Page 144 of Stormswept Colorado

The sheriff ignored them. “Deputy Keira Marsh was already keeping me posted on the break-in at your sister’s. Is it true you suspect the same guy of kidnapping Ayla? One of your dispatchers, the same guy River was investigating for you?”

I quickly updated them on everything else we knew. It sounded worse the more I repeated it. Finding Seth Duncan’s body. Then the horrifying shrine to Ayla in Finn’s closet, along with the photos of the vandalism scenes.

The red flowers had been the link all along. Though I still couldn’t begin to fathom Finn’s motivations for everything he’d done.

All this time, Ayla’s true stalker had been here. Working in my building. A man I’d taken under my wing. Sharing laughs, coffee breaks…

“He’s taken Ayla somewhere,” I said. “Finn has no family in Hart County. He was driving Officer Duncan’s vehicle, not his own. He’ll know we’ve put out an APB and that state patrol will be looking for him. So he must’ve holed up somewhere.”

Sheriff Douglas nodded. “Just tell us what we can do.”

Having the sheriff and the guys from Hartley here reminded me of all the assets I had at my disposal.

Ayla, sweetheart, I’m coming for you.

“I need your eyes,” I said.

I took them to the conference room. We went over the evidence yet again. Step by step. There had to be some clue. Some small hint of where Finn would go.

But it was Officer Susan Nichols who gasped, finally making the connection weneeded.

“Chief. I have an idea. You remember Donna Zanetti? The young mom whose husband was out of town, and the vandal struck her place about a month ago.”

“Of course.” I thought of sitting with Donna and her baby at their kitchen table. “That was the first time he’d broken into the home instead of just vandalizing the outside.”

Finn had done that. It was still a shock to imagine.

The break-in at Donna’s had been just a couple of weeks after Emma and Ashford’s wedding weekend. Had Finn heard the rumors about me and Ayla? Had he been jealous, and that was why he’d escalated? But why strike out at an innocent woman like Donna?

“Well, I spoke to Donna last week,” Susan said. “I was checking in on her, making sure she was doing okay. She said she’d been having trouble sleeping, and her family was going away for a while. They took off over the weekend. Finn could’ve heard about that. He might be drawn back there. We know suspects are often compelled to return to the scenes of previous crimes.”

“Seems worth a check,” Sheriff Douglas said. River nodded along.

“I agree.” Then I remembered a certain feature of Donna’s home. I’d seen it when I was there after the vandalism.

An unfinished basement. A cellar, really. Not uncommon around here.

But Ayla’s home in New York had one too, when she’d lived next door to the Carpenters. Maybe… Could that have reminded Finn of his former home, when Ayla was his neighbor?

“That’s it. Susan, you’re a damn miracle.”

“I am?”

I jumped up, heading for the door. “I need as many people as we can mobilize in the next five minutes.”

FORTY-SIX

Ayla

There wasa washing machine and dryer down here. A set of heavy dumbbells and a workout bench. Not much else. My lungs constricted from being trapped in this small space. The damp smell was too familiar.

Terrible memories surfaced in my mind.

Teller, please find me, I thought for the thousandth time.Please hurry.

I heard the floor creaking upstairs. Jarod was up there, but what was he doing? I had no idea when he’d come down here. Or what he had planned.

Could I pick up one of the dumbbells, wait for him to step into the room, then knock him out? But wouldn’t he see that coming?

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