“You said you need to make plans.”
“Yes. Alone. At least for now.” But she was laughing, and he tried to pull her into his arms again. She sidestepped and said, “Stop it. You’re making me crazy. This is crazy.”
She left him and headed into the kitchen. Her eyes immediately went to the gold envelope. She knew what was in it, and she knew what it meant: a threat, a warning, a reminder that he was out there, watching and waiting. Did he know that she and Ruth had connected with Erin?
Her cell phone rang again, and she started guiltily. Sure enough, it was her father. She thought about putting him off some more, but that would only create more questions later.
“Hey, Dad,” she answered.
“There you are. I tried to call earlier, but you didn’t answer.”
“I turned my phone off and forgot to turn it back on.”
“You want to get together this afternoon? I’ve already got a call into Higgins, but he’s not answering. I might head to the hospital.”
“This afternoon?” She glanced at the clock. It was eleven AM.
“Have you seen today’s paper? Jimmy Woodcock sure learned quick about Erin Higgins showing up again.”
“It’s already in the paper?” She felt a stab of fear, and that reminded her of how she’d felt the night before, and that made her wonder if she’d sensed the intruder. Maybe he’d left the envelope for her then.
“I’ve got it right here.” Her father read her the article, which explained who Erin Higgins was and theorized that Rachel Byrd had been abducted about the same time, and considered Courtney Pearson and Addie Donovan as victims of the same abductor. Ruth’s name was added to the mix too. It was all there, Kat thought a bit dispiritedly. Everything Erin Higgins was afraid of having come from her.
She hoped to hell she was safe.
Blair appeared, fully dressed. His dark hair was still damp, and her mind momentarily tripped to their moments together in bed, and she lost the last part of her father’s recitation. But she got the gist of it.
“It finishes up with naming you and Ruth as the ones who made the initial connection with her,” Patrick said.
Kat grunted in acknowledgment, and her eyes strayed to the envelope. “I should be the one to talk to Bryce,” Kat thought aloud. Kind of an asshole, Shiloh had said.
She glanced at Blair, then had to look away as he seemed to fill the room.
“Nah, I’m already on that one.”
In truth, she had no wish to tangle with Bryce. He was ornery and belligerent by nature, and she suspected he wouldn’t appreciate Erin’s secret coming to light unless it was his idea, which she supremely doubted it was. “Then I’ll go see Scott Massey, see if I can get him to come into the station. Let’s meet tomorrow and see what we’ve got. Maybe Erin will be awake by then,” she added hopefully.
“Can she identify the guy?”
“I think so, though he was disguised most of the time. But she definitely knows his voice.” She was conscious of Blair overhearing her. “Look, I gotta go. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Be careful when you go to see Massey. Maybe you should—”
“Always,” she cut in, then clicked off before he could say anything more.
“Food?” Blair reminded.
“I’ve wasted most of today already. You have to go.” She headed to the door and waited for him.
“I’ll bring you back something from Molly’s Diner. No baked goods. How about bacon and eggs?”
“God, no.” She shuddered.
“Pancakes? Waffles? French toast? Or are those baked goods? How about granola?”
For whatever reason, her mind hooked on that. “Granola. Wow, that sounds good.”
“Great. I’ll be back in a flash.” He glanced at the envelope. “And then you can tell me what that’s all about.”
Chapter 27
Kat ate every last bite of the granola with yogurt and an array of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries. Blair had a stack of pancakes with eggs and bacon, and they both drank the forgotten coffee Kat had prepared earlier.
They sat across from each other at the table, and when they finished, Blair said in a tone that brooked no argument, “What’s in the envelope?”
Kat had opened it after he’d left—the same photo given to Shiloh and Ruth—but the sight of the three of them, naked in the black-and-white photo, even though it was exactly what she’d expected, still made her breath catch in her throat. She’d stared at it for long moments, and her mind had traveled back to that night: the heat, the smells, the sounds, the rutting monster with his ski mask atop Ruth. It had opened a thought in her mind: the bastard had brought a camera with him. It hadn’t been a cell phone. She was pretty sure of that. Hadn’t she actually seen the camera the moment after the flash? Wasn’t it substantial? He must have dropped it before he captured Ruth.
And people just didn’t carry that size of camera around as a rule, unless they were tourists, or if it was the person’s job. He couldn’t have planned to find them at the pond because their plans had been last minute.
Bad luck and bad timing, but what had he been doing out there with that camera?
Kat waved an arm toward her bedroom. “It’s to do with a case. I put it away.”
“So it has something to do with your work?”
“That’s right.”
“Somebody left you an envelope with just your name on it, no address, and it has to do with your work. And you looked at it in horror.”
“I didn’t look at it in horror.”
“You did,” he assured her. “What was in it?”
“It’s none of your business.”
“Is it connected to the Erin Higgins case? And Courtney Pearson and Addie Donovan?” He eyed her closely.
She didn’t immediately answer, and they sat in silence for several long minutes while Kat considered. Should she tell him about the night Ruth was raped? That she and Shiloh were there? That they’d grabbed Ruth and run from her attacker? It was for Ruth to tell, but Ruth had gone public already, maybe not about all the details of that night, but close enough. “It’s a picture,” she finally admitted. “Of Ruth, Shiloh, and me. Skinny-dipping. The guy who took it attacked Ruth right afterward.”
“You were there . . . and Shiloh?”
She nodded.
“Show me the picture.”
“No, Blair . . .”
“Please.”
For reasons she didn’t quite understand, she fetched the envelope, watching as he withdrew the photo, seeing his lips tighten into a thin line as he looked down at the black-and-white print. After a moment, he slid the picture back inside its envelope.
He clarified, “He left you and Ruth and Shiloh copies of this picture. All of you. The guy who raped Ruth.”
“That’s right. Ruth thinks she’s lucky because she got away. We think he’s the guy who abducted all the others too.”