawn raised its arm in an endless wave, making a quiet grinding sound that carried across the still evening air.The sound reminded her uncomfortably of hospital machinery—ventilators and heart monitors.

“You think Nathan’s home yet?”Rachel asked as they approached the porch.

Novak checked his watch.“It’s five-after-eight.I’d say he probably drug out his time at the hospital with his mother after we released him.I doubt he’s home yet.”

Rachel nodded, her eyes drawn to a particularly elaborate display across the street—a full nativity scene where the floodlights created harsh shadows that made the figures look more like specters than saints.The baby Jesus in his manger seemed to be reaching out with grasping hands, while Mary's peaceful face appeared twisted in anguish."Trying to make up for lost time with his mother.Can't blame him after we kept him cooped up in interrogation all day."

Their footsteps crunching on the thin layer of frost that had formed on the concrete of the sidewalk.Icicle lights dangled from the eaves of Nathan's house, their cold white light creating prison-bar shadows across the front door.Rachel didn’t recall noticing them earlier in the day.The porch light was on, but the rest of the house was dark save for a warm glow emanating from what Rachel assumed was the living room window.When Rachel pressed the doorbell, she could hear the muffled chimes echo through the house.

Slow, hesitant footsteps approached, and Rachel could hear the subtle sounds of someone checking through the window to their right.The door then opened just a crack at first, and Tanya Beswick's face appeared in the narrow gap.Recognition flickered across her features, and she pulled the door wider, though her expression remained guarded.She was still wearing the same clothes from earlier, but they looked more rumpled now.She did her best to greet them with a smile, but it came off as forced.

"Agent Gift?Agent Novak?"Confusion colored her voice, mixing with exhaustion and a hint of fear."I thought...I mean, you already questioned Nathan today, right?Did you not find him at the hospital?"She glanced past them into the night, as if expecting to see her nephew-in-law being led up in handcuffs.

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