Chapter 42
It was almost daybreak.
Kale paced the lobby. They’d called off the search two hours ago to wait for daylight.
He’d raised hell when the chief first mentioned taking a break to wait for the sun to come up. But, like him, the deputies participating in the search were half frozen.
It was the right thing to do, but he couldn’t bear the thought of Sarah being out there in the cold or worse . . . being tortured.
The chief was already reorganizing the groups, laying out the new search grid. Kale needed him to work faster. He needed the sun to come up.
Agent August strolled past him, hands shoved deep into his trouser pockets. He glanced at Kale. “She’s a survivor, you know.”
Kale gritted his teeth. He didn’t want to hear anything this prick had to say.
“Two years ago she had a little meltdown.” August studied Kale’s face as he spoke, analyzing, concluding. “A total mental break, they say. She spent seven days in a padded room. But she came back. She’ll come back from this.”
Kale hadn’t intended to, but he blinked.
The burn of emotion wouldn’t be assuaged any other way.
He didn’t know if anything this asshole said was true, but he knew that Sarah had to be the strongest woman he’d ever met.
Who wouldn’t have a meltdown considering the kind of work she did and how invested she got? Or if you considered her childhood.
August smirked and shook his head. “You shouldn’t get so hung up on her. She’ll go when the investigation is wrapped up, and you’ll be left here wondering what the hell happened.”
Kale took a swing at him. The bastard dodged in the nick of time.
“Conner!”
Hands grabbed at him and held him back.
August just laughed.
Kale wanted to kill him.
The front entrance doors burst open. “I need some help over here!”
All eyes swung to the door.
Jimmy Tate, Sarah leaning against him, stumbled into the lobby.
Kale’s heart swelled. He rushed to her.
“Sarah! Are you all right?”
She blinked. Stared at him, her pupils wide.
Shit! He lifted her into his arms.
She was freezing.
Where the hell was her coat?
“We need to warm her up!” Kale shouted to anyone listening.
People started clambering around him.
“Let me go.” Sarah struggled against his hold.
“We need to get her to a hospital,” Kale said to the chief.
“No.” She struggled some more. “I’m all right. Put me down.”
He had no choice but to do as she said or risk dropping her. She staggered. He steadied her.
She searched the faces until she found the chief’s. “I can take you to where I was held.”
Kale shook his head. “First, we go to the hospital.”
“Listen to her,” August argued. “If she needed immediate medical attention, she would tell you.”
Sarah pushed away from Kale. Glowered at August. “Chief”—she looked directly at him then—“take me now before my memory is muddled with other influences.”
“Where’d you find her?” the chief asked Tate.
“I was on my way to work,” Jimmy told him. “Found her way down on 52. She was trying to climb outta the ditch. It’s a miracle I saw her. She’d about frozen to death. I wanted to take her to the ER but she made me bring her here.”
“Why the hell didn’t you call?” Kale demanded.
“I don’t have no cell phone,” Jimmy growled. “She wouldn’t let me stop nowhere. She wanted to come straight here.”
“We’re wasting time,” Sarah contended, her voice quivery and weak.
Kale jerked off his coat and wrapped it around her. She shuddered. Damn it! She needed medical attention. He didn’t care what she or anyone else said.
“Get the lady some coffee,” the chief shouted. “And let’s take her where she wants to go.”
After a few wrong turns in the woods, they found the location where Sarah had dropped her cell phone.
Sarah pointed to the shore. “Down there.”
Kale didn’t want her to go back down there, but there was no stopping her. Now that she had some caffeine in her veins, she was taking no orders from him. Or anyone else.
At the mouth of the cave, the chief halted the progress.
“Agent August, you, Kale, and Ms. Newton come with me.” He surveyed the rest of the group as they ambled closer.
“Karen, you call the state police and tell them to get their lab techs down here. And call Billy Jackson and let him know we’re out here. ”
This cave wasn’t technically in Youngstown town limits, so the local police needed to be contacted.
The chief glanced at Kale. “Let’s see what we’ve got here.”
Sarah led the way.
The powerful flashlight beams bounced around the dark interior. Kale spotted the bag she carried everywhere. He started to reach for it.
“Don’t touch nothing,” the chief reminded.
“Over here, Chief!” August shouted.
Kale stayed close to Sarah. The agent’s flashlight was focused on an object on the ground.
Silver glinted. A big-ass knife. Bloody.
The chief studied it a moment, then surveyed the area around it.
A piece of white cloth lay on the ground nearby. Small, empty tubes that had once held glue. A partial roll of duct tape. Empty food containers. A woman’s shoe. And eyeglasses.
All kinds of evidence.
Anticipation burned inside Kale.
’Bout damned time.
They were going to get this bastard.