“Was she walking?” Angela asked.
“Yes—I’m less than a mile away,” Gayle said.
“Can you show me the route?” Angela asked.
“Well, actually, there are a few.”
“Any with woods?” Devin asked.
Gayle went white. “Um, yes, just a block behind Darby, toward the old jail. Not real woods, but a patch of trees.”
Theo came out of the back room just then, saying goodbye to a client—an older woman who still had curlers hidden beneath a scarf.
“Not yet?” he asked Gayle anxiously.
Gayle shook her head.
Devin fumbled for her phone, about to call Rocky, but Angela was already calling. But just as she started to speak, Rocky and Jack entered the shop.
“Beth is missing!” Devin said frantically.
Rocky hurried forward and calmly told them not to panic. After Gayle filled him in, he pointed out that Beth’s errands might simply have taken longer than she’d expected, and she could have accidentally left her phone somewhere. But, he said, they weren’t going to take any chances, so they were going to go out looking for her.
He directed Jane to take one route, Jack and Angela another, and told Devin to come with him and they would check out the route past the cemetery and the trees. He took her hand, telling Gayle to call him the second she heard from Beth and promised that he would call her, too, if they found her.
Devin was truly frightened. Her best friend was missing.
“You think something’s wrong, don’t you?” she asked Rocky.
“I think something’s off, yes,” he said. “But this doesn’t fit our killer’s MO. He seems to like dusk and dark, times when his victims aren’t expected anywhere and it will take longer for them to be found.”
He was walking fast, though, and she was nearly running to keep up with him. That seemed pretty worried to her.
They neared the Howard Street Cemetery, and he slowed, looking down an alley. There were houses on both sides—and a tiny stand of brush and trees that lined the alleyway by one old house.
He headed down the alley and pushed into the trees, then stopped so short that Devin nearly collided with him.
She moved up next to him and followed his gaze. A woman was sprawled facedown on the ground near the bushes.
They’d found Beth.
18
Rocky was certain Beth was dead.
Dammit! Why had he brought Devin with him?
Before he could stop her, she was down on her knees beside the body, and in seconds he joined her.
He started to warn Devin not to disturb the body, and then Beth let out a moan. Relief filled him.
She was alive.
“Beth!” Devin gasped.
Rocky had his cell out, calling for an ambulance, as Devin set a hand gently on Beth’s shoulder and helped ease her onto her back.
Beth blinked and coughed and looked up at them with dazed eyes. She was clearly disoriented, with no idea where she was.
“Beth, it’s okay, you’re going to be all right,” Devin assured her, then looked at Rocky, the anguish in her eyes asking for assurance from him.
“Ambulance is on the way,” he said. “Devin, watch what you touch. Beth...can you talk? Can you tell us what happened?”
“What happened?” Beth repeated.
“Yes, what happened?”
Beth almost smiled. “No...I was asking you...what happened?”
“You didn’t show up for work. Gayle was worried,” Devin said.
“Work, right,” Beth said, frowning. She tried to sit up, then went, “Whoa...” and lay down again.
“Do you remember anything?” Rocky asked.
“Um, yes...walking. And then...now I’m here.”
He could hear the sound of an ambulance, and he felt frustrated. He needed more information, and that meant he needed more time. But her health came first; she needed to get to the hospital.
When the ambulance arrived, the EMTs set to work immediately, and Rocky and Devin were pushed back. He quickly called Jane, Jack and then Beth’s shop, telling Gayle that Beth was going to be fine but she’d had an accident and was on her way to the hospital.
“What part of don’t go anywhere alone did those two miss?” he muttered after he hung up.
“Rocky, it’s hard to think that in broad daylight—with tourists everywhere—you’re going to get attacked on your way to work.”
“Stay together, I told people to stay together,” he said, aggravated.
She didn’t reply, because Beth was calling to her and Gayle was running down the alley toward them. Rocky went to intercept her just as Jack and the rest of the Krewe members arrived.
“I’ve got patrol coming to cordon off the area,” Jack said.
“Agent Rockwell, we’re going to take Miss Fullway now,” one of the EMTs called to him. “Is anyone riding with her?”
“Please, someone, come with me,” Beth said pathetically.
“I’ll go,” Gayle said.
“Devin?” Beth asked.
“Only one in the back,” the EMT told Rocky.
“Beth, Devin and I will be right behind you,” Rocky said. He looked at Jack.