Chapter 33
CHAPTER
THIRTY-THREE
Duke skidded to a stop at the edge of the cliff, heart hammering. He scanned the darkness below and listened—for footsteps, breathing, anything.
Nothing.
The night swallowed any sounds.
Ranger reached his side, chest rising and falling. “He gone?”
Duke swept the beam from his cell phone over the area, wishing he had something stronger.
There was no movement. No trail. Just darkness and the distant wash of water far below.
“Yeah,” Duke finally said. “He’s gone.”
His adrenaline lingered, sharp and sour.
Whoever that was hadn’t come to attack.
They’d come to be seen. To taunt.
Duke turned back toward the lights, toward Andi and the others, the unease settling deeper than before.
This wasn’t a warning shot fired in panic.
It was a reminder.
And whoever was behind it knew exactly how to disappear when they chose to.
For a few terrible seconds, Andi could only stare into the darkness where Duke and Ranger had disappeared.
Her pulse thudded in her ears. Every instinct screamed at her to move, to follow. But she stayed rooted, fingers curled tight around her phone, eyes straining for any sign of motion beyond the reach of the lights.
Were they okay?
Those texts he’d received slammed into her mind. She didn’t know where the thoughts were coming from.
But she still hadn’t asked him what they were about. He still hadn’t told her why he might be talking to Celeste.
He’d been madly in love with the woman at one time. Had those feelings sprung up again?
She swallowed hard. She didn’t want to think that was a possibility.
Duke was faithful. Even when Celeste had gone missing for more than a year, he’d refused to date. He was that kind of guy.
She usually didn’t question his integrity—and she wasn’t necessarily doing that now. But she hated the fact he was keeping secrets.
Then she saw them.
Two shapes emerged from the shadows—solid, familiar. Duke first, his stride controlled but urgent. Ranger just behind him.
Relief hit her so hard her knees nearly gave out.
Duke crossed the distance quickly. “He’s gone. We chased him, but he knew the terrain. Led us toward a ravine and disappeared.”
So close.
Too close.
“He wanted us to see him,” Andi murmured.
Duke nodded once. “That’s my read.”
The team slowly regrouped, tension buzzing between them. No one spoke for a moment, as if saying the wrong thing might pull the shadow back out of the dark.
Mariella broke the silence, lowering her phone. “I just got a text from a guy I know. I asked him to check out Colin’s alibi during the other disappearance during our tour.”
“And?” Andi asked.
“Colin has a verified alibi for the Portland window.” She hesitated. “Work records. Witnesses. Digital trail. It’s solid.”
Andi exhaled slowly.
They’d been circling Colin for days. Building theories. Following threads that now unraveled in their hands.
“If it’s not Colin,” Simmy said, “then who?”
That question settled heavily over them.
Andi’s mind churned, moving backward instead of forward now. What had they missed?
“What if it’s not about Gina?” Andi said, the thought forming even as it left her mouth. “Not originally.”
Duke turned toward her. “What are you thinking?”
“What if whoever this is didn’t start with Gina?” Andi said. “What if he started earlier—with one of our cases? Someone we talked about. Someone we dismissed. Someone who disappeared and was written off.”
The implication rippled through the group.
Mariella went still. Her color drained so fast Andi noticed it immediately.
“No,” Mariella whispered.
Andi’s stomach dropped. “Mariella?”
She swallowed hard, eyes glassy. “I don’t know if this is connected or not. But . . . there was a woman I knew years ago . . .”
Duke’s voice was steady when he spoke. “You think this could be connected to you?”
Mariella nodded once. “I think it might be.”
The weight of it settled deep in Andi’s chest.
These crimes weren’t random.
They weren’t opportunistic.
They were personal.
Duke stayed close as they gathered around Mariella.
He instinctively positioned himself where he could see everyone at once. The night felt tighter now and the air heavier, as if the truth had narrowed the space around them.
Mariella stood with her arms wrapped around herself, staring at a point just past the group. Duke recognized the look—someone bracing for impact before delivering a blow.
“It was back when I lived in LA,” she began. “Years ago. There was a woman I knew. Not a close friend, but someone in my orbit. We ran in the same circles. She’d been talking for weeks about leaving. Going to Mexico. Starting over. She kept saying she needed to disappear for a while.”
Duke watched everyone as she spoke. Andi’s face was tight with focus. Ranger had gone still. Even Simmy looked braced.
“She had debt collectors after her,” Mariella continued. “Aggressive ones. They called everyone she knew—friends, coworkers, acquaintances—trying to track her down. It got ugly. So when she vanished . . . everyone assumed she’d finally done it. That she’d run.”
They waited for her to continue.
“No one went looking for her. Not really. We talked about her for a few days. Then life moved on. But she hadn’t run.” Mariella’s voice wavered for the first time. “She’d been abducted.”
A sharp breath moved through the group.
“She eventually escaped,” Mariella went on. “Weeks later. She showed up at my apartment—thin, furious, terrified. She’d screamed at me. Asked how I could believe she’d just walk away. How I could let it go.”
Duke didn’t miss the way Mariella’s hands clenched.
“She said if even one of us had pushed—just one—maybe someone would’ve noticed sooner.” Mariella shook her head. “I tried to apologize, but . . . she didn’t want to hear it. I don’t blame her.”
Silence stretched.
Guilt like that didn’t fade. Duke knew that firsthand. It waited and sharpened.
“And you’ve carried this ever since,” Andi said.
Mariella nodded. “Every time we cover a disappearance where people assume the worst—or the easiest—I think of her.”
Ranger spoke up, voice low. “What was her name?”
Mariella hesitated, then said it. “April Altman.”
Duke committed the name to memory immediately.
“We need to look into her case.” Duke didn’t phrase it as a suggestion.
Mariella met his gaze. “I was hoping you’d say that.”