Page 83 of Widow Lake

One medic checked the man’s pockets for an ID and pulled out a driver’s license.

“Expired,” he said. “But his name is Willie Hager. He’s twenty-five.”

Ellie glanced at the deputy. “Text Deputy Landrum and ask him to see what he can find out about Hager. If he has next of kin, notify them.”

“Copy,” Shondra said.

Ellie’s phone buzzed. Sergeant Williams.

“Found cameras hidden in Sarah Turner’s in her bedroom vent,” he said when she connected. “We also found a hub of cameras in a secret room behind some bookshelves in Coolidge’s living room.” Derision laced his tone. “Sicko was spying on all the female tenants.”

Ellie silently cursed. “Son of a bitch. Confiscate them all and send them over.”

Her phone buzzed with a text just as she hung up. Actually, there were two. First she read Derrick’s.

Then saw her captain’s.

Get up to Widow Lake stat. Twelve-year-old girl has been abducted.

ONE HUNDRED

SOMEWHERE ON THE AT

Present

Lorna Bea paced the dungeon-like room, then crossed to the window and stared at the stormy sky and the shadows of the forest. It was so stuffy and hot her stomach felt queasy.

Where in the world was she?

That mean man had hit her. And then… she remembered. She was blindfolded, in a car bumping over rocks and ruts in the road. It seemed like they were driving for hours but was probably only a little while, then he stopped, dragged her from the vehicle and threw her in this dungeon.

Cold fear seeped through her bones. What was he going to do to her?

Tears gathered in her eyes, but she blinked them back. She had to be strong like the characters in her books.

Her daddy cared about her. Loved her. When he found out someone had kidnapped her, he’d come and find her. He would.

And he’d take care of that monster.

But doubts niggled at her. Her daddy was a liar… He lied to everyone about their names. What else had he lied about? Did he know the man who’d taken her?

She rubbed at her eyelids where they still burned from the blindfold. He hadn’t wanted her to see where she was going. And she hadn’t.

The room was dark. Through the window, all she could see for miles were massive trees and woods. She was not at Widow Lake. Or anywhere she’d ever been before.

She tried to remember some fun times with her father like the way Cade and Betsy and their parents picnicked and fished and the mama read stories to Betsy at night. The way the kids built forts in the woods and skidded pebbles across the lake. The way they even held hands and said a prayer before they ate.

Things a real family did.

But her mind was a big black hole filled with nothing but packing empty boxes and running.

She closed her eyes, struggling.

One memory finally worked its way to the surface. When she was five, she’d begged her father to take her to the carnival.

They left Nana at home making a blueberry cobbler, and Daddy drove her to the carnival. The bright colored lights and rides and noises made her heart thump. Music echoed around her. Kids laughed. Clowns did tricks. Vendors called out, selling funnel cakes, popcorn and cotton candy.

She’d never seen anything so exciting! They rode the Ferris wheel around and around. It went so high, she giggled and squealed. Then they stopped at the top and she got dizzy and a little scared they’d never come down.

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