Page 43 of Threat of Danger
She didn’t want to oversleep in the morning. She didn’t want the two men alone. Derek had made no secret out of the fact that he didn’t want Eliot anywhere near Jess.
He wouldn’t pick a fight, would he?Men!
Jess flopped onto her back and stared at the ceiling. She’d thought about Great-Aunt Matilda, her father’s mother’s sister, who’d become a nun. Great-Aunt Matilda had been one smart cookie.
Hannah Wilson cried for her mother in the dark. She wondered if her parents were ever going to find out what happened to her. She’d tried to scrape her name into the rock below her with her chain, but in the dark she couldn’t tell if she’d succeeded.
She didn’t know if it was morning, noon, or night. She didn’t know how long she’d been kept captive. It felt like forever.
Her stomach gnawed with hunger. She was shivering almost nonstop. She knew she wasn’t going to last much longer. She didn’t mind. She wanted oblivion. Death would stop the pain.
But instead of death, the man came. She heard his footsteps first; then the light of the flashlight hit her face. She squinted her tear-swollen eyes. She couldn’t see him. And even if she did, it wouldn’t matter. He always wore the mask.
He came closer.
She scrambled back, her chains clanging.
He laughed. “See, there’s life left in you yet, girl. That’s the spirit.”
A keening sound escaped her throat, a sound an injured animal might make. He drew a deep breath, as if he wanted to breathe in that sound and swallow it.
“Guess what day it is?” he asked in a darkly soft tone and kept coming. “Today is a special day.”
Chapter Eleven
Monday
IN THE MORNING,Derek was already sitting in the kitchen with Eliot by the time Jess came downstairs bleary-eyed. Zelda was cooking up a storm at the stove. Eliot eyed the teetering pile of pancakes between him and Derek, looking a little intimidated.
“Is anyone else coming?”
Jess blinked the sleep from her eyes and grinned as she reached the table. “Zelda doesn’t do anything by half measures.”
She looked great in a simple white shirt and blue jeans. Derek felt tired and grumpy. The couch hadn’t been good to him.
She sat, glancing at the day’s issue of theTaylorville Timesin front of Derek. He immediately moved to swipe the newspaper away, but she had excellent stuntwoman reflexes. She grabbed on to the corner of the paper before he could have taken it.
“I’d like to catch up on the news.”
He considered her request for a couple of seconds before relinquishing the paper. She would find a way to read it anyway. She shot him a questioning look, but he said nothing. Then Jess’s gaze fell on the lead article. She recoiled as if the headline was a full body slam.
Derek had had a similar reaction earlier.
DNA Results of Body in the River. Not Hannah Wilson. Taylorville Student Still Missing.
Her gaze flew to Derek’s. He could see a hundred questions in her eyes. At the end, all she asked was, “Does Kaylee know her from school?”
“Only by sight. They don’t run in the same circles.”
As Jess went back to the article, Derek made a mental note to catch up with Mark Maxwell at one point today and put the fear of God into the asshole. He needed to make it clear to the jerk that Jess wasn’t to be harassed. All contact between Maxwell and her was going to end, beginning immediately, even if Derek had to buy theTaylorville Timesto accomplish it. His last thriller had sold ten million copies worldwide. He hadsomemoney set aside.
He watched Jess read, the blood running out of her face. The paler she grew, the more his protective instincts rose. He wanted nothing more than to keep her safe from harm and hurt. She leaned a little back from the paper, as if she wanted to remain at arm’s length from the disturbing news.
“Doesn’t mean anything,” he said under his breath so only she would hear him.
Eliot was raving to Zelda about the pancakes, half turned in his seat.
Jess didn’t respond. Maybe she didn’t hear Derek either, too absorbed in the brief article.
