There were two doors down the hall. The door at the end was open. The one at the beginning of the hall had a slide lock bolted to the door’s exterior.
Taylor figured if Jill were in the house, this would be the best place for her. She stopped and put her ear to the door as Fitz continued down the hall. He swept into the other bedroom, then signaled her it was clear. He came back up the hall.
Quietly, gently, Taylor slid the lock on the door and turned the knob.
It opened into darkness. Letting her eyes adjust, Taylor saw there was little in the room besides a bed. Fitz touched her on the shoulder and signaled to the light switch. Taylor reached for it, gun pointed into the middle of the gloomy room.
She flicked on the light. There was a woman tied down, spread-eagled, centered perfectly in the middle of the bed. Her stomach was rounded with an advanced pregnancy.
“Jill? Jill Gates?”
The woman didn’t answer immediately and didn’t move. We’re too late, damn it, we’re too late. Before she could move, Taylor heard a small moan. Jill was alive. Relief coursed through her, and she rushed to the girl’s side.
Jill was strapped to the bed, hands handcuffed to the headboard, ankles tied to the foot. She seemed barely conscious, but as Taylor bent over the girl, murmuring soothing nonsensical words, she opened her eyes and looked at Taylor. The tears started down her face.
“Is he gone? Gabriel? Is he gone? Did you kill him?”
“Shhh. We’re going to get you out of here.”
“Are you the police?”
“Yes, honey, we are.” She unlocked the handcuffs and reached down to untie her feet.
Jill cried, “Thank God. Thank God you’re here. He’s going to kill me—he’s insane. Please, get me out of here.”
Fitz moved beside the bed and helped Jill sit up. She was obviously a little woozy, but they needed to get as much information out of her as possible if they were going to find Gabriel.
“Do you know where he is, Jill? Is he in the house?”
“I don’t know. He’s kept me locked in this room the whole time. How long have I been here?”
“We think at least five days, maybe more. But you’re safe now, honey—we’ve got you. Can you stand?” He got her to her feet, eyeing the swelling in her belly. “How far along are you, Jill?” he asked.
“Eight months. Are my parents here? Are they okay? Oh, they must be freaking out.”
Taylor patted her on the shoulder. “They’re here in town, honey. They came as soon as they heard you were missing. They’re gonna be real glad to see you. Can you tell us any more about Gabriel Lucas?”
Jill lost her balance when she got to her feet and toppled against Taylor.
“Oops, here you go, sit back down.”
Jill plopped back on the bed, embarrassed, and gave Taylor a smile. “I’m okay. My feet are just asleep. My parents are going to kill me when they see I’m pregnant.”
“Trust me—your parents are going to be thrilled to have you back, you and the baby. Tell me what you can, okay?”
Jill shook her head. “I’m having a hard time remembering a lot. I’ve been trying to think. I know it’s been a while since he was here. I’ve been awake since right before dark. Usually he comes in and gives me a shot of something the minute I wake up and he hears me. He tells me stories while I’m drifting off, nutty stuff I can’t really understand about these women and their ‘representations,’ stuff about the Bible. Whatever is in the shot makes me fall asleep almost immediately, and I kept having all these weird hallucinations. When I was awoke he was talking crazy.” She put a hand protectively over her stomach. “He kept telling me I was carrying the Messiah. He’s out of his mind.”
Taylor nodded and looked at Fitz. “The injectable morphine.” She turned back to Jill. “We think he was giving you morphine. Did he tell you he has cancer?”
“What? No.”
“He has brain cancer. We think it’s affected him to the point where he’s not thinking rationally. He’s hurt a lot of people in the past couple of weeks.”
“Brain cancer? Giving me morphine? My God, what was he planning on doing to me?”
Fitz held out a hand. “We think he was planning on keeping you safe. He wasn’t going to let anything happen to you or his baby. Do you think you can stand up now?”
He got her to her feet, and they made their way into the great room. Between the room and the kitchen was a small breakfast bar with stools. He got her seated, checked in with the rest of their force.
“You find anything?”
Wills was keeping watch by the front door. “He’s not here, and there’s nothing much to go on. Doesn’t look like he’s living here—it’s just a safe place for him to hold the girl. We’ll keep looking around.”