Hidden in Plain Sight

An Amish Country Justice story

After police dispatcher Elise St. Clair’s home is invaded by her murderous brother-in-law, her nephew is hidden in Amish Country by her cleaning lady. Now relying on police officer Ryan Parker is Elise’s only hope of reuniting with the child...and evading the killer. And Elise and Ryan quickly discover their temporary partnership has long-term potential—if they can stay alive.

DANA R. LYNN grew up in Illinois. She met a man at a wedding who she told her parents was her future husband. Nineteen months later, they were married. Today they live in rural Pennsylvania with their three children, two dogs, one cat, one rabbit, one horse and six chickens. In addition to writing, she works as an educational interpreter for the deaf and is active in several ministries in her church.

Also by Dana R. Lynn

Amish Country Justice

Plain Target

Plain Retribution

Amish Christmas Abduction

Amish Country Ambush

Presumed Guilty

Interrupted Lullaby

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk

Amish Country Ambush

Dana R. Lynn

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08559-5

AMISH COUNTRY AMBUSH

© 2018 Dana Roae

Published in Great Britain 2018

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

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Version: 2020-03-02

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“There’s something in the trees. I’m going to investigate.” Drawing his service weapon, Ryan flipped on his body camera.

“No!” Elise caught his hand. “What if you get hurt? Or worse?”

Warmth spread at the concern in her rich voice. “I have to go, Elise. We need to catch whoever is behind these attacks. You stay in the house. Lock the door behind me.”

Despite the mutinous set to her mouth, he heard the bolt slide into place once he was outside. He started toward the trees. He had barely gone half the distance when his phone rang. It was Elise.

“Elise? What’s wrong?”

“Ryan? Is that you outside?”

The tremble in her voice caught at him. Then he frowned; she’d watched him go outside.

“You know I am. I’m almost to the tree line. Are you okay?” The sense of foreboding spiked as he heard her take a harsh breath.

“I can see a shadow through the blinds... Someone is standing just on the other side of the window.”

Dear Reader,

I had no idea when I wrote my first book how much I would grow to love LaMar Pond and the people who live there. Through the past few years, though, it has become so much more than a fictional town to me. I have enjoyed “visiting” the small Pennsylvania town and telling the stories of the characters as they find their happy-ever-afters. Amish Country Ambush was no different.

We first met Ryan Parker in Plain Retribution. He’s got a heart of gold and a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He doesn’t realize it, but he has so much to offer a woman. A woman like Elise St. Clair. Elise is not well-known in LaMar Pond. She has suffered so much in her life and struggles to realize that she is worthy to be loved. She also has a stubborn streak. These two were so much fun to write about as they grew closer and learned how to open up and let love in while racing against the clock. I hope you enjoyed their story.

Thank you for joining me for Ryan and Elise’s story. I love to hear from readers. You can email me at WriterDanaLynn@gmail.com. Or visit me online at www.danarlynn.com. I am also on Facebook and Twitter (@danarlynn).

Blessings,

Dana R. Lynn

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?

—Psalms 27:1

To my editor, Elizabeth Mazer. I have been blessed by your incredible wisdom and guidance through the past few years. I appreciate you more than I can say.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Introduction

Dear Reader

Bible Verse

Dedication

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

EIGHT

NINE

TEN

ELEVEN

TWELVE

THIRTEEN

FOURTEEN

FIFTEEN

SIXTEEN

SEVENTEEN

EPILOGUE

Extract

About the Publisher

ONE

The lights flickered as thunder boomed, rattling the windows. Immediately, heavy sheets of rain pelted the glass. Distracted, Elise St. Clair glanced at the lights running the length of the ceiling as she pressed the button to answer the next call.

Her customary greeting of “Nine-one-one. What’s your emergency?” was swallowed up in the intensity of the noise that blasted back at her.

The woman on the other end of the phone was shouting, the sound deafeningly loud. And worse, she couldn’t understand a word the woman was saying. She was yelling in Pennsylvania Dutch, the language spoken by the Amish community. Elise didn’t quite recognize the voice, although there was something familiar about it. She glanced down at the screen nearest her and felt her world tilt.

She might not have recognized the voice on the other end of the phone, but she knew the address that flashed across one of the three computer monitors at her station.

It belonged to an old, slightly creaky farmhouse on the edge of town. The paint was peeling in places, and there were some shingles missing. It was hidden in the middle of nowhere. The kind of place people would drive by without a second glance.

It was also her house. The house she had lived in for the past two years with Mikey, her nephew who was now three years old. And the phone number belonged to her babysitter, Diana Mosher, who was definitely not the person on the phone. Where was Diana? Who was calling her?

Something horrible had happened, and she couldn’t understand a word of it. The urge to throw down her headset and dash out the door was fierce. Her hands were already on the headset, ready to snatch it from her head before she realized that she was the only one who could notify the authorities of the need for help. But who should she call? Police? Ambulance? Fire department? As head dispatcher, it was her job to send the call to the correct department.

The shouting on the other end eased off as the woman on the line started sobbing. She sounded younger than Elise had first thought. Wait a minute. Her cleaning girl, Leah, was due in today. Elise had hired her because she herself was allergic to dust, and there was dust everywhere in a farmhouse in rural northwestern Pennsylvania. Leah was Amish. She spoke English and was able to communicate with Elise perfectly well—but if she was upset, and she definitely sounded upset, she might default to Pennsylvania Dutch.

“Leah?” A sob answered her. “Leah...it’s Elise. What happened?”

“I think she’s dead,” Leah answered through her tears.

Diana? Fear and grief started to collide. Not again. Please, God. Not again.

Forcing a calm she didn’t feel, Elise said, “Leah, what happened to Diana? Do you see Mikey? Is my nephew there?” She clamped her lips against the flood of hysteria threatening to break free.

On the other end, Leah sucked in a harsh breath. In the distance, Elise could make out a crash on the other end of the line. Not thunder—something else. Something more frightening. Then another crash. Something was happening.

“Leah? What’s going on?”

Then a whisper. “I think someone’s in the house.”

The line went dead.

Elise froze for a second, gagging on the fear that closed her throat. She’d been too complacent. Tricked into a sense of false security. And now the danger she should have been expecting all along had found her again. Yes, it was possible that a complete stranger was breaking into her house, but she doubted it. Every instinct she possessed was shrieking that the attack was deliberate, and she was the intended target.

The memories she’d been running from swamped her. Her sister, Karalynne, murdered. Elise believed with all her heart that her overly possessive brother-in-law Hudson had killed Karalynne. But he’d disappeared. And she’d taken Mikey and moved away from the memories.

Could Hudson be responsible for this new attack?

She shook her head. The police had told her Hudson had died, a horrible violent death. She’d seen the report. Part of her had sighed in relief, choosing to believe she and her nephew were safe.

But now unease returned. As much as she wanted to believe Hudson was dead, there was one fact that had always bothered her. His body had never been found. The police had insisted that the car fire that had killed him had incinerated his remains. What if...

Enough! She had to get to Mikey. Because someone was after them. Although if it wasn’t Hudson Langor, she didn’t know who would have any reason to attack her home.

She should have warned Diana about Hudson. And about the brutal violence he was capable of. But without proof, who’d believe her?

If only she’d stayed home one more day! She’d had a nasty stomach bug that had kept her at home for the past two days, but today she’d felt well enough to come into work. Had she been home...

Elise couldn’t worry about that. Not now. She had to get to Mikey. He was all that mattered.

Her coworker Monica Johnson sauntered into the room, a bored expression on her pretty face. She could do the job.

Elise whipped off her headset and jumped up so fast her wheeled chair was propelled back, slamming into the wall behind her. Monica stared at her, openmouthed. Elise never got emotional at work. When handling frantic emergency calls, she felt that calmness on her end was key. But this wasn’t a normal situation where she had to soothe a stranger into sharing the necessary details. This time, she was the one under attack, and she couldn’t hide how frightened she was.

“Monica! Send the police to my address. Someone broke in. And send an ambulance, too. My babysitter may have been injured. I’m heading there now.”

Not Mikey. Please, God. Let Mikey and Leah be okay. Diana’s image floated through her mind. And if it’s possible, please let Diana still be alive.

Monica nodded, her face pale and shocked as she shooed Elise away. Elise could hear Monica’s loud, abrasive voice as she called the police. Elise grabbed up her purse and flew out the door. Thankfully, it was only four o’clock in the afternoon. She wouldn’t have to deal with traffic or darkness as she drove.

She hadn’t counted on the rain, though, turning the muggy July day into a wet mess. Elise dashed to her car, her feet slogging through puddles as fat raindrops pounded relentlessly on her bare head. She hadn’t thought to grab her umbrella on her way out the door, and she certainly wasn’t going back for it now—not when every second counted.

She was soaked and shivering by the time she was seated behind the wheel. She started the engine and shifted into Drive. Clenching the wheel in both hands, she drove furiously, swerving to avoid the larger puddles. Even so, her right wheel hit one and water splashed up on the windshield.

Pulling onto her road, she spun the wheel and turned sharply into her long gravel driveway. Then she stopped. She couldn’t see her house from here, but she could envision it clearly. The large farmhouse that had appeared so perfect to hide in when she’d first seen it now seemed like the perfect haven for a madman lying in wait to ambush her. If she drove all the way up the driveway, he’d hear the car and know she was coming. She had to walk. Decision made, she pulled the car off the driveway enough to let the emergency vehicles pass. Then she killed the engine. Her fingers fumbled on her seat belt. Finally, the buckle slipped free and she shoved it aside, her free hand scrambling for the door latch.

Leaving her purse in the car, she grabbed her keys and ran up the driveway. She was a good runner, but her anxiety had her breathing faster than normal. By the time she’d reached the side of her house, she was panting. Sweat, mixed with rainwater, dripped down her neck.

At the stairs, she paused. If she was going to assume the intruder was still inside, then she needed to consider her entrance carefully. If the attacker was Hudson, the man had a brutal streak that ran deep. While her heart urged her to get inside and find her nephew as quickly as possible, caution was advised, especially if she had any hope of saving Mikey and Leah. Where were the police?

Carefully, she pulled open the screen door. The heavy wooden front door was unlocked. It swung open with a faint creak. She cringed. Had Hudson heard that? She held her breath and listened. Nothing. The silence terrified her. Ten minutes ago, Leah had been shrieking. Now, aside from the still-pouring rain beating against the roof and windows, there was no sound at all.

She slipped in through the half-open door and glanced around. From this vantage point, she had a clear view of both the living room and the dining room. No one seemed to be there. She took a step into the open living room and approached the couch, which faced into the room. Something crunched under her foot. Glass. From where?

She lifted her eyes to look around and sucked in a shocked breath. Every single picture on the wall had been shattered, the familiar images damaged or destroyed. Her heart stuck in her throat. All she had left of her sister was wrapped up in pictures and her son. Now the pictures had been destroyed, and Mikey... Again, she shoved down the urge to run to his room. If she was going to protect him, she needed to be cautious—to carefully assess the situation rather than rush in. She continued her survey of the room.

Glass covered the hardwood floor. She could see shards sticking out of the oval area rug. A baseball bat was leaning against the wall. Behind the coffee table situated in front of the sofa, an arm was stretched out, the hand tapering into three perfectly manicured fuchsia-tipped nails. The other two had broken off. Diana. Averting her gaze, she reached out for the bat. There was something on it. Blood. She hesitated before her hands touched the bat, knowing it had been used as a weapon against her friend. The police would want it as evidence, so she should leave it alone—but on the other hand, it was a weapon she could use to defend herself. Torn, she left it alone for now.

Clutching her throat, she fought against the nausea that rolled in her belly and stepped farther into the room. Maybe Leah was hiding with Mikey deeper inside the house.

Glass crunched behind her.

“Well, well, well. Little Elise.” She knew that voice!

Elise whirled, her heart in her throat as, for the first time in two years, she faced the one man she’d feared above all others. The handsome face she remembered was gone. The face before her was damaged, ravaged by fire to the point that it was no longer recognizable. The thick hair she’d seen him smooth back so often was thin, missing in places. Patches of scar tissue replaced hair in several places. The charming smile she remembered was now distorted due to the damaged skin and muscle tissue. It would have been tempting to believe she was facing a total stranger.

Except for the voice.

That voice she’d know anywhere. Dark and gravelly, cold and cruel.

“Hudson!” she gasped. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

He smiled. It was a smile filled with malice. Images of him strangling Karalynne flooded her mind, paralyzing her.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you? I’m sure it was you who convinced my wife to throw me out of the house. Which means you’re to blame for everything.”

He stepped closer. Dizziness swamped her. She wanted to run. But where was Mikey? Hudson reached out a large hand and grabbed a handful of her short curls. Pain lanced through her skull as he pulled her head back. She cried out. “Not so brave now, are you? You should never have interfered in what didn’t concern you. You turned her against me, I’m sure you did. She never would have tried to leave me if not for you. Her death is all your fault. You know what I’m after. Where is it? And where is my son?”

It was telling, in her mind, that he asked for his son second. This was a man who was incapable of love. If he wanted Mikey, it wasn’t due to fatherly affection but for some twisted purpose of his own.

He yanked on her hair again. Even as spots danced in front of her eyes, hope filled her heart. He had no idea where Mikey was. Which meant Leah had managed to hide him.

A meaty fist slammed into her jaw. Elise slumped to the floor as Hudson threw her back from him. He stepped toward her, rage written all over him. I don’t want to die yet.

Hudson stopped suddenly as sirens filled the air. Blue-and-red strobe lights splashed across her eggshell-colored walls. The police had arrived. Fury flickered on his face. “I’ll be back. I’ll find it. And Michael. And then you’re going to pay for what you’ve cost me.”

Running, he headed for the back of the house. She heard the back door crash open.

She should move. Get up and tell the police...

Her thoughts were hazy, and she couldn’t keep them together. She attempted to lift her head. It was too heavy. She lay there among the glass, knowing it was digging into her but unable to move.

Her eyes drifted shut.

A hand touched her neck.

Her pulse stuttered. Had he come back? She should fight. She forced her eyes open and met concerned eyes the color of melted chocolate. She blinked slowly. Short, medium brown hair. Strong jaw. And a dark blue LaMar Pond Police Department uniform came into view.

She was safe. For now. Her eyes drifted shut again.

* * *

Sergeant Ryan Parker stared down at the woman lying on the glass-covered area rug. It was hard to tell how badly she was wounded. Her jaw was bruised and starting to swell. She was bleeding from a half-dozen small cuts. He could clearly see shards of broken glass threaded in her golden-brown curls. He pressed two fingers to her pale throat again. Through his latex gloves, he could still feel a steady pulse.

“Hey, I know her. That’s Elise St. Clair, the head dispatcher. Is she alive?”

Ryan looked up into the wide eyes and concerned face of his friend and colleague, Gavin Jackson. Ryan had recognized her, too, having seen her in town a few times. If she’d spoken, he knew her voice would have been instantly familiar since he’d spoken with her on the radio plenty of times. But she wasn’t speaking now. Instead, she was lying frighteningly still.

He’d never actually been close enough to see the spatter of freckles on her nose before. She had never exactly encouraged personal interactions. She’d always been polite but somewhat detached, whether they spoke on the radio during work or in passing when they saw each other in town. In fact, he’d always gotten the distinct impression that she was somewhat antisocial. “Yeah, she’s alive. Her pulse feels strong.”

“That’s good. The woman behind the table is dead.” Jackson’s voice was calm, but Ryan knew him well enough to see the rage brewing in his eyes. He hated when they arrived too late to protect someone in danger. They both did. “Looks like she was hit with the bat over against the wall. Are the paramedics here yet?”

As if summoned by his words, the paramedics walked through the door. Ryan and Jackson backed up, letting them do their job. The two officers started to leave the room, intending to search the rest of the house. Ryan let Jackson go ahead of him. He felt bad for his colleague, had seen the tight set of his eyes. He was taking this case personally.

Ryan wondered if Jackson had ever flirted with the young dispatcher. It wouldn’t have surprised him to find out that he had. Oh, not that he suspected there was anything serious between them. There never was. For all his flirting and charm, Jackson didn’t date. Ryan had a suspicion that he’d been burned badly before, but it wasn’t his place to ask. If his friend wanted to talk about it, he would. When he was ready.

What was he doing, wasting time? He shook his head, dismayed at his lack of focus. He should be recording the scene. He had turned on his body camera before entering the house. The department had only received the cameras in the past month, so he was still getting used to using them. Finished in his current room, he carefully backed out of the scene. There were other rooms to check out, and he was only in the paramedics’ way in here. He had started toward the stairs when a sudden thrashing made him halt. The woman cried out.

Ryan hurried back to where Elise was struggling against the paramedics.

“Ma’am, you need to calm down...”

She paid them no heed. In fact, her struggling increased. Ryan could see the wild panic in her smoky hazel eyes. He insinuated himself next to the first paramedic, Seth Travis. He had no plan, no idea of how he could help, but he had to try.

Those beautiful eyes fastened on him. She lurched forward slightly, grabbing his hand in both of hers and holding on to it tightly. Even injured, her grip was strong. Glancing down at their joined hands, he noted hers were scratched up, no doubt from the glass on the floor. Returning his gaze to Elise, he noted that some of the panic seemed to leach from her as she focused on him.

“Please.” Her voice was husky, strained. “You need to find them. She has Mikey, but they’re not safe. He won’t stop looking for them. My nephew’s missing. Babysitter’s dead. You need to find my baby.”

Them? Who else was missing? Her words weren’t making sense. Farther into the room, he was aware of the coroner arriving. The crime scene was now officially a contaminated mess, but that couldn’t be helped. Not when there was an injured woman on the premises and a child missing. And possibly someone else.

Before he could ask her about it, her gaze flashed to the wall. He tracked it. “Oh, no!”

A dark wooden picture frame was placed centrally on the wall, clearly in a place of honor. Unlike all the other picture frames in the room, this one was undamaged. It was also empty. Whatever picture had been inside it was gone.

“He’s got Mikey’s picture. He’ll know what he looks like. She needs to hide,” Elise murmured. Then her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped, her hands relaxing and sliding off his. Just in time to miss the coroner and the paramedics hefting the covered stretcher and removing the other woman’s body from the crime scene. As much as he hated having Elise fall unconscious, that was a sight he wouldn’t want anyone to witness.

Within moments, the paramedics reentered the room and moved to his side to start loading Elise on a stretcher to transport her to the hospital. He saw both of them shooting him worried glances. He knew what they were thinking because his thoughts were there, too.

Oh, man. Did they have a kidnapping on their hands? Or was there an injured child on the premises? And what did her last statement mean?

“Jackson!” he shouted over his shoulder. Almost immediately, running footsteps answered him.

“Parker, got something?” Jackson halted in the doorway, his eyes sweeping around the room, looking for whatever had prompted the shout.

Ryan looked back at the woman on the stretcher. She was still out.

“She said something about needing to find her nephew. And maybe there was another person—female, I think—who needed to hide and who might have the child.”

Jackson’s eyes narrowed. “Sounds like she knew the person who attacked her.”

“Yeah. That’s my gut feeling, too. Whatever the case, we have at least one, maybe two, people at risk here, including a child.”

Jackson was already turning. “On it.”

“Seth,” Ryan addressed the paramedic next to him. “I’m going to help search for the kid.”

“Right.” Seth kept his focus on the unconscious woman. “We’re going to load her up in the ambulance. We’ll hang out for a few minutes while you see if there’s a child we need to transport.”

Ryan acknowledged the comment with a wave, then he took off on his search of the house. He walked from room to room, keeping his service weapon out just in case he ran into their mysterious intruder. Jackson met him at the stairs.

“No baby up here, Parker. Toddler bed in the room at the end. Looks as if it’s been searched, but nothing appears damaged. Toys and clothes suggest a child of about two or three. But there’s no sign of him here.”

Ryan frowned. “I don’t know, Jackson. This whole scenario is just plain weird. It definitely wasn’t a simple robbery. Plus, Elise seems to know something about the intruder. I won’t know what until she regains consciousness and we can question her.”

Jackson dipped his chin, acknowledging the truth of the statement. “Better let her get to the hospital first. Get checked out. I want to see if I can find a purse, something that can identity the dead woman. If that fails, I will check the scanner to see if we can find out who she is.”

The marvels of technology. The LaMar Pond Police Department had also been equipped recently with automatic license plate–recognition scanners. The system alerted them if they passed a car with a flag on it. But they could also scan a car in emergency situations like this to get the information they needed on the registered owner. While it was handy, Ryan hated knowing he and Jackson would soon be notifying someone that their loved one had been murdered. That was one part of his job that he despised. His father would say it was one more reason to quit and do what he was meant to do. He and his dad didn’t see eye to eye on many issues. His chosen career was one of them. But he had his reasons for why he had walked away from his family’s ambitions for him. Reasons that would eat at him forever if betrayed his calling to make peace with his dad.

“Where’s that breeze coming from?” Ryan pivoted on his heel and followed the cool draft that had teased the back of his neck. The room at the end of the hall was dim, but he could make out the sheer curtains blowing inward. Cautiously, weapon drawn, he edged the door open and turned on the light. The room was empty.

“Looks like someone climbed out the window.”

Ryan nodded. “That’s my take on it, too.”

Stepping up to the window, he peered out. Someone had clearly jumped out the first-story window. He could see the boot prints in the mud along the side of the house. Small feet. Smaller than he’d expect from a man. Certainly not a man big enough to take Elise down so easily. She had to be five foot nine, if he had to guess, and while she was slender, she looked far from fragile. No, he was confident that those footprints had been made by someone other than their perp.

Jackson whistled.

Ryan jerked his head in his friend’s direction. “What?”

He followed Jackson’s finger as it pointed. A piece of gray cloth was hanging on a nail just outside the window. It was wet from the rain, but other than that it was clean and didn’t look weathered, so it couldn’t have been there long.

“Okay. Someone obviously went out this window.” Urgency trickled through him. Decision time. “The kid’s not here. Worst-case scenario, whoever attacked Elise and killed the other woman had an accomplice who got the child and fled out this window.” He recalled Elise’s words. “But Elise said she had Mikey and that he won’t stop looking. That makes it sound like the woman and man weren’t working together. So maybe it was someone else in the house who took the kid and ran with him? Let’s give Seth the go-ahead to transfer Elise to the hospital. Then we’ll finish here. We have to notify the chief, too. Let him know we have a possible abduction.”

“Sounds like a plan. How about I continue here, and you go release the ambulance?”

Ryan gave him a thumbs-up, then strode out to where Seth and his partner were waiting. The rain had stopped while they were inside. As soon as he gave them the all clear, Seth swung up into the cab.

“I’ll come to check up on her later,” Ryan said. “Hopefully she’ll be conscious and able to answer some questions for me.”

The ambulance started back down the long driveway, swaying as it moved along the uneven surface. Ryan watched it turn onto the road and disappear, then he went out to the cruiser and pulled up the information on the car sitting next to the garage. When the driver’s license of Diana Mosher, age forty-two, popped up, he knew he’d found the identity of the babysitter. With a sigh, he snatched up his cell phone and put a call into Chief Kennedy. It was picked up on the second ring.

“Chief Kennedy here,” said the voice on the other end, a hint of a drawl present.

“Parker, sir.” Ryan watched as Jackson moved outside to check the perimeter. “Jackson and I are at the house of Elise St. Clair, the dispatcher. We got a call a little before four this afternoon that there had been a possible break-in here. A Ms. Diana Mosher, her babysitter, was found dead at the scene. Elise herself was unconscious. She’s been roughed up and just left in the ambulance. She has a child, age approximately two or three—we still don’t have specifics. He’s missing, and there’s evidence that someone escaped out a first-floor window. Possibly an accomplice, although I suspect from Elise’s remarks before she passed out that there might have been someone here when the house was broken into who ran with the child to hide him. If that’s the case, then that woman would be in danger, as well.”

A soft sigh of regret came through the phone. “A shame about Diana. She was an art teacher at the elementary school last year. I’ll go talk to the medical examiner and notify her next of kin. What’s Elise St. Clair’s condition?”

“Unsure, sir. She was out when the ambulance left. Jackson and I are finishing here at the scene. We have to finish checking the rest of the house and the garage. Then we’ll proceed to the hospital. We need to talk to her as soon as she wakes up.”

“Understood.”

Ryan hung up the phone and replaced it in his pocket. He couldn’t quite stem the feeling that Elise was not out of danger. He let his eyes follow the trail of destruction in the room where they’d found her. Not a thing had been touched except for the dozens of pictures that had lined the mantel and hung on the walls. Even the couple of pictures sitting on top of the bookcase in the corner had been shattered. No, this was not some random attack by a stranger. This was personal. A deliberate attack against the pretty young woman that no one seemed to know much about.

That needed to change. He needed to get to her and find out everything he could about the elusive dispatcher. Her life—and possibly the lives of two others, including a small child—depended on it.

TWO

Twenty minutes later, a second cruiser arrived. Two officers emerged from it.

“Hey, Parker,” the young officer said, toting a large camera. “We’re here to assist.”

When the officers had everything under control, he grabbed Jackson. He needed to talk with Elise and get whatever information she could provide.

Ryan dropped Jackson off at the police station to get a head start on the paperwork before continuing to the hospital. He parked his cruiser in the visitor lot, leaving the spaces nearest the building free for those who were patients or family members. It was still light out, but just barely. A few fat droplets hit his windshield, signaling the start of a new rain shower. Light and wet. He grimaced. He left his vehicle and ducked his head to keep the water out of his face as he strode to the awning-covered entrance. The sliding-glass doors hissed as they opened.

The nurse at the ER desk directed him to the room where Elise had been moved to for observation. Relief flooded him. Her injuries had not been severe enough to require surgery. After thanking the woman politely, he headed down the hall to the room she’d indicated.

The door opened as he approached. A nurse walked out. He flashed his badge, even though his uniform clearly identified him as a police officer. She pursed her lips.

“I know you have to question her, but please remember she’s been injured and traumatized. She needs rest.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

He stood in the doorway for a moment, watching Elise as she lay there, her eyes closed. He was reluctant to disturb her even while knowing that he would. Her golden-brown hair flowed back from a small widow’s peak, moving into a rambling mass of corkscrew curls. Hair that would have been the envy of his sisters, who had used any number of curlers and curling irons through the years to style their naturally stick-straight hair. Her skin was bruised and cut in various places. The rest of her skin had a faint golden tan. The freckles he’d noticed earlier stood out against the bridge of her nose.

She stirred.

Ryan stepped fully into the room, clearing his throat gently.

Her eyes flared open, alarm flashing in their dusky hazel depths.

“Hey, hey! It’s okay.” He laid a calming hand on her shoulder, praying she wouldn’t tear out the IV in her panic. When she calmed, he removed his hand. “I’m Sergeant Ryan Parker. Remember me? I found you at your house today.”

“Parker...” she breathed. Her voice had a gentle rasp to it. She stopped struggling but didn’t relax. He could see her trying to put the pieces together in her mind. “Yes, I remember you. We’ve met a few times.” Her eyes closed briefly. A tear slipped out from beneath her lashes. “I came home. He was there. Mikey—”

Her breathing hitched. He touched her shoulder again.

“Easy, Elise. I need to know what happened, but I want you to stay as calm as possible while you tell me. Start at the beginning. I know it’s hard, but you have to give me everything you can.” He kept his voice soft, using what his youngest sister always called his “comfort voice.”

“I know. I know. I’m just so scared.” Elise’s voice cracked. Another tear slipped out the corner of her eye and slid into her hair. She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly, shuddering. “I can do this.”

Ryan stepped back from the bed and lowered himself into the chair at her side. Before he could start his questions, the door opened and a nurse entered. The woman frowned slightly when she saw Ryan, but she didn’t make a fuss as she checked Elise’s readings. He waited, beginning only after she had left.

“Who’s Mikey?”

“Mikey is my nephew. I have raised him since my sister was murdered. He’s three.”

He could see her emotions were rising to the surface again. And no wonder. A sister murdered and now her nephew missing. Sympathy filled him. He couldn’t imagine what she was going through, but right now he needed to know what had transpired.

“Tell me what happened this afternoon. Dispatch said there was a break-in.”

She was silent a moment. Her eyes were closed as she pulled herself together, but he knew she wasn’t sleeping. Her breath hitched as she struggled to control her emotions. “I was at work when I got a call at the 911 center. It was from my babysitter’s phone, but it wasn’t Diana. It was the girl who cleans my house. She was screaming. I couldn’t understand everything she said. She’s Amish and was talking in Pennsylvania Dutch at the beginning. Then she switched to English and said she thought that my babysitter was dead. Then she got quiet and said she thought she heard someone still in the house. I rushed out, told my coworker to notify the police and send an ambulance and then I headed home. When I got there, she was gone and so was my nephew.”

“Your cleaning girl?” He sat up. The image of the small footsteps flashed through his brain. It would make sense.

She nodded, her brow wrinkling as if she were in pain. “Leah Byler. She comes every week. I think she has Mikey. Please. We have to find them.”

Byler. Amish. He remembered the gray material stuck on the nail. Things were beginning to make sense. “I will make finding her and your nephew top priority, I promise. Right now, though, I need you to finish walking me through the events, okay?”

The sigh she released was impatient, but she nodded.

“So someone broke into your house—”

“No. Not someone. Him. My murdering brother-in-law.”

He blinked. That was some pretty unequivocal language. “When you say ‘murdering,’ are you saying that literally?”

Elise tried to sit up, grimaced, then managed to pull herself higher up on her pillows. “Yes, literally. Two and a half years ago, I was staying with my sister. She’d recently kicked her husband out after a fight between them.” She sighed. “Things had been bad between them for a while. He was controlling, aggressive. He yelled at her all the time. She said he didn’t hit her...but I didn’t believe her. My sister wasn’t clumsy, and yet she always seemed to have bruises. Especially on her neck. He always went for the neck.” Elise’s eyes filled with tears again, and she angrily brushed them away.

“I tried to get her to leave so many times, but she seemed more scared of leaving than of staying. Then Mikey was born—that was when things finally changed. She had put up with the abuse when it was just aimed at her. When he started turning that anger toward their baby, she decided she’d had enough and kicked him out.”

Ryan grimaced. He’d seen this far too often in his work—women who put up with habitual abuse. He was glad that Elise’s sister had been strong enough to put a stop to things to protect her child.

“I think we both expected him to come back in a day or two, drunk and belligerent, so I went to stay with her for a while,” Elise continued. “She was scared to be at the house by herself. But he never came. After a few days, she tried tracking him down, but it was like he’d disappeared. She couldn’t find him...”

“I thought you said your brother-in-law was after you?”

Boy, did he get the stink eye for that one.

“If you’re through interrupting...” Her voice could freeze the air between them. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he was amused. This woman was not easily intimidated, that was sure.

“Yeah. Sorry. Go on.”

A regal nod, and she continued. “As I was saying, he was missing for a while. Then the police came and said that he had apparently been killed. His car caught on fire after some kind of explosion and was totally destroyed. His body was never found. I was relieved for my sister that he was truly gone, but it bothered me that they didn’t find a corpse.”

“It’s not that unusual,” Ryan told her. “Especially if the fire was as bad as you said.”

“Yes, I know that—but even then, I wondered if there was more to it. After he’d left, Karalynne had found evidence that her husband was into something bad, like in a mob or something. I got worried because it seemed like something he would do—fake his death so that he could get away from the trouble he’d created for himself, not caring about the consequences to anyone else. My sister was terrified. She didn’t know what he was involved in, but if it was bad enough to get him killed then she worried that she might not be safe. She was waiting for whoever might have killed him to come after her next.”

Ryan scooted to the front of his seat. There was more to this tale, he could feel it coming. Elise had gone pale again, and her breathing was quicker. Her eyes skittered to the closed door. The woman was practically jumping out of her skin from nerves. Why?

“Elise.” He brought her eyes back to his. “You’re safe here.”

“I know. I know. I’m sorry.” She brushed her short wispy bangs back with her left hand. The sight of her bruised cheek infuriated him. “Karalynne had found some evidence, like I said.”

“What did she find?”

“A box hidden in their crawl space with cash...a lot of it. The box also had a couple of phones—the cheap, pay-as-you-go kind. And a gun.”

Her next words were almost a whisper. He had to strain to hear them.

“A few days later, I came home, and she was all agitated. She had gotten up her nerve and searched through his things more carefully. This time, she found something that terrified her. Hard evidence on an SD card. She wouldn’t tell me what was on it, said I was safer not knowing. I told her she had to go to the police. Because even if Hudson was dead, he’d probably been working with others and this evidence could help the authorities make a case, stop these people from being a threat to her and Mikey and anyone else.”

“Did she?”

Elise shrugged. “I never knew. I stayed with her for another week. When nothing happened, she settled down and told me to go home. I did, even though I was worried for her. Two weeks later, I got a call from the neighbor across the hall. Karalynne been mugged, the neighbor said, and was dead. If she’d been shot or stabbed, or even had fallen and hit her head or something, I might have believed it really was just a random mugging. Or maybe even Hudson’s associates coming after her, as she’d feared. But that wasn’t how she died.”

“How did she die?”

Elise’s hazel eyes stared straight into his as she answered. “Strangled. Hudson always did go for the neck.”

Ryan reared back. “You think he killed her?”

She slumped back against the pillows. “I know it seems crazy. I just couldn’t get the idea out of my head. I shared my suspicions with the police, but it was obvious they didn’t believe me. I told them about the box Elise had found, and the SD card, too, but they couldn’t find any of it in the house. Which meant they couldn’t do anything about Hudson or his associates. I got custody of Mikey and moved here.”

Oh, man. What a heartbreaking story. He frowned. “I get that the coincidence is weird. Your sister being attacked after finding evidence against her husband, and especially her being strangled. But it really could be a coincidence. Why are you so convinced he’s alive?”

Elise reached out and grabbed his hand. He winced. Although he doubted she was aware of it, her nails were digging into his skin. Ignoring the sensation, he kept his eyes trained on the lovely woman lying on the hospital bed.

“I saw him.”

“Who?”

Elise tightened her grip. “Today, when I went home. I saw him. Hudson. He was there in my house. I think he really was in the car accident—it wasn’t faked. But he survived. And now he’s after he. He hit me. And said he’d come for his son. He blamed me for Karalynne kicking him out. Promised to kill me. And he demanded that I tell him where to find Mikey and where it was.”

A punch in the gut would have been more pleasant than hearing about some monster gunning for this woman and a poor child.

“What does he think you have?”

He had a hunch, but didn’t want to put ideas into her head.

“Isn’t it obvious? He thinks I have the SD card. I don’t—she never gave it to me. She must have hidden it. If he can get rid of the evidence that links him to any crime, and of me, then what would stop him from coming back and starting over somewhere else?”

He tapped his chin. “He obviously wanted his son back, also, enough to risk coming back from the dead. Why take the chance to confront you?”

Anxiety washed over her face. “And every moment I’m in here, he could be getting closer to Mikey.”

Ryan leaned forward, letting her see his eyes, hoping to convince her of his sincerity. “Elise, we’ll do everything we can to find Mikey. I need to know about Leah. Does she have family nearby?”

Her brow furrowed in thought. “I think she lives with her cousin. Pretty sure her parents passed away. She’s sixteen.”

Sixteen and possibly being hunted by a killer. Oh, man. The department would have to work fast on this one. And she was Amish, so there would be no pictures of her.

“Can you give me a description of her?”

Elise squeezed her eyes shut. “She’s probably around five-two or -three. Her hair is light brown. It looks straight, but I can’t say for sure. Brown eyes. Slender, but not skinny. Sharp chin.”

He questioned her for another minute or so, trying to get any detail that he could share.

A few minutes later, he left Elise’s room, feeling the burden of holding so many lives in his hands.

* * *

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so cold. Like she’d never be warm again. And it wasn’t just temperature cold, either. Sitting in a sterile hospital room, with an IV hooked into her arm and monitors surrounding her, she felt she’d woken up in someone else’s nightmare. But it was all hers.

Did Sergeant Ryan Parker believe her? It was so hard to tell. He had finished questioning her and then left the room, supposedly to give a better description of Leah and Mikey to those searching. Fortunately, he’d been thoughtful enough to retrieve her purse from her car, and she had pictures of her adorable nephew on her phone. He had promised to return as soon as things were settled.

She wasn’t sure if he bought the story about Hudson. It was all the truth, but how was he to know it? She’d been attacked, and he might conclude that the terror of it had her mind playing tricks on her, making her believe her attacker was her brother-in-law simply because he was the man in her past she feared the most. And as for the reasons she’d had to fear Hudson in the past, she hadn’t told anyone about her brother-in-law...not about his brutal temper, or his charismatic personality. Nothing. And now Diana was dead. In retrospect, she had been trying to wipe him from their lives.

Seeing him today had been a shock. Even knowing in her soul that he’d survived the car crash and that he was responsible for Karalynne’s death, still she hadn’t been prepared. How had such a cruel, malicious man tricked her sweet sister into falling in love with him? And then to father such a beautiful little boy like Mikey...

Where had Leah taken Mikey? Was he cold, too? Hungry?

Leah hadn’t known anything about the monster searching for her, but the girl had known the danger was real. The fear in her voice during that phone call had proved that much. Elise had to hold on to the belief that the Amish girl had taken her nephew somewhere safe. Worry rattled in her heart for Leah’s family. Ryan would protect them, wouldn’t he? But how much could he do?

What if Hudson had found them already? Leah couldn’t have gotten too far on foot, and Hudson was a very large man. It would have taken so little for him to overpower her and...

No, no, no! She was not going to give in to her fear and despair. She’d talked to the Amish girl enough times to take her measure. Leah was a hard worker and she was clever, and she knew the woods and roads around this town much better than Hudson ever would.

The door creaked open, Elise tensed. For a moment, all she could think was that he had found her again. She slumped back against the stiff pillow when Ryan’s headed popped around the door. After he observed that she was awake, he opened the door and let himself fully into the room. She allowed her eyes to skim his face, his posture, searching for any clue of doubt or skepticism. The masculine face above her gave nothing away. The bland expression could have meant anything. All too well she remembered the pitying looks she’d received from the Chicago police when she’d insisted that Karalynne had been murdered by her husband.

She remembered one officer saying, “No matter how much you didn’t like the man, miss, he’s dead. You need to accept that.”

Oh, how she had wanted to scream! They had no idea what that man was capable of, the lengths he would go to in order to deceive and get his way.

Not like the officer standing in front of her. Ryan was the antithesis of Hudson. Strong. Honest. And way too handsome for his own good. She shook her head. She didn’t have time for those thoughts. Plus, her experience with Brady had taught her caution. Even thinking of her ex-fiancé was painful, so she shoved those memories away.

Peeking under the fringe of her bangs, she watched the handsome sergeant. Well, he wasn’t giving off any condescending vibes, as if he thought she was too irrational to give an accurate report of what had happened.

None of this was important. Whether or not he believed her didn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was the safety of Mikey and Leah. Once again, she sent a prayer up for their safety. Part of her wondered if it did any good.

Sorry, God. After all He’d pulled her through, she wouldn’t allow herself to doubt Him now.

Ryan grabbed the chair closest to the bed and dragged it six inches closer before seating himself next to her. A flush rose in her cheeks at his intense scrutiny. She squirmed, uncomfortable. A snarky comment rose to her lips. She bit them to hold it in. Sarcasm was a natural defense for her, but it probably wouldn’t be wise to use it in the current situation.

Instead, she waited him out. Surely, he’d say something eventually. The wait just about gave her hives, but she forced herself to be patient.

“Okay,” he finally said. His voice was soft, with a firm edge to it. The kind of voice people instinctively quieted down to listen to. She realized she had leaned in his direction to catch his voice. Embarrassed, she made herself sit back. “I have an Amber Alert out for your nephew,” he said. “As Leah is Amish, I have no pictures to send out, but that can’t be helped. At least we have your description.”

Elise felt a frown work its way across her face.

“I wish we could get a picture out. I’m sure that Leah will protect Mikey, but I would feel a whole lot better if the police were able to find them before—” she stopped herself from mentioning Hudson’s name “—before my attacker does.”

A flicker of doubt crossed his lean face. Was he doubting her story? She braced herself to be shut down again.

“Elise, I talked with the police who dealt with your sister’s death. Are you positive your attacker today was Hudson Langor?”

Hot waves of anger started to swirl in her gut. She opened her mouth, then shut it. Ryan’s expression wasn’t one of disbelief. Would he give her a chance?

“Yes, it was Hudson. I’d recognize his voice anywhere. Even though he doesn’t look anything like the man I knew, his voice is the same. It’s a very distinctive voice. And the things he said... He blamed me for his problems with his wife, demanded that I turn over his son. Why would anyone other than Hudson say those things? He wants me dead. And the evidence he thinks I have against him. And his son. In that order.”

He placed his hands on his thighs and pushed to his feet. “If you’re sure, that’s good enough for me. I guess you’d know the man if you came face-to-face with him.”

“I would. You might not, though.”

“Huh?” His brow wrinkled quizzically.

“He’s changed. The face I saw earlier today was not the same as the one I had known. He’s been through a fire. I’m guessing it’s from the car accident that supposedly killed him. Or something worse. But his eyes and his voice, they were the same.”

“So you’re saying...?”

“I’m saying that you could have his picture right in front of you and still not recognize him.”

He rubbed his hand down his face. “Well, that adds a new level of complicated to this case. Hold on. I have an idea.”

Turning on his heel, Ryan went to the door and opened it, yanking his phone out of his pocket as he walked. She didn’t know whether to be amused or dismayed at his abrupt exit. The moment she heard the door click shut behind him, though, fear for her nephew swamped her again.

In a short time, it would be dark. Mikey was terrified of the dark. He had a special night-light and a specific stuffed animal at home to help him sleep. Now he had neither.

She couldn’t stay here! She had to go out and find him! The police had a vague idea what Leah looked like, but not a definitive image. And who knew how close Hudson was? That thought drove her on.

Sucking in her breath against the pain that flared with every movement, Elise pushed back the covers and twisted to move her legs over the edge of the bed, intent on escaping.

THREE

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

Ryan dashed back into the room, appalled to find Elise swaying beside her bed. He hadn’t meant to shout, but seeing her bloodless face and huge eyes starting to roll backward had shaken him to the core. He was amazed she wasn’t flat on her face.

The nurse rushed in after him, no doubt alerted by his shout. Her face puckered in disapproval. She made tsking sounds with her tongue, urgently moving to settle her patient back in bed. “Miss St. Clair! You are in no condition to be moving about! The doctor gave you some medication that will make you drowsy. You have to let it wear off.”

Elise did not return to bed quietly.

“I have to leave! My nephew is in trouble. He needs me.” Her voice was hoarse. Ryan could see that the effort of getting to her feet was already draining her energy. She sagged against the edge of the bed and finally allowed the nurse to tuck her back under the covers. Just what he needed. Not only did he have a child and an Amish teenager to find, he had an overzealous aunt determined to risk her own health and safety. Even though she could barely walk. He had to admire her grit, though. Judging by the pallor of her skin, she was in considerable pain. If he’d been the doctor his father wanted him to be, maybe he could have helped her deal with that.

But God had wanted him to be a police officer. There was no going back on that decision.

“Elise, enough.” He strode closer until he was directly in front of her. “You need to let me do my job. I will find Mikey. But you need to remain in the hospital until the doctor releases you.”

“Which is not going to be tonight,” the nurse interjected.

Elise huffed out an annoyed breath. There was a storm brewing inside her, that was for certain. Hopefully, he could persuade her to accept his plan.

“Ryan, I’m the only one here who knows what Leah looks like. It makes sense for me to help.”

He couldn’t help it. The sarcastic snort left his mouth before he could stop it.

She opened her mouth, no doubt to argue. He didn’t know her that well, but he had already learned that she was bone stubborn. And since he was the one who was literally standing between her and what she wanted at the moment, that meant he was going to get the brunt of it. Shoving his hands into his pockets, he waited for her argument. None came. Instead, her eyes widened as she caught sight of something over his shoulder.

Reflexes had him spinning to face whatever she had seen. He came face-to-face with the grinning countenance of his friend, Sergeant Miles Olsen. Miles was holding the hand of his pretty wife, Rebecca. Rebecca had grown up in an Amish family. She’d chosen to leave before being baptized, which meant that even though she didn’t live in the Amish community, she still had a relationship with her family. When Ryan had asked Miles about Leah Byler, he had responded that Rebecca had known her, although not well. Leah’s family wasn’t originally from the community where Rebecca’s family lived.

“Good, you’re here.” It was about time. He could use some reinforcements.

“Hey, Parker. No problem. Always glad to help.” Miles nodded, and his floppy blond bangs bounced on his forehead. Miles always looked like an overgrown Boy Scout. Until he got into serious police mode. Then his demeanor could be as fierce as any other officer’s.

“What’s going on?” Elise’s soft, husky voice was rife with suspicion.

“Nothing to get worked up about.” He walked back to her side so he could look down at her. Man, she was pretty. Wait, where had that come from? That thought did not belong in his head right now. “This is Sergeant Miles Olsen, and his wife, Rebecca.”

Her eyes focused in on the couple. He was surprised to note that she didn’t gawk when Miles started signing to his wife. Rebecca was deaf, and Miles often served as her interpreter with the hearing community. Some people had a problem with it and found it embarrassing to be around her. Others reacted like it was the most fascinating sight they’d ever encountered. Elise didn’t seem to be bothered at all. Good for her.

“Okay. It’s nice to meet you both. So why are you here?”

Miles smiled at her. He signed while he spoke. “Ryan said that your nephew was probably with Leah Byler. We know her. Or at least Rebecca does.”

Rebecca nodded and started signing, her slim hands flashing too fast for Ryan to catch every movement. Fortunately, Miles was far more experienced at this, and interpreted. “Yes, I know Leah. She moved here recently from New Wilmington and is staying with her cousin. I talked with the bishop of the community. Normally, no pictures are allowed—either photographs or drawings. However, since a child is at risk, he made an exception this once and gave me permission to do this.”

Rebecca reached deep inside the bag she had slung over her shoulder. Elise gasped when the blonde woman pulled out a hand-drawn image of an Amish teenager with brown hair. It was a profile picture, not a full image. But Elise recognized the subject instantly, which gave her hope that maybe it would be good enough for a stranger to recognize her. And if she had a toddler with her, it would make her all the more memorable.

“That’s Leah! Did you just draw that, from memory?” Elise leaned forward, squinting as she took in the image on the paper.

“Yes. I am not sure if I got the eyes right.”

Elise beckoned with her left hand, the one not hampered by the IV. Rebecca moved in closer to the bed. Ryan edged away to let them have room.

“I think the eyes are pretty close. At least it will give the police a good idea of who they are looking for.”

Ryan peered at Elise. There was a faint flush in her cheeks, dispelling the sickly appearance she’d had at first. Her voice was livelier, too. He knew what he was seeing. Hope. A sudden dread clenched his heart. He did not want to fail this woman, to watch the hope fade into anguish. He’d disappointed far too many people in his life.

Stop it! He mentally shook himself out of his morose thoughts, like a dog shaking off the water after a swim, sending his doubts flying. He had no room for them. Those insecurities—that was his father speaking. The father who never talked with him without expressing his disappointment that Ryan hadn’t followed both his parents and his older brother into the field of medicine.

You could have made something of yourself, Ryan. That was his father’s favorite refrain.

It didn’t matter, though. Medicine was not his calling. He had known since high school what he was meant to do with his life. And if God approved, well, his family was just going to have to learn to accept it.

Which didn’t make his father’s disappointment any easier to bear. He shrugged his shoulders, mentally pulling himself back to the crisis at hand. Now wasn’t the time for nostalgia.

Now was the time for action.

“If the picture is accurate, then I will send it out. It will be easier to search if we know who we are searching for. I will also use the pictures you’ve given me of Mikey and circulate them. We have already put out an Amber Alert on him.” After pulling his phone from his pocket, he scanned the drawing with an app, then forwarded it. He thought of something. “I will also pull up your brother-in-law’s photo from the DMV and send that out.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Okay. But I already told you, it won’t do you any good. He doesn’t look the same now. I wouldn’t have recognized him if I hadn’t heard him speak.”

“So noted.”

Ryan thought for a moment. She needed to speak with a photographic artist. Unfortunately, the woman the department normally hired was out of town for a few days. They didn’t have the time to wait. He excused himself from the room and went to call his chief.

“Chief Kennedy here.” His deep drawl might have sounded casual, but that was deceptive. Ryan knew that the chief was solid and would give his all to see justice done.

“It’s Parker, sir. I am at the hospital with Miss St. Clair. She says the man who attacked her is her brother-in-law. He was reported to have died in an accident a few years back, but no body was ever found. Apparently, he was changed by the accident, but his voice is the same—and he spoke about things only her brother-in-law would know. So if it’s not him, someone has worked very hard to put on a convincing act.”

There was a pause. “Well, most people know their own relatives. Therefore, I will assume for the moment that the man in question is not dead, but is in fact here in LaMar Pond. What do you need, Sergeant?”

“Sir, she says that his appearance has been altered drastically. I have Olsen and his wife here with me—”

“And you’d like Rebecca to draw a current image since our sketch artist is unavailable, am I correct?”

Ryan let out a breath. “Yes, sir.”

“I don’t have a problem with that, Parker. If anyone says anything about it not being official, I’ll accept the blame.”

“Thanks.”

Ryan popped back into the room. Elise was exhausted, he could tell. This couldn’t wait, however. Besides, even if he left her alone to rest, he very much doubted that she’d be able to sleep. Not with her nephew and Leah missing.

The moment he entered the room, the quiet conversation the others had been having ceased. Elise speared him with her hazel eyes so full of hope it caught him off guard. The weight of the trust she had in him pressed down on him. What if he failed her? Lord, let me be Your instrument. Help me to bring the child back to her and keep all of them safe.

In a few quick words, he explained his plan. They all agreed. Ryan pulled up Langor’s image from the DMV database and sent it to Rebecca’s phone. Using that as a starting point, Rebecca began to gather the information about what changes needed to be made for an accurate sketch while Miles acted as her interpreter. Half an hour later, Rebecca handed him the updated image of Hudson Langor. Glancing between the two, he whistled. Elise was right. He would have walked right past him and not even known.

A few minutes later, Miles and Rebecca left. Ryan took a few minutes to get the sketches sent out. Better get the search started now. Who knew how far away the girl was with the child. Or if the pyscho brother-in-law had made any progress in his quest. He hoped not. There wasn’t much more he could do tonight.

His other concern was that the man seemed to feel Elise was a loose end that needed to be eradicated.

Ah, well. At least she was in the hospital for the night. There were nurses and doctors coming to check on her throughout the night. He’d have a chat with security, before he left, to put them on alert. She should be safe. Maybe she’d be able to get enough rest so that she could remember something more, anything more, that might help them figure out where her nephew and the Amish girl had headed.

* * *

It had long since gone dark outside. The faint glow of the moon splashed over the floor now. Even though she knew it wasn’t, it looked warm, as if touching it would chase away some of the chill she was feeling in her heart. It was a comforting glow, reminding her that the Creator of everything was near. A twinge of guilt pricked her conscience. She hadn’t given God much attention lately.

Elise sighed. She was stuck here, in this narrow, uncomfortable hospital bed with a needle in her arm. The doctor who’d checked her out had declared she was dehydrated from her illness earlier that week. Sergeant Parker had left. Was he coming back? He hadn’t really said. It surprised her to realize that she was kind of hoping the handsome officer would return.

She needed something to distract her thoughts. Thinking about what could be happening out there with Mikey was driving her crazy. Even though she wasn’t his mother, he was her baby. Her whole world had revolved around the adorable boy with the dark brown eyes and curly brown hair for over two years. The ache inside her intensified as her imagination pictured him cold or sick or scared. Phantom whimpers filled her ears.

Squeezing her eyes closed, she forced her thoughts to focus on something else.

Sergeant Parker’s face flashed through her mind. The warmth in his chocolate-brown eyes. She especially liked his smile. It was unusual. Quirky. Kind of lopsided. He had a nice square jaw, too. When he had left, he had been sporting a slight five-o’clock shadow. She wondered what that roughness would feel like if she lifted her hand to his face. Her eyes popped open. That wasn’t helping. Frankly, she was surprised her mind had even gone there. After everything that had happened with Brady, she’d been against even the idea of entering a relationship. Besides, taking care of Mikey had been her priority—he was the only male she had time for her in her life.

The door opened and the man himself entered the room. She flushed, embarrassed to have been thinking of him in such a way. She didn’t even really know the man! True, she’d met him a time or two, and had been talking to him for two years on the radio, but that wasn’t the same as actually spending time with a person.

“Hey, Elise. How ya doing?” He smiled slightly. Wow. He really did have a great smile, with the slightest hint of dimples appearing in his cheeks. She hadn’t noticed that before.

Oh, wait. She needed to answer him.

“Been better. But I’m okay. Sergeant Parker—”

He cut her off. “Ryan. Please. What’s on your mind?”

“I want to know what’s happening. While you search, I mean. I don’t want to be kept out of the loop.” She held her breath. Would he brush her off? Tell her that police business was just that?

“I understand,” he responded in his velvet voice. Her breath left her in a whoosh, she was so relieved. “I will give you all the details I can. In the meantime, I am going to leave for the night. First thing tomorrow morning, as soon as you are released, we have some planning to do.”

“So no one will be looking for Mikey tonight?” She didn’t like the sound of that.

“That’s not what I said. The Amber Alert has gone out, along with the sketch of your brother-in-law, and back at the station several people are still looking into it. Checking on leads. But I need to get some sleep if I want to be able to function, and so do you.” He turned to the door. “Good night. I will see you in the morning.”

And he was gone.

She couldn’t believe it. She was so worried she was ready to tear out her hair. And he’d just left! In all fairness, she didn’t know what else he could do. The man wasn’t a machine. He did say people were still searching. There really wasn’t anything more that she could ask him to do.

Sighing, she lay against the pillows, trying to shift this way and that to find a comfortable position. She’d shut her eyes, then open them five minutes later. Her nerves started to get to her.

Her door was shut, but every once in a while she thought she heard footsteps stop at her door.

Was Hudson in the hall?

She strained to listen, trying to separate the different sounds outside the door. Her doorknob seemed to rattle slightly. Then it stopped. Goose bumps formed on her arms. A scream crawled up and lodged in her throat.

The footsteps moved away from the door.

Her night nurse entered to check her vitals. The woman was coolly professional, her voice soothing as she checked the IV and the monitors and made notes on the chart attached to the clipboard.

Feeling ridiculous for her fears, Elise forced herself to ask the woman the question that was screaming inside her mind. “Was there someone hanging around outside my door?”

The pitying glance the nurse gave her made her want to shrink down inside the blankets and hide.

“Honey, no one has been outside your door. You’re completely safe here.”

Elise grimaced. Well, at least she knew.

She thanked the woman and watched her leave.

At some point, she drifted off into an uneasy sleep. She woke up at one point when she dreamed that she heard Mikey crying out for her. There were tears on her lashes when she lifted them. Her head jerked around when her door opened. A male nurse entered wheeling a medicine cart in front of him. She glanced at the clock. Two thirty in the morning. Sighing, she gave the man a tired smile.

He didn’t smile back.

Actually, he didn’t even make eye contact. Feeling uneasy, she watched him look at her chart. Maybe he was just shy. Or not a social person. Whatever. She was not impressed with the bedside manners of the staff in this hospital. Owning to herself that she was being ridiculous, she shut her eyes again, listening to the sound of him moving around her room.

She opened one eye. He was watching her. The moment he caught her glance, he looked away and continued with his work.

Now she was frustrated—and annoyed with herself for her own frustration. The man was just here to do a job. He wasn’t Hudson. Even with his changed appearance there was no way Hudson had shrunk five inches. She was starting to get paranoid.

Pressing her lips together, she closed her eyes again, determined to sleep. She could hear nurses talking right outside her door and did her best to block them. Finally, the voices drifted away.

A minute later, she felt the hairs on her arms stand on end. Her lids flew open.

The nurse was standing directly in front of her, a pillow held in both hands. He smiled. A grim, ugly little smile that made her blood curdle.

“Good night, lady. Nothing personal, you understand, but it appears someone doesn’t like you.”

The last thing she saw before he pushed the pillow down over her face was his horrific smirk. Then she gasped as the white linen pillowcase pressed against her nose. Her gasp was cut off as the ability to suck in air left her. Thrusting her arms upward, she pushed and shoved at the man smothering her. A twinge in her arm...her IV had pulled free.

She barely noticed the pain, instead focused on the screaming in her lungs as her last bit of air vanished in a silent scream. She was going to die.

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