Chapter 21
21
H eath’s entire body screamed to get outside, search every damn house in the county, and find Clara. Instead, he sat in the library at Safe Haven Women’s Shelter with two very terrified kids attached to him.
Medical professionals and FBI agents swarmed the shelter, buzzing about trying to identity the children from the basement and contact their families. Local law enforcement kept their focus on Clara. But it was the two weeping kids stuck to him like glue who demanded his attention—no matter how badly he wanted to be on the hunt for Mitch.
Katherine Milton, Tommy and Owen’s sister and a nurse at the county hospital, stepped into the library with a gentle smile on her face. “How’s everyone doing in here?”
The kids clung tighter to him, burying their faces in his shirt.
“We’re as okay as can be,” Heath said.
Katherine gave him a knowing look before sitting on the coffee table in front of him. “I know it’s late in the evening and not a great time, but my son Oliver loves chocolate bars. I brought a couple with me if anyone wants one.” She slid two candy bars from the pockets of her blue scrubs, earning the curiosity of Davey and Avery.
“I like chocolate,” Davey said.
“Me, too.” Avery chimed in but kept a death grip on Heath.
Katherine passed over the candy. “While you eat those, can I take a quick look and make sure you two are healthy as little clams? I’m a nurse and it’s my job to keep all the kids happy and well fed with candy.”
Davey glanced up at Heath and swallowed hard, uncertainty in his eyes.
“I’ve known Katherine a long time,” Heath said. “And I work with her brothers. They’re both deputies.”
“Really?” Davey asked.
“Yep, and my dad’s the sheriff,” Katherine said. “My family likes to help people. Will you let me help you?”
Avery nibbled on her chocolate but eased up to a sitting position. “I’m healthy.”
“I’m sure you are, sweetheart. I just want to make extra sure.”
“Can Heath stay? He likes chocolate, too,” Davey said, his little hand finding Heath’s.
His heart melted faster than the candy squished in Avery’s sweaty palm. He might be torn on where his duties lay—comforting the kids or helping find Clara—but his heart knew he had to make sure these two were one hundred percent okay before taking off to find their mother. “I’m with you as long as you want me to be.”
Davey gave one decisive nod. “Okay.”
Katherine went to work checking the kids’ vitals and searching for any injuries. Both of them appeared unharmed. He hadn’t asked them about their experience, it hadn’t seemed the right time for such things. But he knew the trauma of this night would stay with them a long time.
Forever if they couldn’t find Clara.
“You were right, Avery,” Katherine said, returning her instruments to her medical kit. “You are very, very healthy.”
Mrs. Collins cleared her throat from the doorway. “And probably need something more substantial to eat besides candy. Do you two want some dinner? I made your favorite. My homemade macaroni and cheese.”
“And hot dogs?” Avery asked.
“You betcha! How about I take you two munchkins into the kitchen? Someone’s here to talk to Heath.”
Frowning, Heath stood to see past Mrs. Collins and into the foyer where Owen stood. The tense set of his shoulders and firm line of his mouth was all he needed to see to know there wasn’t any good news to deliver about Clara.
“But Heath’s hungry, too. Aren’t you?” Davey wound his arms around Heath’s forearm.
He smiled down at the boy and debated how to answer. He didn’t want to alarm them more than necessary, but he also needed to act, to move, to do something to help bring Clara home. “I am, buddy. But I still have a job to do, and part of that job is making sure everyone gets home safely.”
“Including Mama?” Avery asked, renewed tears brimming in her eyes.
“Including your mama. Can you go with Mrs. Collins? I promise I’ll let you know where I am at all times.”
“Okay,” they said in unison then dashed to Mrs. Collins, each taking hold of one of her hands, and walked away.
He squeezed the back of his neck and closed his eyes for a beat. He’d never experienced such a whiplash of emotions. But with the children out of sight, he could finally take a breath and place all his focus on Clara.
When he opened his eyes again, Katherine was gone and Owen stood in front of him.
“Anything?” he asked.
Owen shook his head. “We keep coming up against the same walls we’ve rammed into over and over. I spoke with his parents again. This time I threatened to arrest Fred if he kept any information from us. He stood firm on his statement that he hasn’t heard from Mitch since this morning and has no idea where he’d take Clara. His mom kept crying and saying how her son just wanted his family back—wanted life back the way it was.”
“She said the same thing when we were there. What about Bob? Did you talk to him or anyone else he worked with?”
Sighing, Owen shoved a hand through his hair. “Spoke with Bob, who can’t believe he bought Mitch’s whole I’ve changed and want to be a better father and husband story. He feels sick about giving the guy a job.”
Panic raised in Heath’s chest. His heart hadn’t beat a regular rhythm since he’d received the call from the sheriff. “We have to be missing something. This guy is not that smart. No way he has some elaborate plan in the works right now. Most of the time the simplest solution is the right one.”
“Agreed, but what’s the simple solution in this situation?”
Heath replayed everything they’d learned, every conversation they’d had about Mitch. They were making this too difficult—they had to be. Frustration fisted his hands at his sides. Mitch wasn’t some criminal mastermind. He was an asshole with no money, no friends, and an apartment he couldn’t go back to.
Realization struck him in the chest. “We’re looking at this the wrong way.”
Owen frowned. “What do you mean?”
“We know the obstacles surrounding Mitch. What he doesn’t have or where he can’t go.” Excitement thumped along with his racing pulse as his intuition tingled. “In his mind, he has one thing. Clara. His family. He wants his life to be like the way it was before.”
“So, what’s your point?”
“He wants to go back to when he and Clara and the kids were together, in their home. Have you checked Clara’s house?”
“A deputy went by there last night. The place was empty with zero sign of Mitch.”
Heath threw his hands in the air. “So we check again. It’s the one place left in this town that he has a delusional claim over. That he thinks no one would imagine he’d be. If he wants his family back, why wouldn’t he return to the family home, especially if he’s certain it’s already been crossed off the list.”
“He can’t expect that he can hole up there with Clara forever,” Owen said.
“He doesn’t plan on letting her live long enough to care.” The truth snuck up and slammed against the side of Heath’s head. Every bone in his body told him he was right. His gut twisted and determination surged through his system like water hitting a live wire.
He had to get to Clara before it was too late.
* * *
Mitch shoved Clara into the house she’d toiled over. She’d used all her energy to create a safe place with her children then tried her hardest to fill it with love and happy memories.
Now a chill slid down her spine at the sight of the cream-colored walls and neatly displayed photos. These walls caged her in, reminded her of the months she’d wasted at the hands of a monster.
“Sit on the couch.” Mitch aimed the gun at her. The hard glint in his eye broadcasted his desire to pull the trigger.
She swallowed her fear and did as he demanded. She’d make him think she’d blindly obey, just the way she always had. But the gears in her mind shifted as she tried to think of a way out of this mess. She still had the mace in her pocket. If she could get to the mace without him noticing, she could use it on him and run.
Mitch plopped down in the recliner he always used and placed the gun on his lap. He sat on the edge of the chair, leaning toward her. He drew in a deep breath and shook his head as if about to explain the world’s hardest math problem to a child. “Why did you have to get us into this mess? I was good to you. Provided a nice place to live. Kept food on the table. Even gave you two brats to fawn over. But you were never grateful. Always whining and wanting more.”
She kept her mouth firmly shut. Nothing she said would erase his fury, would make him see the delusion he’d created.
“Then you got me arrested. And if that wasn’t bad enough, I get out of jail and find you with another man? Were you whoring around before you forced me to sign those divorce papers while sitting in a jail cell?”
Working her jaw back and forth, she kept her gaze fixed on a framed picture of Davey and Avery from a hiking trip they’d taken a few months before. A waterfall ran down a cliffside behind her laughing children.
She’d keep herself there, in that moment in time. Wrapped in those memories. If she didn’t make it out of here, would Heath take them to do fun things like that? Would their brief time together keep him in Davey and Avery’s lives?
Her gut said yes, fueling her desire to get back to them. To make those memories together.
“Why so quiet?” Mitch persisted. “Not so brave anymore, huh? You’re still the same stupid girl you’ve always been.”
Her patience snapped. She’d fight like hell to escape him one last time, but in case she didn’t survive, she wouldn’t go down allowing him to think he’d beaten the strength and grit from her soul. “You don’t know a thing about me.”
Leaning back in the chair, he rolled his eyes. “You’re talking nonsense. Of course I know you. You’re my wife.”
“Ex-wife,” she said through gritted teeth. “And you’ve never known the real me. You’re too selfish and mean and straight up crazy to understand anything about me or my children. But I know you, and I’ve seen sides of you that make me want to vomit. You’ll do whatever you want with me, nothing I say will change that, but just know you’ll never win.”
He shot out of his chair and stormed in front of her, yanking her to her feet by her hair. “I’ve already won.” His hot, moist breath slid across her cheek. “You’re here, with me, and you’ll die knowing you’ll never see those kids again. You’ll fall to your knees and with your last breath hear me laughing. Imagine me taking back my kids and ending them the same way I’ll end you.”
He plunged his hand in his pocket and pulled out her wedding band. “But first you’ll wear this so everyone knows you’re mine.” He grabbed her hand and dug his fingers against hers, uncurling her fist and slamming the ring on her finger.
Anger rushed through her, heating her from the inside out. The gun hung in Mitch’s hand at his side, but his tyrannical speech and focus on putting the stupid ring back on her hand took his finger off the trigger. If she could distract him long enough to get her hands in her pocket, she could catch him off guard.
She buried her desire to smash her fist against his face. Her fury would only ignite his more and probably leave her with a bullet in her head. The only way to keep him on his heels was to stroke his ego. To make him think he still held power over her, and she was willing to do whatever it took to appease him.
“Please don’t do this.” She didn’t have to fake the tears clogging her throat, making her words choppy and breathless. “We can figure something—anything—out.”
The tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth told her she’d hooked his interest a little. “And how can we fix this mess you got us into? You were right. The police are after me. They won’t stop. I won’t go back to jail, and I won’t let anyone else have my family.”
“You don’t have to. I won’t press charges, and we’ll say someone used your computer. Maybe someone planted that flash drive. They can’t prove it’s yours.” Words tumbled out of her mouth and her fingers itched to grab her mace. But it wasn’t time. Not yet.
He scratched his chin, a clear sign he was considering what she said. Buying her bullshit. “What about that asshole?”
She swallowed the truth before it showed on her face. “He means nothing. He was hanging around, trying to talk me into giving him a chance. I just didn’t know how to tell him no. He couldn’t take a hint.”
The tiny twitch morphed into a menacing grin.
Taking a chance, she molded her palm against his hard chest.
He stilled and narrowed his eyes before glancing down at her hand. “You never could stay away. You always come back.” He closed his eyes and inched his face closer to hers.
Her heart thudded a hundred miles a minute, and she took a tiny step forward. His nearness set her nerve endings on high alert, but she had to be brave. Had to act. Now.
Plunging her free hand in her pocket, she grabbed the mace and yanked it out. She aimed it at his face seconds before his eyes flew open. She squeezed the trigger, sending a flood of pungent liquid into his eyes.
A scream ripped from his mouth, and he scrubbed the heels of his hands over his face as he stumbled backward. “You lying bitch!”
She unloaded the mace then ran.