Page 45 of Already Lost

He had everything set up and waiting. Thewarehouse was ready. The gramophone and the record were set up there, lovinglypaired together, standing polished and ready for their final song. It was goingto be a good one. They all were, but this one, being the last, would be themost magical. This was where it was all going to happen.

He sat idly dreaming, one hand cupping hischin so he could lean and rest, conserving his energy. The bottle in his pocketclinked when he shifted, and he rearranged the cloth around it to keep itsecure.

He just had to wait, and then all of thiswould come together, and he would get the grandmother he knew he deserved. Theone who loved and danced with him, the one who held his hands in the kitchenand lifted him up high when he was a boy, the one who showed him how to bake acake. Not the other one, the one who snapped and snarled and hit and slapped.That demon would be gone forever.

Someone moved onto the bridge, and he satstraight, his eyes piercing the night to make her out.

A woman, alone. No man. He had alwaysthought the last one would be a man. But he saw her there, and he knew that theuniverse was telling him to change his plan. It was this or wait until tomorrowbecause there was no way he could take anyone else now that he had seen her.

He stood up and moved silently,stealthily, across the bank of the river towards the foot of the bridge.

Tonight, she would be his, and the circlewould be complete.

He took the bottle out of his pocket andtipped it upside down against the rag, making sure it was fully soaked, andcrept out onto the bridge with his eyes on her back. And if there was any doubtthat she was to be the one, when he heard what she was saying on the phone toher lover, all of his doubt disappeared.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Nate peered ahead as he pulled up towardsthe bridge, narrowing his eyes to try to see better in the darkness. Where wasshe…?

He was uncomfortably aware that if hewalked out into the light and spooked the killer, he was going to jeopardizethe whole operation. The guy might end up walking free – or worse, going offand killing someone somewhere else. He couldn’t risk that. If Laura was smart,she would have found a place somewhere off to the side, in the shadows.Somewhere you could watch but not be seen.

Nate parked off to the side off the roadand then took his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing Laura’s number. If shehad her phone on her… She wasn’t enough of a rookie to have the ringer set toloud. It would be on vibrate, and she’d hear it buzzing in her pocket. Thatway, he could ask her where she was and join her quietly.

The line rang, rang, rang.

It went to voicemail before she picked up,and Nate chewed his lip. He was starting to get a sinking feeling.

What if the reason he couldn’t see Laurawas that she simply wasn’t there?

Nate got out of the car and turned in acircle, trying to think. He couldn’t see anyone at all. There was the mission –trying to catch their killer – and then there was the basic rule of making surethat your partner was safe. It wasn’t right to let her get herself into danger.

He thought about the burn on her hand –the one she’d sustained in the case he wasn’t able to work with her. The onewhere she’d rushed in and got herself caught by the killer. Almost became hislast victim. Laura was like that. She would rush in and not ask for help, onlythinking about the primary mission and forgetting to keep herself safe.

It was Nate’s job to do that for her. Thatwas something he’d come to understand lately. Since she’d come clean about herpowers, he’d had some doubts about his own performance. About whether he wasreally necessary as part of their team, or was just there to hold her hand. Buthe saw it now.

The reason she needed someone with her wasto stop her going off the deep end. But she wasn’t here. She wasn’t at thebridge.

Nate threw caution to the wind and startedto walk, quick march, across the bridge. He was all too aware of the sound ofhis boots on the wood, of the fact that he must have stuck out like a sorethumb under the bright light right in the center. He knew that anyone who hadbeen anywhere near the last crime scene might have witnessed him attending andseen what he looked like. If the killer was here, he would be long gone beforeNate ever got to the other side of the bridge. He was risking the wholestakeout.

But he believed in Laura, believed in herskills as a cop as well as her powers, and he knew she had to be right aboutthe bridge. And that meant if she wasn’t here…

Nate reached the other side and sworeunder his breath. He gave himself a minute to adjust to the darkness again,walking a little way in either direction to the sides of the bridge. He didn’tsee anything. No one whispered his name in the darkness to call him out ofsight.

He hesitated in the softer mud by the bankof the river, looking down. A pair of footprints in the mud. Boots. Women’ssize. The kind of boots that were standard wear for FBI agents.

Laura had been standing here, and shewasn’t here anymore.

Nate swore again, louder, and grabbed hisphone out of his pocket. Still nothing from Laura. There was only one way thisplayed out. Wherever she was, whether she had been taken by force or gonewillingly to follow him – she was with the killer. And she was in a situationwhere she couldn’t answer her phone.

She was in trouble.

“Yeah?” a voice crackled over the otherend of the line.

Nate glanced around, walking quickly backto his car. “Is that Dean Marsters?”

“Speaking,” Dean said. He was one of thetechs at the FBI, a friend of Laura’s. Nate had never really liked him for somereason, but now he needed his help.

“It’s Special Agent Nate Lavoie,” Natesaid. “I’m in need of a trace on a phone.”

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