Kaitlin got up off the bench and twisted around, her mind in turmoil as she relived that day. “That’s it,” she said, putting a hand to her mouth. “That man, his voice—”
Slade stood to steady her. “What? Did you remember something?”
She bobbed her head. “Yes. That man called me ‘sweetheart.’ I didn’t even remember it until just now, but today while you were in the back of the house, Dante called me that, too.” She shivered, held her arms together. “When he said it, I felt something, a trickle of awareness, but I couldn’t make the connection.”
Slade grasped her arms, pulled her close. “He’s taunting both of us.”
She stepped back, nodding again. “He tried to warn me about you. He said men like you love their jobs more than they do people.”
Slade brought her back into his arms. “I can’t argue with that. At times, I’ve thought that same thing. But...I don’t understand why he’d resent me for doing my job. Unless, of course, he’s a criminal.”
Kaitlin nodded again. “And...if he is Daniel’s father and he blames you for his son’s death, coupled with his need for control and respect, then that makes him desperate and dangerous.”
Slade let out a short breath. “He came after Rio for a reason. He needs a trained canine to help him find something in those woods.”
“Do you think he murdered someone else and buried the body out there and is afraid you’ll find it before he can get back to hide it?”
“He could have easily moved a body,” Slade replied. “I think someone within his organization double-crossed him, based on the recent body count. He didn’t bother hiding those deaths. The Boss is involved in most of the murders we’ve had in the past few months. Maybe the double-crosser hid something important to him out there.”
Her eyes lit with interest. “Keep going,” she urged.
“He took Rio so he could find whatever he’s after, but he hasn’t been able to do that all these months. He got a code from Daniel’s watch and used that to coordinate the spot in the Lost Woods. But he only found a small amount of cocaine. He had to realize that having a K-9 officer dog without knowing the commands presents a problem. So he’s still trying to find something else out there.”
“So now he’s coming after us. Can he be that crazy, to think he could just grab me and that I’d give Rio the proper commands to search a dig site?”
“He’s that desperate,” Slade replied. “Or that stupid. He’d demand you give Rio the right commands so the dog can alert to whatever is out there.”
“That kind of lunacy does make him both desperate and dangerous,” Kaitlin replied, a sliver of fear shooting through her system.
“We have to get back to those woods and find whatever is out there.” He cupped her chin, his eyes holding hers. “We can’t rush to judgment on this, though. I have to find proof that Dante’s involved before I accuse him publicly.”
“Is that what you were doing tonight?”
He nodded. “I collected his hair samples to match to Daniel’s. It can’t help this case, but...it will tell us if Dante is Daniel’s father.” He glanced around. “Forget I told you that. I’ve already done something I’m not proud of, but...finding out the truth will ease a lot of minds.”
“I understand,” Kaitlin said on a quick whisper. But when she thought of Dante, all of her antennas went up. She’d have to help Slade find that proof, and they’d have to do it by the book from here on out.
Slade pulled her close and she breathed a sigh of relief and said a silent prayer for being safe in his arms. “So what do we do next?”
He stood back, his expression as dark and shadowed as the trees dancing in the hot summer wind. “You don’t do anything. Just be diligent and watchful and keep me posted on anything—and I mean anything—that seems out of the ordinary.”
“And what are you going to do?” she asked, her heart stopping at the thought of him putting himself in danger.
“First, I’m going to let a friend have the DNA analyzed. Then, I’m going back out to that spot in the woods to look around one more time before I put in a request to have a team dig at the site again.” He ran a hand down her back. “Meanwhile, I’m going to tail Dante to find out his comings and goings. He’ll slip up and when he does, I’ll be there to take him down.”
“This has to end, Slade,” she whispered against his shoulder. “For all of us, this has to end.”
“It will now. One way or another.”
She didn’t like the finality of that statement. “Even if you might have to go after a man you thought was your friend?”
His expression went dark. “I don’t like it, but I don’t have a choice.”
Sensing the tightening in his muscles, Kaitlin put a hand to his face, their earlier intimacy making her bold. “Don’t shut me out, and, Slade, don’t shut down. You’ve been through a lot in the past couple of years, but your son needs you. Remember that.” She kissed him, just a quick touch of her lips to hers. “And...I need you, too.”
“I don’t deserve you,” he said, trying to move away. “We shouldn’t be together.” He put his hands on her elbows and looked down at her. “But when you kissed me—”
“No, don’t go all captain on me now,” Kaitlin replied, determined to stand her ground. “People will always disappoint you, or surprise you, or let you down, but that doesn’t mean you have to just give up and shut yourself off from feeling anything.”
“Kaitlin, I—”
“Please, Slade, let me continue. We both felt something wonderful with that kiss, no matter how it came about. You felt it, too. Or you wouldn’t have kissed me again. God can see you through, Slade. God and me. And even though losing someone you love is hard, you can make it back to a good place.” She took his face in her hands. “This, this is real. This is something we can both believe in and fight for.”
He put one hand over hers and twisted their fingers together. “Are you talking about saving the world, Kaitlin? Or just me?”
She smiled then, her other hand tracing over his jawline. “If I save you, I do save my world. I’m in this with you now. Don’t forget that.”
“I won’t.” He leaned down and kissed her again.
And all around them, a dry, hot wind hissed and danced, as if to warn them that they were still being stalked by a sinister force that might overtake both of them.
* * *
Slade handed the tiny gold envelope to Melody Zachary late on Monday. He’d held it all day, wishing he could just throw it in the trash. But the curiosity of wanting answers surpassed his need to follow the rules. So he’d called the detective in. “I don’t want to know how you decide to handle this, but it’s the best I could do.”
Melody quickly pocketed the package. “I’m sorry, Slade. But this is for my own benefit—nothing else. I just have to know. I’ll get a friend in the state lab to do a comparison. If Daniel and Dante are related, this will show it.”
“But you’d need some of Daniel’s hair samples, too.”
“I have some,” Melody replied. “His room was pretty much the way he left it when I moved all their stuff. I found a comb with hair the color of Daniel’s embedded in some of the teeth.”
“It’ll be a long shot, but worth it, I guess,” Slade replied. He’d slept worse than usual this weekend. He couldn’t get Frears off his mind. “If the comparison hairs were pulled out and still have a bulb, you’ll have a chance.”
“My friend is good at figuring out the Y chromosome,” Melody said. “It has to work.”
Slade rubbed his chin. “I hope it’ll bring you some peace, at least.”
“You look burned out,” she remarked. “I hate putting you through this.”
“I’ll be fine.” He sank down in his desk chair. “It’s just a lot to take in. And for now, your theory on Dante Frears has to stay between us. If he is our man, we don’t want to tip him off.” He pointed to the envelope she’d tucked inside her vest. “That’s the last time I risk my reputation. From here on out, we do things strictly by the book. If we don’t, we might lose the most nefarious criminal this area has ever had.”
He didn’t tell Melody that Dante had already pushed him to his limit by taunting Kaitlin. And the worst of that, Dante had a point about Slade’s workaholic nature, no matter how blatantly he’d tried to make it.
All the more reason for Slade to stick to the facts and stop thinking about how good it felt to have Kaitlin in his arms.
“I won’t say anything,” Melody promised. “I’ll get this to my friend right away. Thanks, Slade.”
He waved her away, then sat staring at the wall. Various pictures and award certificates and trophies showed off the K-9 Unit with pride of place. They’d won awards, fought the bad guys and worked hard to do their jobs. But why would one of their most fierce supporters decide to play them? Had Dante been playing them all along?
He got up to stare at the picture of Frears handing him a check for twenty-five thousand dollars. His friend smiled into the camera but when Slade looked closer, he was shocked to see that Dante’s cold eyes held an icy stare. Had his friend lost his soul somewhere along the way?
“I should have been more vigilant,” he whispered. He should have watched out for Dante more, should have visited and checked on him more than once or twice a month when they’d get together to watch a game and eat a good steak.
Maybe he could have stopped this.
But when Slade thought back over the years, he had to admit he’d always sensed a darkness in Dante. His friend had a need to be first—that had made him a strong soldier. But it had also made him ruthless and heartless.
“And I ignored it.”
Slade had chalked it up to their war years, figuring they’d seen enough death and destruction to give any man nightmares. He’d come home determined to continue the good fight.
But Dante? He’d come home determined to have the all-American dream. Had he gone about achieving that dream through criminal activities?
Slade’s cell phone chimed, jarring him out of his thoughts. “McNeal.”
“Slade, it’s Francine. I...my car broke down on the way home. I have Kaitlin and our canines with us.”
“Where are you?”
She named a spot near the Lost Woods.
“On the way.” Slade dropped his phone in its protective pocket on his utility belt and checked his equipment. After alerting the dispatcher, he headed out.
On a normal day, car trouble would be just that. Car trouble. But these days—it could be something else entirely.
* * *
Kaitlin stared down into the guts of Francine’s late-model pickup. “I don’t see any loose wires and the radiator seems to be intact. It’s not running hot. Give it another try.”
Francine turned over the key to test the motor.
Nothing.
“Slade’s on his way,” Francine called out. She reached back to calm the dogs. Warrior and Francine’s trainee Bachelor were in the jump seat.
Kaitlin’s gaze searched the empty highway. The sun slanted through the thick trees inside the woods, but soon it would disappear behind those trees and a dark blanket would cover this area. She didn’t want to be here when that happened.
“We have the dogs,” she told Francine. “We’ll be okay.”
Her nervous friend rubbed her hands down her arms. “Yep, but that doesn’t help being out here where creepy things go on. People go missing in that thicket, you know.”
“We’ll be okay. Slade will be here any minute now.”
Kaitlin prayed they’d be safe. She glanced at the truck’s insides again. Everything looked normal. The brakes were working, at least. “What about gas?” she asked, running to the driver’s side of the car.
“I just filled the tank two days ago,” Francine said. “And I haven’t been anywhere much except to church and work today.”
Kaitlin turned the key and watched for the gas gauge to move. “It’s sitting on empty.”
“Impossible,” her friend said, getting in on the other side to stare at the unmoving needle.
Kaitlin pointed to the gauge. “Either you used a lot of gas somehow, or someone siphoned off every last drop.”
Francine let out a gasp. “You mean, somebody came into my yard and stole the gas right outta my truck?”
“I think so,” Kaitlin replied, turning the engine one more time. “And I don’t think we’re going anywhere until we get some fuel.” Her gaze slammed into Francine’s. “I don’t like this. Especially if someone knew I’d be at your house this weekend.”
“Me, either,” Francine said, twisting to look up and down the road. “I don’t like it one little bit.”
“Warrior and Bachelor will watch out for us.”
Francine turned to the two alert dogs. “It’s okay, boys. We’ll be fine.” She petted Bachelor’s brown head. “You’re my good boy, right, Bachelor?”
The German shepherd woofed an answer.
Kaitlin could see the concern Francine was trying to hide. “We can call the attack command if anyone tries anything, Francine. Okay?”
“I’ll call Slade back,” Francine said, her finger tapping on her phone, her big brown eyes like chocolate orbs.
Kaitlin heard the roar of an approaching vehicle. “Wait, maybe that’s him.”
They both turned to stare out the back window.
A big black van was headed directly toward them.