Page 68 of The Sinner's Touch

“Let’s go back to the station where we have more to work with. It’s only a few blocks.” Bailey snapped his notebook shut.“CSU is going over everything, dusting for prints, the whole nine yards. I want to look through the traffic cams to see if we can find him exiting this complex.”

Viktor drove Kade to the police station. He held on to the hope that Angel wasn’t awake, since none of the others were. She would be safe for as long as she couldn’t feel anything. He hoped. It was what he clung to.

The station was a hub of activity. Whenever an officer’s family member was in danger, they pulled out all the stops. People were on the phones, and he saw an entire wall monitor setup scouring traffic cams. Viktor moved off toward the whiteboards where the photos the unsub had sent Angel were posted.

“What do we know?” Bailey barked at one of the detectives who scurried toward them.

“Officer Stone is on his way with the security tapes. One of them should have a clean shot of the restaurant’s back door. Hopefully, we’ll get an image of the suspect’s face.”

“Kade, come here a second.” Viktor waved him over to the images. It was not what he wanted to look at, but he forced his feet to move. “Look here. Is this a sign?”

Kade squinted, trying to ignore the contorted and twisted body of the girl. In the upper right-hand corner of the image, there was a small blur. He leaned in closer, squinting. It did look like a sign. So out of focus he couldn’t see it, but Viktor might be right. Only one way to know for sure. He snatched the image and took off running.

“Where are you going, Kincaid?” Bailey shouted.

“Tech lab!” He hit the stairs, unwilling to wait for the elevator, and took them two at a time up three flights. He grabbed the first technician he saw. “We need to blow this up and enhance the image.”

“Sir?” The girl looked up from her computer screen, startled.

“This, now.” He shoved the photo at her, and she took it, but she leaned away from him. She gasped when she actually looked at the image.

“Agent Kincaid?”

Kade’s head snapped around, and he saw Ainsely Grisham. He knew the kid. He’d been working on this case for as long as Kade had. He snatched the photo from the girl and handed it to Ainsely. “We think that’s a sign in the upper corner of this image. We need to know what it says.”

“Take a deep breath, Agent. Let me pull up the digital images you forwarded us from the phone. It’ll be easier to enhance.”

Kade followed the young technician back to his workstation and waited impatiently while he logged on and sorted through a folder. When the images popped up, the tech opened the one he held in his hand. “This could just be a simple sign, Agent. Don’t get your hopes up.”

“He has my wife. Let’s hope it’s more than a simple sign.”Please be more than a simple sign.

The kid’s face hardened. “If there’s something here, we’ll find it.”

Kade watched as he worked to enlarge the image and still maintain its integrity. It was a process, but ten minutes later, a blinking Harvey’s Wrecker sign was clearly visible. His heart nearly stopped. A real live lead. The first one they’d ever had.

“There’s a Harvey’s Wrecker forty miles outside of town.” Ainsely was on Google search, and he pulled up the map image. “It looks deserted, nothing around it for miles.”

“Print that out.” Kade fidgeted nervously while both images printed. The unsub already had a good two hours on them. “Grisham, I owe you, big time.”

“Here you go, Agent. I hope you get there in time.”

“Me too.” Kade took the photos and headed back down to command.

As long as she was out, she was safe.

He kept repeating that mantra over and over. It was the only thing that allowed him to stay sane and not fall apart.

Bailey and Jeremy were clustered around one of the computer monitors, Viktor behind them, when he burst back into the room. They all looked up, excitement on their faces.

“We got the bastard on camera.” Viktor’s smile was evil enough to make the devil take notice. “And his fucking car and license plate. It’s registered to Wes Donovan. He’s from Texas, and his DMV photo matches Angel’s sketch.”

Kade came around and stared at the DMV photo they had up on screen. His woman had nailed the bastard’s image. “Let me see the footage.”

Bailey pursed his lips but nodded. Jeremy clicked a few times, and the back of the restaurant came into view. A sleek, silver Lexus waited. It only took a moment for the back door to burst open, and they saw him. He’d changed his appearance.

The unsub pulled Angel along like a good friend helping another friend who’d had one too many drinks. She ended up in the back seat, and he walked to the driver’s side door, got in, and drove off.

He hadn’t checked for cameras. Or he didn’t care.

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