Sleight Mistake (Stone Investigations Book 2) Read online

  Ryder phoned her five times a day, but she would talk to him more if she could. Fearing he was already worried enough for her, Lacie played down her anxieties and the trouble she had with being in this environment alone. Sorcha could sleep for twelve hours straight without any bother. Although she still claimed to be worried about the state of her life, it didn’t appear to impact on her shuteye.

  Lacie couldn’t argue with Sorcha’s assessment. The baby would come in not much more than a month and Bruce hadn’t been in touch at all while they’d been here, which was a testament to how supportive he was. Shep had been calling and he’d begged to visit. Sorcha refused him and as much as Lacie wanted to praise her friend’s strength, she wondered if it was more do to with Sorcha’s “No men” rule, rather than an aversion to spending time with Shep.

  It was late, maybe about three AM, and Lacie was headed downstairs to get a glass of water from the kitchen. The place was dark and eerie, that atmosphere was made all the worse by how out of the way they were because even the moonlight couldn’t penetrate the tree canopy. Tiptoeing across the exposed wooden floor, she resolved to phone Ryder when she got back upstairs. Her restlessness was lonely.

  Often times when they were together, she would wake up but wouldn’t wake him. Just his physical presence was enough to soothe her. If he knew the depth of her struggle, he’d take the burden upon himself to fix her and Lacie was beginning to fear that that wasn’t possible.

  She sipped her water and turned to head back up to her bedroom when something snapped outside the back door. Her inner paranoia made her freeze on the spot, she didn’t want to breathe. An owl called. Vegetation rustled. And the roof tiles rattled. It didn’t matter that she knew the noises could be attributed to the wind, the sounds still set her on edge.

  Convincing herself it was nothing was harder than it sounded. Drawing on the strength she got from Ryder and his confidence, she pushed through the fear and made herself go to the back door. Her ears were tuned to be acute and were aware of every whisper and creak as she tried to seek out any proof of danger. If she found it then she’d be calling Ryder and waking Sorcha.

  Sorcha had lost the back door key yesterday during one of her treks in and out with their dinner and drinks, so the rear door wasn’t locked. Lacie pushed the back door open a few inches and was met with a rush of cold night air. Because there was nothing visible that concerned her, she began to retreat. Something metallic rattled, so she paused, but couldn’t pick out a source in the vicinity. A hand clasped around her face over her mouth and she was lifted from her feet, she didn’t have time to breathe let alone scream. Before she could think to fight, something nipped her arm and within seconds, she was out cold.

  Chapter Twelve

  Being at work while Lacie was on vacation shouldn’t bother him. It wasn’t that she was relaxing that worried him, it was that she was so far away. Their separation did have one advantage. He was free and clear to devote all of his time and resources to tracking down the threat.

  ‘Two more this afternoon,’ Ryder said, placing his hands, shoulder width apart on the board room table of the S.I.S. space they’d turned into their incident room. ‘I want all of these guys off the list before the primary returns.’

  His men all looked at each other before they smirked at him. ‘It’s just us here,’ Rocco said, pointing at his cohorts who were all former SW employees. ‘You do know that we all know who you’re talking about? You know, the woman you have a helluva lot of sex with… Do you call her the primary in bed?’

  Typical of Rocco to get a laugh even in the midst of this serious setup. ‘Most of us have seen most of Lacie through all of your exploits with her,’ Will said, bobbing his brows at the others, and causing Ryder’s scowl to form. ‘You’re a lucky man.’

  ‘I think the point Rocco was trying to make is that attempting to keep distance from the client in this case is redundant,’ Gabe said, not as swayed by frivolity as their colleagues, which was one of the things Ryder appreciated about his man in charge.

  ‘I know what his point was,’ Will said, resting his weight on his forearms on the table. ‘I’m just saying that I like the art she presents… and I don’t mean her work.’

  The others laughed at Will’s attempt to rile him and Ryder cracked half a smile because he knew this teasing was his men’s way of lightening the load.

  Bringing them back to task, he thrust his hands up off the table. ‘Let’s do what we can to keep her around then, shall we?’ Ryder asked.

  Though the men quieted, they didn’t quite return to sober. ‘Yeah, you’re sure easier to work with these days now she’s around,’ Toby said.

  Everyone was smiling in united agreement when the door burst open and Sonny flew in panting. ‘The bathroom’s the next one along if you need to knock one off,’ Ty jeered.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Gabe asked, sensing Sonny’s conflict as Ryder did and it was enough to scare him..

  ‘Something’s happened to Lacie,’ Sonny said to the table then brought his focus to Ryder.

  All of the nerves in Ryder’s body clenched in a hissing fizzle. ‘What?’ Ryder asked. ‘What happened?’

  No one answered because his team was already up and heading for the door. This was unreal. He had lost her once and vowed to never do it again. Snatching his phone from the table, he began to dial her as he headed out and he just prayed she would pick up.

  ‘What happened?’ Ryder asked as soon as he got out of the truck. Gabe and Rocco piled out too, but all he cared about was getting to Lacie who was sitting on the porch wrapped in a blanket.

  ‘I’m ok,’ Lacie said and moved to stand up, but she was unsteady on her feet and wobbled before she sat on the bench again.

  Running up the stairs, he dropped onto the bench beside her and had no chance to check her out because she immediately snuggled against him. Holding her for a brief moment, he began to run his hands over her to check she was uninjured and was actually there.

  ‘Tell me what happened?’ he asked and bent over to hook her legs up over his thighs to pull her into his lap.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lacie said and her weight sagged onto him, reassuring him that she was here and it was a reassurance that he needed.

  ‘Oh, you’re here!’ Sorcha exclaimed as she came out of the cabin carrying a tray of tea. How she could be so calm in light of what had happened, he was flummoxed.

  Gabe and Rocco were propped against the railing at the edge of the porch. ‘Good to see you healthy, Hart,’ Rocco said. ‘What do you remember?’

  Lacie stayed in his lap, but turned her face out of his chest to observe everyone. ‘I wish I could tell you it was something useful… it’s not.’

  ‘Tell us anyway,’ Gabe said. ‘You never know what—‘

  ‘I couldn’t sleep,’ Lacie said, stretching her arms, then pulling the blanket tighter around herself. ‘I came down to get a glass of water and… it was stupid… I’m really lucky that…’

  ‘That what?’ Ryder asked her, stroking his arms down her body and onto her legs.

  She didn’t respond to him, she turned her focus to Sorcha. ‘I want to go home, Sorch. I’m really sorry to cut our trip short but—‘

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Sorcha asked, putting the tray of teas onto the bench beside them. ‘If I could reach the steering wheel I’d have taken you home myself. I’m so sorry that…’

  ‘It’s ok,’ Lacie said and when Sorcha began to tear up, Lacie sprang up and pulled Sorcha into her arms, wrapping both women in the blanket.

  Bereft without her, Ryder saw Lacie waver on her feet, so he stood up behind her to steady her hips while the women hugged. They were occupied with each other, so Ryder switched into company mode and spoke to Gabe.

  ‘I want you and the guys to do a full survey. Find out what happened, where the bastard got in and how he got out. If there’s any evidence I want it analysed, understand?’ Ryder said and Gabe spoke to Rocco who then pulled out his phone to take notes. />
  ‘What about Graden?’ Gabe asked. ‘Should we ask permission?’

  Glancing at the women, Sorcha was still crying, so Ryder didn’t disturb them. ‘I don’t give a fuck what Graden thinks. We’re going to be in and out before he knows anything has happened, understand?’

  The men nodded and retreated to the truck to coordinate the op with the other S.I.S. men who were setting up a base at the inn they’d stayed in previously. Sorcha had answered Lacie’s cell phone earlier and given him pieces of the story. Later in the drive Lacie had called back to assure him that she was ok. But he was not going to let this go.

  Packing up the women took no time at all and Ryder was pleased that Lacie stuck close to him. Gabe was running the evidence gathering, but before he left, he gathered all the men together on the porch. Keeping an eye on Lacie through the living room window, he’d told his woman that he’d keep this meeting brief.

  ‘How is Lacie doing?’ Toby asked.

  ‘Good,’ Ryder responded. ‘Ok… I don’t know. I’ll figure that out once I get her alone.’

  ‘What happened?’ Will asked. ‘What does she remember?’

  He’d spoken to her about the incident again up the stairs while she was packing and it was clear that her memory was vague.

  ‘Whoever he was, he surprised her,’ Ryder said. ‘Drugged her with something I’d guess. She woke up on the kitchen floor hours later, which means whatever he hit her with was stronger than the last time.’

  ‘She doesn’t want to go to the cops?’ Will asked. ‘Or the hospital? They might be able to find something in her blood.’

  ‘She spoke to the police this morning. Sorcha called them right after she called Sonny,’ Ryder said. ‘But she’s adamant that she doesn’t want to go to the hospital. Whatever he used the last time didn’t show up in a tox screen. It’s tough to know what to test for when we don’t know what’s there.’

  ‘We test for everything,’ Will said.

  After being one of Lacie’s biggest opponent’s, Will had made quite a turn around. ‘I’ll talk to her about it again,’ Ryder said. ‘Gabe will run things here while I take the women back to the inn and we’ll be bailing out in the morning once I’ve had a chance to talk to Lace again.’

  ‘Toby is looking at the cameras on the highway,’ Gabe said. ‘But we don’t know what we’re looking for. If this person is on the road network we’re probably looking right at him. Unless you want us to run every plate…’

  That would be time consuming and may not yield any results. They could run the plates of the assailant and unless it said on his record, “Manic with a penchant for artists”, they could scan right past him.

  ‘We’re still investigating Graden,’ Will said. ‘And we’re going to pull up what we can on his movements over the last few days. He knew the women were here and he would know how to get in and out of what could be a disorienting environment to someone who doesn’t know it.’

  ‘We’re lucky that we’re ahead of the game on this one,’ Rocco said. ‘He was already on the list after the gallery. We’ve already started gathering intel.’

  Ryder didn’t like Graden. The guy pissed him off just by existing, but Ryder was aware his prejudice probably came from how close Elijah thought he was with Lacie. ‘Keep looking into it,’ Ryder said. ‘But we can’t get too fixated on that. Do the police have anything?’

  ‘Nothing in the system yet,’ Toby said from his place in the corner behind his computer screen. ‘No BOLO, no APB, no ATL, whichever friggin’ code they use up here, and no arrest warrants either. I’m keeping one eye on their system though.’

  ‘Good,’ Ryder said. ‘We need to try and work out their point of entry because it wasn’t the main road, we rigged it with the sensors. If we can do that, we might be able to narrow our search on the traffic cameras. We may even catch a vehicle coming out of the forest.’

  Unlikely because in this area there just weren’t that many cameras because there was nothing to see. ‘Find out if there are any experiments or monitoring activities in the woods,’ Ryder said. ‘Fish and Wildlife might have something or the city college, they’re more likely to have cameras or motion sensors planted around a forest than the state trooper are.’

  ‘What would they be monitoring?’ Will asked, but Gabe was already making his way to another of the computers.

  ‘I don’t know, migratory patterns or endangered species numbers. I don’t give a fuck if they’re monitoring mating habits, but who else is going to have monitoring equipment setup in the middle of nowhere?’ Going over to a now nodding Will, Ryder planted a hand on his shoulder. ‘Meanwhile, I want you and Rocco going over all reported incidents for the last seventy-two hours, look for anything suspicious, traffic stops where maybe the guy had a syringe or a weapon or a kidnap kit…’ Will was nodding, he passed his boss to pull up a chair beside Toby.

  ‘This sonofabitch didn’t roll into town ten minutes before he hit Lacie. He might have been sleeping in his car, but he might have had a hotel room, a meal in a restaurant, gone into a convenience store for a soda. I want eyeballs on every image we can pull up and cross-reference anything suspicious with licence plates in those locations. If we can match that to vehicles who might have come in the same day as the primary, or just after, then we can find out if that car was on the road last night when Lacie was assaulted. We’re going to find this asshole.’

  The room chorused a “Yes, sir” but no one looked up from their task.

  Taking control and issuing orders gave him a distraction. This lunatic had drugged her once and loons tended to stick to the same MO. What he didn’t understand was why the guy didn’t take her, why he didn’t assault her further. With the drugs he was using, he could have kidnapped Lacie and no one would have known about it until half a day later when Sorcha woke up to find Lacie gone.

  This guy was playing a dangerous game and not being able to figure out the rules or the objective made Ryder very uneasy.

  Chapter Thirteen

  More than a week went by and Lacie tried her best to get back into a routine. She was unsettled and was getting only short bouts of sleep. But she was home now and safe. She had no intention of leaving this city, or going anywhere without security, until this was all over.

  She hadn’t seen Sorcha since they’d returned from Elijah’s cabin. They had talked briefly on the phone, but when Sorcha had shown up on her doorstep that day, it was a surprise to Lacie. As distracted as Lacie was by her own troubles, she could see her friend fidgeting from the moment she’d walked in.

  ‘What’s wrong with you today?’ Lacie asked her over the kitchen table after they’d been talking for around half an hour and Sorcha hadn’t revealed the source of her agitation. ‘I thought I was jumpy, but you’re… you can’t sit still, you’re looking all over the place and—‘

  ‘We got married.’

  Lacie’s mouth was still open from her speech and she hung there mid-pout for a moment. ‘I’m sorry, what?’

  ‘Bruce and me…’ Sorcha said, shoving her coffee mug aside. ‘We just… I was crying and I don’t know what happened, the next minute we were making love and then… I guess we just got swept into the romance of the night because the next day… we went to city hall and—‘

  ‘You got married?’ Lacie said. Her need to stand made her push away from the table and stalk toward the window. ‘To Bruce? Bruce?’

  Sorcha nodded. ‘Our parents made us get the licence a few weeks ago. Bruce said he’d been fighting with his parents about him not working and they kicked him out… he was upset too. I think we needed each other.’

  Sorcha’s desire for happiness and her tendency to be spontaneous had gotten her into bed with Shep, and with Bruce, in the first place. These snap decisions had consequences that Sorcha never took the time to think through. She did what made her feel good in the short term, but Lacie feared what this would mean for her friend, and her child, long term.

  ‘What about Shep?’ Lacie asked, tr
ying to gauge her friend’s reaction to the mention of the man.

  ‘You were the one who said I had to make a decision,’ Sorcha said, displaying more impatience than longing. ‘What decision did you think I would make?’

  ‘The right one,’ Lacie said, approaching the table. ‘You married a man you don’t love because you were both having a shitty weekend and it made you feel better.’

  ‘It did,’ Sorcha said, rubbing a hand over her stomach. ‘He’s stayed with us since then.’

  ‘And what happens when he makes up with his parents and moves back in there…’

  ‘We’ll deal with it,’ Sorcha said with a decisive nod. ‘We’re having dinner with his parents tomorrow… I need to get something to wear, something… responsible.’

  ‘They’re going to flip out when they hear you eloped.’

  ‘Probably not,’ Sorcha said, then brought her thumb nail up to her teeth. ‘Do you think so?’ Lacie could only glare with disapproval and rest her hands on the back of the chair. ‘Will you come shopping with me?’

  There was nothing else to do and with this revelation, Lacie knew she would have more questions, so work was out of the window. ‘Come on,’ she said, grabbing her purse from the table.

  The pair got ready to go out and Sorcha was talking about the hotel she and Bruce had booked into for their wedding night when they got into the elevator. It stopped only a couple of floors down and Sorcha stopped talking to examine the illuminated numbers.

  ‘What are we doing here?’ Sorcha asked.

  Lacie crossed the hallway, keyed in the code needed for access and pushed through the grey door. On this floor there was a recreation room for the men to use when they had downtime and it was here she found what she needed.