“While you do that, I will call down to the gate just to make sure she did not take a car and go out anywhere,” Mortimer said.
Scotty didn’t respond other than to nod as he hurried back to the kitchen to set down the tray. He jogged upstairs afterward, checked his room and then checked every other room on the upper floor as well, including double-checking her room again, before heading back downstairs. Mortimer was just coming up the hall from his office when he stepped off the stairs.
“Not there?” Mortimer asked.
Scotty shook his head. “The gate?”
“No. No one has left since Magnus and Rickart.” Pausing, Mortimer turned to look around, and then said, “If you want to check the garage attached to the house, I’ll check the basement. If we do not find her inside, then we will check the yard and the outbuildings.”
Nodding, Scotty turned to head into the kitchen and the connecting door to the attached garage. It didn’t take him long to assure himself she wasn’t there, and then he went down to help Mortimer search the basement. Finding nothing, they headed outside.
“The dogs aren’t out,” Scotty commented as they started across the back lawn. It didn’t take more than a glance to see that the yard itself was empty.
“Odilia is probably feeding them,” Mortimer said. “You check the outbuilding and I will look in the front yard.”
Nodding, Scotty continued on his way as Mortimer broke off and turned to walk around the house. Beth would be in the outbuilding, he told himself. She had to be. There was nowhere else to look for her.
He didn’t see anyone when he entered the building, not even Odilia. Frowning, he scanned the vehicle bays, glanced into the offices and then opened the door to the hall that led to the kennels and cells. A quick look showed him that the cells were empty, and he was reaching to open the door to the kennels when it swung toward him. Backing up, Scotty frowned in disappointment when he saw that it was only Odilia.
“Is Beth with you?” he asked as she stepped out.
“Beth?” she asked with surprise. “Is she not still recovering from the explosion?”
“Nay,” Scotty said, his mild concern turning to real concern as he realized she wasn’t here either. “She’s missing.”
Odilia looked confused. “She cannot be missing, Scotty. Did you look in the kitchen? Perhaps she was hungry when she woke up.”
“We checked the house, upstairs, downstairs, even the basement and garage. This was the last place.”
“You must have missed her,” Odilia said with certainty. “Just give me a minute to let the dogs out and I will come up to the house and help you search it again.”
“No.” Scotty shook his head. “Stay here. Mortimer and I will look again.”
“What about Donny?” Odilia asked.
“Donny?” Scotty echoed with confusion.
“Is he not helping you look for her?” she explained.
“I did no’ see Donny either,” he realized aloud.
“Well, maybe they are together somewhere. I know he has not left,” she said with certainty. “His vehicle is still here.”
Scotty frowned, but turned to head back out of the hall into the main part of the building. Now Donny was missing too? Or he might have been in the front yard when he and Mortimer searched the house. For that matter, Scotty thought suddenly, perhaps Beth was too. She had to be here somewhere. The car she’d rented until she bought another vehicle was still in the parking lot. He’d noted that from her bedroom window when he’d checked her room the second time.
His gaze slid around the yard. It seemed strangely empty without the dogs, and he now wondered how long they’d been in the kennels for feeding. The dogs, the fence, and the gate worked together to ensure the security at the Enforcer house. So long as the dogs were out, no one could get over the fence and around the property unnoticed, but while they were inside . . . that was another story. He should have asked Odilia that.
Eighteen
A sharp pain in her hands stirred Beth from sleep. She shifted with a moan, or tried to, and frowned when she found her movement restricted. She opened her eyes with confusion, peered around and began to wake up much more quickly as alarm slid through her. She was lying on her side on the floor of one of the kennels, her hands restrained behind her back, presumably with the same heavy chain she could see around her ankles. She was experiencing pain because she’d been bound so tightly, the blood supply to her hands and feet was cut off.
Beth raised her head and swiveled it first one way and then the other. The dogs were busy gobbling up whatever was in their food dishes, and paying her no attention at all. But she could hear voices coming from outside the room, and was just opening her mouth to call out for help when the talking ended on the sound of a closing door. Beth shouted anyway, despite knowing this part of the building was soundproofed so dogs barking and inmates shouting wouldn’t drive anyone who had to man the office crazy.
Much to her surprise, the door to the hallway opened almost at once. Unfortunately, it was Odilia who entered.
“Awake, I see.” Her voice was cold and calm as she walked over to stand in front of the seven-foot-high chain-link door at the end of the kennel. She peered at Beth with disinterest, and then glanced toward the dogs as they finished eating and moved to surround her. Odilia waited another minute for the last dog to finish, and then walked to the door at the opposite end of the room from the one she’d just entered and opened it. Beth knew it led directly outside, and wasn’t surprised when every last dog went rushing through. Dinner was done—time to play and poop, she thought grimly.
Odilia let the door close and then locked it before turning to walk back to survey Beth. After eyeing her briefly, she commented, “I thought the kennel was an appropriate place to put you until we could leave. After all, you have been acting little better than a bitch in heat.”
Beth stiffened, but then forced an uncaring shrug. “Wouldn’t want you to be the only bitch in here.”
She watched the fury explode on Odilia’s expression and then ignored the pain in her hands and feet and shifted to a sitting position before asking, “Who were you talking to in the hall?”
Odilia’s fury disappeared at once and she smiled slyly. “Scotty. He is looking for you. I asked if he needed my help, or if Donny was helping him look, and when he said he had not found Donny in his search either, I suggested perhaps the two of you are together.” Her smile widened. “He will soon be imagining you are somewhere spreading your legs for the boy.”
Beth’s eyebrows rose and she said with amusement, “He won’t think that at all. And the very fact that you think for even a moment that he would believe it possible tells me you know absolutely nothing about life mates.”