Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
Max followed the detectives in his car to the Hearst residence. There, he watched them go to the front door. He sat behind the wheel, hands shaking, his throat closing.
Ryan Hearst had taken Lana. That murderer had her. Max knew that now. Dominic Crane had helped him make the connection. Maybe someday, he’d thank the man for that. But only if he got to Lana in time.
If anything happened to her, then nothing was going to hold back his rage. Max was going to burn down the entire world, and Crane would be first—for failing to respond to his calls earlier, when there’d still been time.
He saw the detectives talking to Ryan’s sister, Bethany. The woman was shaking her head. Max couldn’t stay put any longer. He pushed out of the car and walked over to the grand front entrance.
Bethany saw him coming. “No way. What is he doing here? That man is not welcome here.”
“Ryan kidnapped Lana Marchetti, the prosecutor on his case. I need to know where he’s taking her.”
“You’re insane! I want you to leave me alone.”
The detectives tried to get Max to go back to his car, but he refused. “Bethany, please. I’m begging you. Do you want me to get on my knees? I’ll do it.”
She came out of the house and walked right up to him, standing toe to toe. “Why should I believe a word you say? You tricked me before. You made a fool of me.”
“I didn’t say one thing that wasn’t true. I told you that I was here investigating Ryan for the murder of Heather Barnes. You chose to let me in. You took me upstairs.”
“But you made me believe—” Bethany glanced at the detectives, who were closely watching all of this unfold. She grabbed Max’s sleeve and pulled him around the side of the house. They were in a concrete driveway, and Max could see fancy cars lined up inside a garage with glass doors.
She whirled on him. “You acted like you didn’t care about the investigation. You made me think you liked me.”
“I wish that hadn’t been necessary. But it was still your choice to allow me in.”
“Do you have any idea what it’s been like for me since that day? My brother and my family think I betrayed him. They hate me for letting you into the house. I can’t believe you’d even show your face here, after what you did.”
Max had flirted with her that day. Shamelessly. He’d encouraged her assumption that he wanted inside the house to be alone with her.
Almost always in his life, Max had made sure that women knew what to expect from him, so that they didn’t get their hopes up. But that day, he didn’t feel any sympathy for Bethany Hearst or concern for her feelings. He’d manipulated her without any regard for what might happen to her afterward.
“If I’ve made your life more difficult,” Max said, “I’m sorry. I had a compelling reason. But I should’ve made sure that you were okay after what happened.”
“No. I won’t believe you. You’re just trying to trick me again. Pretending to be nice, confusing me. You planted that necklace in Ryan’s room. You’re just trying to find a new way to cause trouble for him, since he proved his innocence at trial.”
“That’s not even close to what happened at the trial.
But you can believe that if it makes you sleep better.
” Max pulled out his phone and hit play on the video of Lana being kidnapping.
He held up the device. “Do you recognize him? It’s Ryan.
That’s your brother, isn’t it? Pushing Lana into that trunk. ”
Bethany barely glanced at the screen. Her expression was hard. Max hit play again, holding the small device in front of her face. This time, she looked for a bit longer. Her eyes widened.
She recognized Ryan. He was sure of it.
“This was only about an hour ago. Where would he have taken her?”
Her face shut down again. Bethany walked back and forth across the driveway. “You planted that necklace. Ryan was going to call me as a witness, and I was going to testify that I had never seen that necklace in his room before. Then the mistrial happened, so I didn’t get a chance.”
“I didn’t plant anything. I think you know that. But I don’t blame you for being afraid of him. Has Ryan threatened you? Hurt you?”
She stepped back, rage marring her features. “You don’t know a damned thing. All of this is your fault.”
“Think about it, Bethany. Let’s say that you’re right, that I did plant the evidence.
Ryan’s case has already been dismissed. He’s a free man.
If he wanted to confront me about what he thinks I did, why not come at me directly?
Why not have it out with me, man-to-man?
But that’s not what he chose. He went after Lana.
He put a bag over her head and threw her into a trunk.
He’s going to hurt her.” Max could barely get those words out. “Why do you think that is?”
Bethany kept walking back and forth. She covered her face. “I never wanted any of this to happen.”
“You know something. Maybe it’s way deep down, somewhere that you don’t have to see it. So that you’re able to get through each day and pretend your brother isn’t a monster. But you’ve lived with him all these years. You must’ve seen that he likes to hurt people. Likes to hurt women.”
“No. No.”
But she sounded more like she was begging for release from this pressure than denying that Max’s words were true.
“The woman he took, Lana? I love her. She means everything to me, and Ryan figured that out. He wants to punish me in the worst possible way for finding Heather’s necklace. Don’t let him do it.”
“I really didn’t know,” she muttered. “I swear. I didn’t. I thought, sometimes…but I didn’t know. And I didn’t remember the necklace. I really…”
She was losing focus. Max held up his phone yet again, freezing the image on the screen. “The man on the video is your brother, isn’t he? You recognize him. You might as well admit it because I already know I’m right.”
Bethany stopped pacing.
“He’ll kill me if I tell you,” she whispered.
“Then we’ll protect you.”
“You can’t.” She sank to the ground, right there on the concrete.
He knelt beside her. “I own a private security company. I have a team of bodyguards at my disposal. And the detectives waiting outside your door have their own resources, too.”
“You can’t help me. But I’ll tell you. Because it’s the right thing.” Tears streamed over her cheeks. “It’s Ryan on the video. It’s him.”
Max exhaled, wiping his hand over his face. “Okay. Thank you, Bethany. Now I need your help figuring out where Ryan’s taken her.”
For another minute, she could only cry. Then she spoke.
“There’s a tiny old house in the coastal wildlife refuge.
Abandoned. There’s no nice beach there, hardly any roads nearby.
Really wild. We used to have parties there, way back in high school.
But ever since, it’s been a spot for Ryan to get away that not many people know about.
If he didn’t want to be found, I think that’s where he would go. ”