Chapter 72
Thursday just before noon
Sabre parked a block away from Cindy’s Pancake House and sat gripping the steering wheel for a moment before getting out. Late morning sunlight reflected off storefront windows and parked cars along the Pacific Beach strip while ocean air drifted subtly through the street.
Everything seemed painfully normal. Families crossed intersections. Tourists walked toward the beach. A teenager carried a surfboard past the corner coffee shop.
Meanwhile somewhere nearby, Daniel Rourke was deciding whether Hannah Caldwell disappeared forever.
Sabre started walking. She carried no purse or briefcase, just her phone and keys, like Rourke had instructed.
The pancake house sat near the corner with faded blue trim and wide front windows. The smell of syrup and bacon drifted through the open entrance every time somebody came or went.
Sabre slowed as she approached. Her pulse had started climbing blocks ago, before she even parked.
A waitress near the front counter smiled automatically. “Table for one?”
“I’m meeting someone. I’m not sure if they’re here yet.” Sabre scanned the room. There were families, college kids, an older couple near the back, but no Hannah and no Rourke.
“Are you Sabre?” the waitress asked.
“Yes.”
“Your party’s outside.”
Sabre looked toward the patio doors. Of course. Outside gave him visibility, exits, and distance control.
She stepped through the side patio entrance into bright sunlight. Half the tables sat empty. The ocean breeze drifted through the umbrellas overhead. At the far corner table sat a blonde teenage girl alone.
Sabre froze. For one suspended second neither of them moved. Hannah looked older and thinner than Sabre imagined. Her long blonde hair was tied loosely back. She wore a gray sweatshirt, and her hands were wrapped tightly around a coffee she clearly wasn’t drinking.
But the eyes were the same. Those were Hannah’s eyes, and so was the cowlick.
The girl stood, nervous, like she was ready to bolt.
Sabre forced herself not to move too quickly.
“Hi, Hannah.”
“Hi.” Her voice shook.
Sabre stepped closer. Rourke wasn’t visible anywhere. That worried her.
“Did you come alone?” Sabre asked.
Hannah looked past Sabre toward the street. “Yes.”
Sabre was sure that was either a lie or an instruction.
Sabre sat across from her, and for several seconds neither of them spoke.
Then Hannah gave a small nervous laugh. “You never got me pancakes.”
Sabre felt emotion rise so fast it caught her off guard. “No,” she admitted softly. “I guess I owe you.”
A waitress appeared awkwardly beside the table. “Can I get you something?”
Hannah looked down like she wanted to disappear.
“Two orders of pancakes,” Sabre said.
The waitress smiled and left.
Silence settled again. Sabre studied Hannah’s face and posture. She was restrained, not drugged, not visibly injured, but she was frightened.
“Hannah—”
“He said no police.”
Sabre kept her voice calm. “I came alone.”
Hannah looked at her for a long moment. “You didn’t.”
Sabre said nothing.
Hannah glanced again toward the street. “He always knows.”
Sabre followed her gaze. Still no Rourke, but she was sure he was watching from somewhere.
“Hannah,” Sabre said softly, “you don’t have to be afraid of me.”
Hannah’s eyes pooled with unshed tears. “That’s the problem.”
Stunned, Sabre asked, “What does that mean?”
Hannah stared down at the table. “He told me if I saw you again…” Her voice weakened. “Everything would change.”
Sabre realized that part of Hannah wanted it to. Rourke knew it too.
The waitress returned with pancakes and hot syrup.
The interruption felt surreal, the clinking plates, families laughing nearby, and normal life continuing around something impossibly broken.
Hannah whispered, “I used to think about this moment all the time.”
Sabre’s chest tightened.
Suddenly Hannah’s eyes shifted sharply past her shoulder. Fear flooded her face, and she whispered, “He’s here you know.”
Sabre didn’t look around. “In the restaurant?”
“No. But he’s close.”
“You don’t need to be afraid. As long as we’re here, he can’t do anything.”
Hannah’s eyes darted nervously toward the street. “What about Bay?”
“She’s okay.”
Hannah shook her head. “Daniel said she got arrested for murder.”
Sabre chose her words carefully. “You’re right. She was arrested.”
Hannah’s face crumpled. “Oh no!”
“She’s alive,” Sabre said quickly. “And she’s safe.”
Hannah looked overwhelmed. “She didn’t kill Todd.” She said it with absolute certainty.
“How do you know that?”
“I know she stabbed him. She did it to protect me. She told me to leave and I did.” The girl paused. “I came back to help her, but Bay was already gone. Todd was still moving.”
Sabre felt the world narrow sharply around the words. “What happened then?”
Hannah lowered her voice to a whisper. “I saw Daniel. Todd was trying to get up off the floor.” She was taking deep breaths now.
“Take your time,” Sabre said.
“Todd tried to get up, but Daniel picked up a wine bottle and hit him on the back of the head. He fell back down and just laid there, real still.”
Rourke was a killer too! “What did Daniel do then?”
“He left. He never knew I was there.” She took a deep breath. “You have to help Bay, like you helped me when I was young.”
Sabre’s heart ached. She wished she could’ve saved her from Rourke.
“I can help her, but you’ll have to help me.”
“I know she’s scared,” Hannah whispered. “She thinks everybody leaves. And now she’s alone.”
“She’s not alone. She has us, and we’re not going to let anything happen to her.”
“I can see him,” Hannah said.
Sabre turned in her chair. Across the street near the boardwalk entrance stood Daniel Rourke, his baseball cap low, hands in his pockets, watching them.
The second his eyes met Sabre’s, he gave the slightest shake of his head toward Hannah.
The girl’s entire body tightened. “He saw them,” she whispered, panic in her eyes. “We have to go.”
Hannah shoved back from the table so fast the chair scraped sharply. Nearby customers looked over.
Across the street, Rourke started backing toward the boardwalk crowd, already on the move.
“Hannah, wait!”
“You weren’t supposed to bring anybody!” Tears filled Hannah’s eyes. “He told me this would happen!”
Rourke lifted one hand. A signal for her to come. Hannah turned toward him.
Sabre gently caught her wrist. “Hannah.” Her voice cracked hard enough to stop her. “You do not have to disappear again.”
Hannah froze.
Across the street, Rourke changed direction and started toward them fast.
JP stepped off the corner near a surf shop and moved toward the patio.
Rourke spotted him immediately, and his expression hardened. He yelled, “Hannah. Now.”
It was a command voice that triggered obedience in Hannah. She physically flinched.
Sabre stepped between them. “No.”
DuBois and Urban were already moving from opposite sides of the street.
Rourke must’ve seen them too. His eyes snapped back to Hannah. He was nearly upon them.
“Hannah,” Sabre cajoled. “You told me you trusted me.”
“I do,” Hannah whispered. She didn’t move.
Her hesitation crushed him. Sabre could see it on his face.
Rourke took a fast step toward the patio.
DuBois shouted, “Police! Don’t move!”
At the exact same moment, Hannah cried out, “He killed Todd!”
Just then, Rourke spun and bolted toward the boardwalk crowd. JP went after him. DuBois vaulted the patio gate while Urban cut toward the beach access stairs. People screamed and scattered across the sidewalk.
Rourke hit the boardwalk at full speed, shoving past tourists and nearly knocking over a cyclist. JP closed hard behind him.
Rourke cut sharply through a narrow alley between souvenir shops. JP followed, closing the distance.
Ahead, Rourke glanced back. Big mistake. JP launched forward and body-slammed him hard into a chain-link fence beside a dumpster. Both men crashed to the pavement.
Rourke drove an elbow backward into JP’s ribs and twisted free enough to scramble halfway upright. JP grabbed the back of his jacket and dragged him down again.
“Done running?” JP growled.
Rourke slammed backward into him violently. “You don’t understand!” he shouted.
JP drove him face-first into the concrete. “Yeah,” JP snapped. “I do. Truth’s like a hound dog, son. It might take a while, but it’ll find you.”
Footsteps thundered into the alley. DuBois arrived first with Urban right behind him.
“Hands!”
Rourke stopped fighting. Not because of the guns, but because somewhere behind them Hannah screamed, “Don’t hurt him!”
Rourke turned his head toward the sound of her voice while DuBois locked cuffs onto his wrists.
JP gave him a not-so-gentle kick. “That’s for threatening my girlfriend.”