Total pages in book: 140
Estimated words: 131364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 131364 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 657(@200wpm)___ 525(@250wpm)___ 438(@300wpm)
“Someone could’ve waited here, watched, waved her over. Bracelet could’ve fallen off by accident and been unnoticed in the excitement of the day—how badly was the clasp broken?”
“Minor.” Adam scanned the area, but there was nothing to see, his niece gone without a trace.
“I haven’t received a message from the Sandman about Malia.”
His gut twisted. “Could it be a copycat?”
“No—not Malia, and not at this time.” Eleri’s gaze still that endless black, she said, “Pulling me into his perversion is important to him, helps him achieve whatever it is he achieves with these acts.”
Adam saw it, the road she was walking. “There’s no need for a letter this time.” Because the bastard was right in town, watching, listening, mocking them all with his mask of neighborly concern.
Adam’s jaw worked. “Be careful, Eleri. I can’t lose you again.”
“Malia comes first.”
He cupped her face, too thin, dark shadows below her eyes. “You were meant to be a wing leader’s mate. You understand what it is to hold a clan inside the heart.”
She spread her hand over the organ that beat in his chest. “I’ll contact the task force, get them on this—they should already be en route, but they’ll have their gear on them, can run computronic cross-checks as they move.
“I also saw traffic cameras on the way into Raintree. I can access them through the local Enforcement computers if Detective Beaufort will let me—the task force will have to clear it through various channels, but the locals should have the cameras set up as an auto feed into their systems.”
“Wait.” Adam pulled out his phone. “If you need more eyes to scan the footage, call Dahlia—I’ll send you her number. We have people who can’t assist in the physical search, but their eyes are plenty sharp, and I don’t fucking care about toeing the judicial lines right now.”
Eleri nodded. “I’ll start it up, see how many feeds there are, then speak to her.”
Beaufort answered the call Adam had put on speaker and offered no resistance to Eleri’s request for access, even gave her the code to get into the locked Enforcement offices. “Our admin’s still out sick, but call me or Whitten if you have any trouble accessing the feeds.” Unspoken was that he understood the falcons would be helping review the footage—the detective knew their team was too small to move on this as fast as they needed to move.
Malia’s life was what mattered, not protecting evidence for a future trial. Because once Adam knew who this was, the killer wouldn’t be standing trial. Brutal justice. Wild justice.
“We need roadblocks,” Eleri said to Beaufort. “It’s already—”
“First thing I ordered when I heard Malia had been taken,” Adam interrupted. “Main access road isn’t changeling territory, but fuck that. I have wings stopping vehicles in both directions in and out of Raintree. You want to go after us for that once we have Malia, Beaufort, you go ahead. We’ll accept the necessary consequences.”
“No need, Adam. I’m the acting chief, and as far as I’m concerned, I deputized the lot of you when this began.” The detective sounded on edge. “He doesn’t get to get away with this just because we’re a small force. We’ll find our girl.”
After thanking the other man and hanging up, Adam said, “You should only need to review the first half hour after her abduction,” to Eleri. “That’s how long it took for the news to get to me and my wings to get out onto the road.” After checking his phone, he told her the exact time his falcons had reported in as having their roadblocks up and running.
Eleri nodded. “Once I’ve scanned that half hour, I’ll go back, review movements at night—just in case I’m wrong and he isn’t based in Raintree, but came into the town in preparation.”
Adam saw the sense in that. “While you’re at the station I’m going to check on the roadblocks, then fly a wider circle, look for and investigate any places where he could be keeping Malia.”
“Don’t disregard ordinary neighborhood garages, sheds, anyplace where only one person has relatively private access. I’ll make a list of those with the assistance of the cops and Mi-ja. She’ll know.”
“I’ll attach a small comm device to my leg in falcon form,” Adam said. “It acts like a long-range beeper and will alert me to priority messages on my phone. Call me the instant you get anything.”
She nodded again…then hugged him tight, her thin body tense with determination. “We’ll bring Malia home. I promise.”
I don’t make promises I don’t intend to keep.
Crushing her to him, Adam said, “I know,” his faith in her absolute.
• • •
When she called Tim, the task force lead said, “I really wish your instincts had been wrong, Eleri.”
“Me, too.”
“We’ll run every search we can on the residents of Raintree, see if we can pinpoint anything that might give you a starting point. See you in a few hours.”