Page 82 of Losing Control

“She was scared. She wanted to leave town until this maniac is caught, but Stacy talked her into spending the night with them. I said she could move in with me for a while, but I thought she was seeing bogeymen in the closet.” She set the glass on the table and dropped her head into her hands. “Oh, God. What have I done?”

“Grace?” Cole prodded. “How did Stacy know she’s missing?”

“Gaby’s boss, Manny Sandoval called her. He didn’t get to the office until almost noon. Gaby’s car was in the parking lot, but she wasn’t in her office. The dizzy receptionist said she hadn’t seen her and didn’t know anything about her car. Manny called Stacy, and she called here. Oh, Cole. I just know he’s got her.”

Cole looked at Nita. “Can you take care of her?”

“Of course. Do what you have to.”

Cole introduced his chief deputy to Scott, Nick, and Zak. “Gaylen, how many deputies can we get here right now?”

The answer was immediate. “Fifteen. Not counting you and me.”

“Count us in,” Zak said. “I’ll call Reno. I’m sure he’ll send in more troops.”

“Okay.” Cole looked back at Gaylen. “Get everyone on the horn right now. Start searching the area around Gaby’s house. This guy has left the bodies in convenient places, so we need to cover the area sector by sector.”

“I’ll get it done.” Gaylen had already picked up the dispatch microphone to send out a message to everyone on the road.

Scott looked up at Cole. “You’d better call Dana Moretti and let her know what’s happened. There’s a possibility this guy is escalating. If there’s any chance she’s next on his list, she needs to be warned.”

“Right, right. Okay. Give me a few minutes, and we’ll get started.”

Back in his office, Cole closed the door to his office and sat down behind his desk, taking a moment to pull himself together before pulling out his cell phone. He’d set it on vibrate when he returned to the office so he wouldn’t be interrupted, but now, he saw Dana had tried calling him. He listened to the message, then pressed the button to return the call.

“Oh, good. You got my message.” Her voice was breathless, touched with suppressed excitement.

“Yeah. Just now. Sorry, darlin’. I turned it off while I was in with Nita and the guys and just now turned it back on. Listen, Dana—”

“I wanted to tell you about the meeting Ivy set up for me. Cole, I have some information that I think is very important.”

“Can you hold on with that for a minute?” He forced a calm into his voice he didn’t feel. “Right now, you need to know there’s been another abduction. Gaby Marquez. Twenty-six years old.”

“What? But that’s way beyond his age preference.”

“Yeah, except for one thing. Scott agrees that your appearance here opening the old cases might have been the trigger. If so, you could very well be his ultimate target, and he’s working his way up to you in steps.”

“Oh, God.” Silence hummed across the connection for seconds.

“I’m worried about you. You’re at my place, right?”

“Yes. I said I’d come back here.”

“I want you to stay there until this madman is caught. If you need anything from your house, I’ll get it for you.”

“Okay.”

There was a long pause and he wondered if she’d just hung up. When she spoke again, her voice sounded small and shaky. “I have something to tell you, Cole. And not just what came out of this morning’s meeting. I…know how busy you are, but I don’t want to tell you this over the phone.”

His heart thudded. Was she finally going to tell him her secret? “Can it wait, darlin’? We’ve got every available resource including me on this search for Gaby.”

“Please, Cole? I know how urgent Gaby’s situation is, but this, um, may help you.”

If he knew anything, it was that with her background, she wouldn’t ask this of him, in this situation, unless it was really urgent.

He raked his fingers through his hair. Gaylen would just have to take over for a bit. “Okay. I’ll leave right now. And Dana?”

“Yes?”

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