Page 69 of Temptation
His stare shifted to the necklace he’d latched around Sloane’s throat.
Her left hand rose to touch the lily even as her right gripped the phone. “You’re saying my bracelet is near here?” Her brow furrowed. “Must still be at the grave site. Buried in the dirt.”
“No.” From Josie before Preston had a chance to reply. “It’s not at your grave. I know where you were found. I helped guide Atlas and Lily because sometimes it can be a real pain in the ass to get a good signal in the mountains. Your bracelet is actually about ten miles from where you are now.” Then Jodie gave them the exact coordinates.
Sloane shook her head. “That doesn’t—that shouldn’t be possible.”
“Well, it’s possible. Don’t know what else to tell you. Here…”
More tapping. More keystrokes.
“Yeah, yeah, I can see the historical movement of the tracker. It was at the sheriff’s station.” Confusion. “Then it went offline for a while. Interesting. Very interesting. Someone had to turn it off. Usually, Atlas has these things set to always transmit, so we’re talking about someone who knew exactly what was inside the bracelet. It went offline and then reappeared at our new location. Deliberately turned off and then deliberately reactivated.”
Preston leaned forward once more. He grabbed the back of the driver’s seat. “Pull over. Now.”
Frankie got them off the road. The wipers kept right on flying. The rain slamming down on them.
“What’s happening?” Josie asked, worry in her voice. “Why is your bracelet so important right now?”
A shudder worked over Sloane’s body.
“What is going on?” Josie wanted to know. “Why do you care about the bracelet? So what if some crime junkie stole it from an evidence bag. You know that kind of thing happens all the time.” Josie wasn’t tapping on a keyboard any longer. “You have a new tracker. I’ve got you. I can see you. If something happens, I will find you. Count on me, Sloane.”
“It’s not about finding me.” She wasn’t touching her necklace any longer. “It’s about finding someone else. Josie, if that bracelet moves again, let me know. Right away. Okay?”
“Got it.”
“Text me the coordinates for the bracelet, would you? Please?”
“Done,” Josie assured her.
Preston’s phone dinged.
Sloane hung up. She pushed the phone toward him. “You’re thinking the same thing,” she said to Preston.
Yeah, yeah, he was. “Change of plans,” he snapped at Frankie. “We aren’t going home.” He gave the driver the coordinates. The location that Josie had just found for Sloane’s missing bracelet.
“Uh, boss?” Frankie didn’t start driving. “Boss, that’s deeper in the woods. The storm is just going to get worse, not better. The forecast was warning about this storm all day. It’s gonna be one helluva bad?—”
“Take us there. Now.”
Frankie got them on the road again. Preston eased back against the seat, his shoulder brushing against Sloane.
“He…he keeps leading us around.” Her voice was low, reaching out to him. “He drove by the station, he shot up the exterior to catch our attention…”
“He made sure we saw the car,” Preston picked up when her words trailed away. “He knew the Honda would be traced. Then when the vehicle was located and searched, the shovel was discovered.”
She stared right at him. “And with the shovel, he knew we’d realize that Bridget had been taken.”
Taken.
“He knows that we were found because of the tracker in my bracelet.” Sloane tapped her fingers against her legs. “And maybe that’s how he plans for us to find Bridget?”
Preston wasn’t sure. Maybe the bracelet had been stolen by some crime junkie, like Josie had said. Maybe they’d go into the woods and find some jerk holding tightly to it. Or maybe…maybe it had been taken by someone else. By the bastard who wanted to prove a point…
The tracker saved you.
But it didn’t save this one.
