Chapter 16
Lakin waited and waited for Eli until she finally got a text from him.
Something came up. Will have to talk to you tomorrow.
What was the something that had come up? Had another body been found? Or maybe the serial killer?
She really hoped that was the case, so that nobody else would get hurt.
Nobody else should lose their life or a loved one like her dad had lost so many people he cared about.
She would have asked Eli why he couldn’t make it, but too often he ignored questions like that.
He had to keep the details of an investigation close to his chest so that things didn’t get leaked to the press.
Despite his efforts, things did seem to be getting leaked.
Lakin understood why he had to be so secretive, but she would feel so much better if she knew what had come up. She would also feel so much better if she wasn’t completely alone. But she was the one who’d shooed out Parker and Troy, so that she could talk to Eli without them present.
Now…
She could call either one of them, and they would rush back to her side. Still, she appreciated having a little distance from Troy, especially after last night.
She wanted to be with him again, wanted to sleep in his arms like she had the night before.
She loved him so much, but she was pretty sure she was going to have to let him go when he went back to the oil rigs.
After he’d been hurt, she would be terrified the entire time he was gone that he would be hurt again.
She didn’t want to live in fear of losing him. Or of losing herself.
That was how she felt right now, like she was losing part of herself. For so many years, it had been the two of them, loving and laughing and making plans for the future. But apparently she was the only one who really intended to follow through on those plans.
No. She wasn’t going to live in fear for Troy or for anyone else. Seller had made her uneasy with his comments this morning, but she was not going to let him make her feel like a victim before anyone even tried to hurt her.
She’d already proven when she’d been abandoned at three years old that she was a survivor. She was strong.
She drew in a deep breath, stepped outside and locked the office door behind her.
It was just a short distance from the office’s porch to where her SUV was parked, but night had fallen like a black blanket.
The porch light bore only a small hole in it.
She pulled out her key fob and flashed her lights on, and that was when she saw him.
Not his face. But his height, his broadness. A man stood out in the darkness. Waiting for her…
With where he was standing between her and her SUV, she wouldn’t be able to get into her vehicle. And if she turned around to unlock the office door, he might have time to run up and force his way inside with her before she could lock the door behind herself again.
She clicked her key fob again, turning on the vehicle alarm. Hopefully the blare of the horn and the blinking lights would draw a guest from their cabin or catch the attention of someone driving by.
She didn’t wait around to find out. She ran.
The man ran after her; she could hear his feet pounding the ground behind her. She might have screamed, but she wasn’t about to waste her breath. She needed all of it as she ran for her life.
* * *
Eli glanced at his phone to confirm that Lakin had read his text. She’d given it a thumbs-up because, of course, she would. She wouldn’t argue with him and insist that he tell her what he’d found out about the man claiming to be her father, not like Troy would.
Or Kansas.
His cousin stood next to him in the lab, intently watching the tech, Scott Montgomery, process the photograph. Since Eli had shared the situation with Kansas, she was as worried about Lakin as he was. She’d suggested they run more tests on the old snapshot.
“I’m sorry,” Montgomery said. “I can’t get enough DNA off the photograph to process, let alone compare it to anything left at the other crime scenes.”
Kansas cursed.
Eli swallowed his. “Thanks for trying.”
Scott nodded. “No problem. I really wish I was able to do more.”
“We know,” Kansas assured the man who smiled shyly back at her.
Eli figured the tech had a crush on her. But he suspected he wasn’t the only man Eli worked with who had one on the beautiful state trooper.
“You really think this guy could be the serial killer?” Montgomery asked.
Eli shrugged. “I don’t know. But I hope not.
” It would make sense, though, since the killings hadn’t started until after Whitlaw’s release from prison.
That was why Eli had agreed with Kansas that the trip to the lab to try to pull DNA off the photograph was more important than meeting with Lakin.
Eli could help her more by putting Whitlaw back in prison than by filling her in on what little he’d learned about the man.
But this trip to the lab hadn’t given them any new information and definitely no connection between Whitlaw and the Fiancée Killer.
As much as Eli wanted to find and stop the serial killer, he wasn’t sure that he wanted it to be Whitlaw. The man was focused on Lakin right now. And not for the reason he claimed. What was his real connection to her?
More important, what did he really want from her?
* * *
Troy knew he shouldn’t have left Lakin alone at the RTA office. When Parker got the text from Eli that he’d canceled on her, Troy rushed out of the bar and back to RTA. He didn’t wait for Parker. He was too worried.
And for good reason. When he drove into the lot, he saw the lights flashing and heard the horn blaring on her SUV. Either someone had tried to break into it, or she had deliberately set off the alarm. Either way she was in trouble.
The second he threw open the door to his truck, he heard her scream. It chilled his blood. And then he started running.
She must be trying to get back to her cabin. He headed that way, yelling her name. He wasn’t just calling out to let her know he was coming, but also to whoever might be chasing her.
Unless they’d already caught her…
He heard other running footsteps, but he couldn’t see anything. Not even a star or a sliver of moon lit the way. What had happened to the lights in the other cabins? Were they all vacant?
“Lakin!” he called out again, trying to figure out where she was.
But she didn’t call back to him. Was someone holding a hand over her mouth? Or was it worse than that?
“Lakin! The police are coming!” he yelled again. But he hadn’t called them yet. Hopefully someone had who’d seen her lights flashing and heard her horn honking.
But if not…
There was no help coming but him. He had to find her.
It was too dark for him to track footprints unless he pulled out his phone. He heard no sirens in the distance. He needed to call the police himself.
He flashed his cell light on and immediately heard a gun cock. Then, seconds later, the blast of it being fired.
His first fear was for her, that Lakin had been shot.
But before he could call out to her, she screamed his name. Leaves rustled, and branches snapped near his head as bullets fired at him.
He ducked down, trying to take cover. It was clear whoever had been after her was willing or maybe even determined to kill him so that he didn’t get in their way.
But he wasn’t as worried about his life as he was hers. He had to figure out a way to stay alive and make sure that she did, too.