Page 17 of The Girl He Claimed

"Maybe we should call it aday," Christopher suggested. "It's obvious that we aren't going tocatch Adam in the first rush of looking for him. We need to pace ourselves,come back fresh in the morning."

Paige knew he was probably right.They were exhausted, and they weren't getting anywhere. They'd gone past theinitial rush of trying to find Adam and were now into a phase of a grindingsearch that could last for days, if not weeks. But she couldn't shake the feelingthat they were missing something crucial.

"Just give me a few moreminutes," she said. "I have a feeling there's something here I'm notseeing."

Christopher sighed but didn'targue. Paige continued to scour the footage, her eyes bleary and her mind startingto wander.

Everyone else had gone home by thispoint.

"Tell me where we're at witheverything," Paige said, hoping that talking through it would spark somekind of inspiration.

"The search of the groundsrevealed nothing," Christopher said. "There's a guard's uniformmissing from the institute's laundry, which may be how Riker got out withoutbeing spotted along the way."

"The same way he got out thefirst time he escaped," Paige said, unable to keep a bitter note out ofher voice. It seemed to her that the St Just Institute hadn't learned anylessons from that escape. It was barely more secure now than it had been backthen. There was also a chance, with Adam, that the uniform could simply be adistraction.

"Exactly," Christophersaid. "We're checking the laundry workers to see if anyone remembersanything unusual. And we're also checking the visitors' log to see if anyonewith connections to Riker has been to the institute recently. I know we thinkthis was an inside job, but it's possible that someone came in from outside toget him."

Paige nodded, her mind stillracing. They had to find something, anything, that would lead them to Rikerbefore it was too late.

Paige rubbed her eyes, feelingexhausted. "I'm convinced that there must be something here, some way tofind him."

"Well, we can keep lookingtomorrow," Christopher said. "Maybe with fresh eyes, we'll spotsomething we missed today."

Paige nodded, feeling somewhatcomforted by the thought. Even so, she kept thinking.

Last time, they'd caught Adamthrough a combination of him drawing Paige in and her working out where hewould be. Paige found herself focusing on the previous time they'd hunted him,trying to work out if the lessons they'd learned there would help now.

"Do we have anyone checkingthe spots that we identified as potential hiding places last time around?"Paige asked. "There was that old family farm, wasn't there?"

Christopher nodded. "Yes, Isent a team to check out all the places he's been known to hide before. But sofar, no luck. I don't think that Riker is going to be stupid enough to simplyretrace his steps."

Paige huffed in frustration. Sheknew Christopher was right, but it was all they had to go on. They needed tofind something, somewhere to start.

It occurred to Paige that, whileAdam might not retrace his steps in a literal sense, there was one way in whichhe might revisit old ground: with his choice of victims.

Paige didn't believe for one momentthat, now that he was out again, Adam would simply run. Last time, the firstthing that Adam had done was to start killing again. He'd begun with the womanwho had escaped his clutches when he'd been caught, finishing what he'dstarted. This time, when he'd been caught, Adam had been trying to kill Paige'smother.

Paige's heart raced at the thought.She knew that she had to find Adam before he had the chance to hurt anyone elseanyway, but the thought that it might be someone like her mother only made thepotential pain of that worse.

"Christopher, we need to focuson Adam's potential victims," Paige said, her voice urgent. "Hasanyone checked on my mother recently?"

Christopher shook his head."You think Riker might target her?"

"I don't know," Paigesaid. "It... it's possible."

She got out her phone, calling hermother. The two of them had never had the closest relationship, at least untilthe first time Adam had escaped. Paige had always blamed her mother for notprotecting her in the wake of her father's death, and for moving in withanother man who had then abused her.

Now, Paige saw that her mother hadalways done everything she could to protect Paige. It was vital that Paige didthe same now.

The phone seemed to ring forever.Long enough that Paige started to feel an edge of panic building inside her.Finally, her mother picked up.

"Mom, are you okay?"Paige asked, feeling her heart racing in her chest.

"Yes, why?" her motherreplied, sounding confused.

Paige let out a breath she didn'trealize she was holding. "I just... I needed to check. Can you staysomewhere else tonight? I'll pay for a hotel if you can't think of anywhereelse, but I don't think it's safe for you to be in the house right now."

"Paige, what's going on?"her mother asked, concern evident in her voice.

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