Chapter 47 Lawson
LAWSON
Anson tapped his pen on the edge of a file as the snow fell harder around us, already accumulating on the ground. “I want to compile a list of all the men aged thirty through fifty-five who’ve had contact with Hallie since she’s been back in Cedar Ridge.”
That sick feeling was back in my gut. “You think he’s in contact with her now?”
Anson looked up, reading the edge to my tone. “Five years ago, the area the women went missing from was much more spread out. The body dump sites, too. Now, everything is more and more zeroed in on Cedar Ridge.”
“Because she’s here.”
He nodded. “I don’t think he’d be able to resist having some contact with her. It’s too tempting. The note proves it.”
My jaw worked back and forth. “Hallie sticks pretty close to home, but even so, there’s everyone at the kids’ schools, the businesses she frequents in town. It’s going to be a long list.”
“A long list is better than no list. We slowly whittle it down, person by person.”
I knew Anson was right. We had to start somewhere. It just felt like we had nothing. Less than nothing. And people were dying.
The door to the vet’s office flew open, and Susan hurried out, Thor in her arms. Her face was pale, her eyes wide.
I was out of my SUV before a single word left my lips. “What happened? Where’s Hallie?”
Susan’s head jerked one way and then the other. “I-I don’t know. I thought I heard a noise. Almost like a scream but not. Then Thor was barking like crazy. I went back to make sure everything was okay. But they were gone.”
“Who was gone?” Anson clipped.
“Hallie and Dr. Miller. I can’t find them anywhere.”
Everything around me slowed. The blood coursing through me felt heavy and cold. Hallie. My Little Minx. She’d trusted me to keep her safe.
“Show us,” Anson barked.
His voice snapped me out of my spiraling thoughts, and I strode after Susan into the vet’s office. She led us down the hall and into the exam room. Nothing looked out of sorts. But there was a syringe and a vial on the counter.
Anson bent, his eyes tracking the vial’s label. Then he turned, looking up at me. “Ketamine.”
“That can’t be,” Susan argued. “We use that for sedation. Thor just needed some shots.”
Blood roared in my ears. The steady pulse of my heart sounded like an explosion every couple of seconds.
“Where does Miller park?” My voice didn’t sound like mine. No emotion. Empty. Dead.
“Th-through here,” Susan said quickly, leading us through the second door into a back area for treatment.
There were a couple of dogs and cats in medical crates but nothing out of place.
She headed for a back door. “This is always locked. Alarmed, too, since we have prescription drugs on-site. I don’t know how someone could’ve gotten in.
Did they take them? Hallie and Dr. Miller? ”
Everything in me twisted as I shared a look with Anson.
He glanced away, scanning the space. “Does anyone else work here? A vet tech? Another doctor?”
“N-no. I mean, yes. But our vet tech is out sick today. She got food poisoning yesterday,” Susan stammered.
Food poisoning, the day before Hallie was scheduled to bring Thor in. It was all a little too convenient.
Anson scanned the small parking lot. There was only space for four vehicles, and it was flanked by thick woods. “Is that your vehicle or Dr. Miller’s?”
Susan glanced at the maroon Subaru. “That’s mine. His SUV is gone. Did someone steal that, too?”
My throat burned as if someone had poured acid down it. “I need you to cancel appointments for the rest of the day. Don’t let anyone else into the building. This is a crime scene.”
I paced back and forth along the side of the conference room. My skin felt too tight for my body, and my heart beat so hard it felt as though it might rip right out of my chest.
On one side of the table, Anson’s fingers flew over a laptop keyboard. The team at Holt’s security company had pulled everything they could find on Damien Miller. Anson was combing through it, comparing it to the previous data he’d compiled.
On the other side of the table, Holt, Grae, Caden, and Roan pored over maps of the area, trying to figure out where to start a search.
There’d been no sign of Miller at his house, and he had no other properties on record.
Crime scene techs were searching his home now, looking for anything that might give us a lead.
Some officers questioned whether someone had taken both Hallie and Miller, possibly forcing them into Miller’s vehicle. Possible? Sure. Likely? No.
Miller had her. The woman who’d become everything to me in such a short time. And God only knew what he was doing to her.
A hand clamped down on my shoulder. “Law.”
My father’s deep timbre made everything hurt more.
“I have to keep moving,” I muttered. If I stopped, it felt as if my body would explode.
Dad squeezed my shoulder harder. “We’re going to find her.”
I whirled on him. “You don’t know that. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
He gripped both my shoulders then, so hard there was a bite of pain. “I know that none of us will stop until we do.”
Bile surged in my throat. I knew he was right. I understood my family would never give up on Hallie. But what would we find when we finally located her?
It wasn’t just me. Mom had gone to pick up the boys from school to keep them with her and Wren. But I knew they were beside themselves and scared out of their minds because they’d fallen in love with Hallie just as much as I had.
“I can’t lose her,” I croaked. “I don’t think I can do life without her.”
My dad’s eyes filled. “You won’t have to.”
“I love her,” I whispered.
“I know.” Dad pulled me into a hard hug. “I know.”
There was a flurry of activity as Nash strode into the conference room, Clint and Abrams on his heels. His face was a mask of stormy fury.
The world dropped away. “What?” I rasped.
Nash’s throat worked as he swallowed. “We found trophies in the basement. More than two dozen of them. Jewelry, driver’s licenses, clippings of hair. And not just from this past year.” His gaze cut to me. “I’m sorry, Law. It’s him. It’s been him from the beginning.”