Page 66 of Temptation
She grabbed his upper arms. “You have security footage and I’m just hearing about it now? Now?”
Uh, yep. “There is nothing to see on it.” Unfortunately. Nothing that would help with the investigation. “He knew where the cameras were positioned.” Another problem. “He’s very careful. He keeps his mask on the entire time.”
“How do you know that he realized cameras were there? I didn’t see them.”
“Because, at one point, he turns and flips off the closest camera to him.”
Her mouth opened. Closed.
The rain spattered over the top of his head. “We need to go, now.” He began tugging her back to the car. From the corner of his eye, he saw Noble following them. His bodyguard had been quietly keeping pace with all of their movements and probably wondering when in the hell Preston was going to get them all out of the rain.
Preston and Sloane returned to the yellow police tape. Several tarps had been placed over the dirt.
“This is not a secure scene,” Sloane stopped to declare. “The FBI will be pissed.” She hurriedly rattled off the details about the initials in the maple tree, giving a quick but thorough description of where to find the tree and telling the deputies that it needed to be roped off for evidence collection, too. Then she lasered in on Eugene. “Did you recover my bracelet?”
He frowned at her. “Ma’am?”
“A gold bracelet. It fell off my wrist when I was getting out of the grave. Is it at the station? Collected as evidence?”
His frown deepened. “I don’t remember seeing a bracelet.”
Then Preston figured it was still in the dirt. Wasn’t it? Had to be. The crime scene techs just hadn’t been given a chance to sift through the soil to find it yet.
“I’ll check again,” Eugene promised her as the rain hit his hat.
“Please do.”
The rain hit harder. Pelting them now. And Sloane finally hurried the hell up. They made it back into the waiting Range Rover just as more thunder boomed.
Sloane shook her head, sending water droplets flying.
Frankie was already in the front seat. He started the vehicle but didn’t leave. “Where to, boss?”
Debra was out searching for Bridget Russell. The Feds were heading to town. But the whole Fed team just would not get there soon enough.
How much time did Bridget have? Was she already in the ground? Because Preston feared that she was. He feared that she’d woken up, trapped, and found darkness all around her. Had she screamed for help? Begged? His left hand fisted on his thigh.
“I want to see the footage.” Sloane swiped away rain drops from her cheeks. “I want to see the security videos.”
“I sent the files to Debra.” Preston had, after he’d viewed them.
“Yeah, but you have copies at home. Show them to me.”
Fine. He’d show them to her. She wasn’t going to find anything useful on them. And Bridget will stay in the ground. Fucking hell. He leaned forward to tell his driver, “Take us home, Frankie.” What else could they do? He wanted to rip the woods apart. Wanted to search every inch of town, but he didn’t know where to go. Didn’t know where to start. Rage twisted inside of him.
A woman was going to die, and there was nothing he could do.
“Home, check. You got it.” Frankie began to reverse the vehicle. Noble would be getting into his own ride to tail them back to the house.
Preston eased back against his seat. Sloane didn’t relax. She remained stiff. Far too tense. Her stare was directed out of the window as the trees passed them in a blur.
“Sloane?”
She didn’t look at him. “She doesn’t have a lot of time. Not if…if he’s put her in the ground.”
No, she didn’t. “Maybe she’s not in the ground.” Bullshit. Preston knew the woman was buried. But he hated the desolate tone of Sloane’s voice. “Maybe we’re wrong about him having her.”
Now she did glance at him. “I want to be wrong.” A tear slid down her cheek. “But I’m afraid she’s in the dark.”
