Page 55 of Knight's Desire

He studied the opening, his brow furrowed. “Any evidence in the tunnel?

“Not that I found, but it’s a pretty tight fit. If he knocked her out, he had a devil of a time getting her through there. My gut says—”

“This was a well-thought out and calculated plan.” He met Gen’s gaze, and her nod told him they were thinking along the same plain. He stood, his mind spinning with what needed to be done to find Hope.

“Coordinate the search here. I want this place gone over from top to bottom. Have you questioned Kayla?”

Gen nodded. “BB took her home. She’s pretty upset. Normally she would get the veils, but the phone rang at the same time. She went to answer the phone while Hope came back here. The caller was a young girl asking about a prom dress, but Kayla said she hung up before making an appointment. She didn’t leave her name or any details.”

“Trace the call. And review the security footage anyway. Even if this tunnel leads to a blind spot, there still might be something from earlier in the day that could give us a clue.”

“Actually, you’re more on the mark with that than you know. We talked with the clients Hope was meeting with before she was kidnapped. The mom is a real bitch, but the daughter was helpful. You may want to talk to her yourself.”

“Let me guess…the O’Learys.”

Gennessey smirked. “Ellen and Tally. I’m guessing Hope has mentioned them.”

“Oh, yeah. I’m familiar. Where are they?”

She motioned for him to follow her. They crossed the Shoppe to a smaller salon on the other side, away from the activity as their team searched for clues. The bride-to-be wrung her hands, shredding a Kleenex as she sniffed. Her green eyes were red rimmed as if she’d been crying. She never looked up as they entered, but stared at the wall in front of her, as if there was something about it she couldn’t look away from.

The mom sat close to her daughter’s side, her lips fixed in a thin line, her posture tense, and her eyes sparking with a barely concealed fury. She reeked of money and privilege, and Brick steeled himself for the fight she would likely start.

“Excuse me. I’m Brick Coffey, one of the investigators working on Miss Robertson’s case. I understand you may have information that could give us a lead on Miss Robertson’s disappearance.”

“We are not involved in this at all. I’ve put in a call to our attorney, and he said you have no legal right to hold us here against our will.”

Brick zeroed in on Mrs. O’Leary. “You are free to go whenever you want, but your daughter indicated to a member of my team that she was willing to help. So leave or sit down and shut up. Those are youronlychoices.”

“How dare—”

“He’s right, Mother. Just sit down, let me tell him what he needs to know, and then we can go. If we can help Hope, then we should because she’s been nothing but helpful to us despite the way we — and by we, I mean you — have treated her.” Tally sighed as if her little speech zapped the last of her remaining strength, but it was enough for Mrs. O’Leary to keep her mouth closed and sit in angry silence.

“Tally, just tell Brick what you said to me earlier,” Gennessey prompted her.

“Of course.” Tally raised her eyes to meet his. “I’m sorry about Hope. We never heard a thing. We didn’t realize she’d been taken at first. She went for my veil and was gone longer than she should have been. If we’d just realized sooner…”

“You didn’t hear anything? Like a scream or a cry? Something that sounded like a struggle or someone falling?” he questioned.

She shook her head. “Mother and I were fighting over my dress, so we weren’t paying attention. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault, Tally,” Gennessey reassured her. “Just tell Brick about earlier, when you first arrived.”

“Right. Mother and I parked in one of the spaces along the side of the Shoppe. We were walking up the sidewalk to the front door. I don’t remember what we were talking about, but I remember a man walking in our direction. He reached the front of the Shoppe at the same time we did, and he held the door open for us. I didn’t think anything about it at the time. It was a little odd though. I thought he was coming into the Shoppe behind us, but he just closed the door once we were inside and kept walking. The strange part is how did he know we were coming inside. He got to the door before we did, so for all he knew, we would just walk on by.”

“He could have guessed you were here to shop because there’s not much else down the sidewalk past this point,” Brick pointed out.

“So then where was this guy coming from that he would be meeting them on the sidewalk?” Gennessey murmured, and Brick pondered her point.

“Can you describe the man?”

Tally shook her head. “Not really. He wore a baseball cap low on his forehead. He never looked directly at me. He smiled at me, and he had lines around his mouth, like he smiled a lot. I think his hair was brown and a little long. It was hard to tell because I just saw a little sticking out from under his cap. He was tall, like 5’10” or so. He was skinny, but kind of wiry. Sort of.”

“A swimmer’s build.”

They all stared at Ellen O’Leary, surprised that she would say anything useful after the way Brick spoke to her. But she held no anger in her gaze when she looked up at him. “That’s what we called it back in my day. A swimmer’s build.”

“Slender but muscled, so not really skinny,” Gennessey supplied.

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