Page 103 of Searching for Bristol
But the thought ate at him. What if hedidn’tknow? What if shewasthere?
Anxiety rose within Rocky and it took every bit of discipline he’d learned as a SEAL to not storm up the stairs and rip Lance’s door off its hinges to see for himself.
“How’d you know it was him?” Rocky asked as he and Simon crouched near the apartment complex, their eyes peeled on the stairs, waiting for Lance to make an appearance once more.
“Davis came to see me yesterday afternoon. Said Lance was acting strangely in regard to his trash. You know how Davis looks through the garbage? Well, Lance found him doing it, yelled at him, then took his trashbackupstairs. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but I did some research.”
“And?” Rocky asked impatiently.
“Lance Zaun has been in and out of psychiatric hospitals for practically his entire life. His own parents were scared of him, and they washed their hands of him when he turned eighteen. Kicked him out of the house, moved, changed theirnames, in fact.
“I wasn’t able to read the medical reports on him, but from the notes different officers have made after his various arrests for public disturbances, threats, and Peeping Tom activities, he’s got an obsessive personality. He’s calm one minute, out of control the next. When a longtime detective out of Memphis wrote that he was, and I quote, ‘one of the scariest men I’ve ever met in my life,’ I was pretty sure I had my man. I didn’t have any proof he had Bristol though,” Simon said, the apology easy to hear in his tone. “If I did, I wouldn’t have waited.”
Rocky nodded. He understood. That didn’t mean he liked it, but he did understand.
“What’s the plan?” he asked.
“When he comes out of that apartment, we rush him. Under no circumstances is he to get back up those stairs.”
Rocky closed his eyes for a moment. “You think she’s in there.” It wasn’t a question.
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Simon said. “We’ve literally looked everywhere else.”
Rocky tried to control himself, but he failed. He turned and threw up into the weeds growing next to the brick building.
Thinking about what Bristol had gone through, was still going through, made him throw up again.
“Easy, son,” Simon said quietly, briefly putting a hand on Rocky’s back.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Rocky took a deep breath, tears stinging his eyes.
To his surprise, Simon’s hand appeared—with a fucking pack of Life Savers in his palm.
“What the hell?” Rocky asked, as he gratefully took them from the police chief. “You normally carry these around?” he asked.
Simon shrugged. “Yeah. Been around the block long enough to know that shit can hit the fan at any moment, and what bothers me doesn’t bother someone else, and vice versa. So I carry some strong-as-hell peppermints around, just in case.”
Rocky nodded, but the thought of Bristol being right under his nose just about killed him. He’d failed her. Big time. And if she was all right—God, let her be all right—and if she still wanted him after he hadn’t protected her, hadn’t found her in a timely manner, he wouldn’teverfail her again.
“There’s movement. Stand by,” Ethan’s voice said over the radio. They’d all programmed their radios to the same channel. There were currently seven pissed-off SAR team members and three deputies, plus Simon, ready to make their move.
All eyes were on the stairs when Lance Zaun looked around nervously as he exited his apartment. He put down the large box he was carrying and turned to close and lock the door behind him.
Nothing could’ve told Rocky more clearly that Bristol was behind that door. Who locked their deadbolt when they were just putting a box in their car? No one. Unless they didn’t want anyone to see what—or who—was behind that door.
Lance picked up the box once more and made his way toward the stairs. Rocky started a countdown in his head as he waited for him to reach the ground.
Ten, nine, eight…
His heart started beating overtime.
Seven, six, five…
He wanted Lance to fucking suffer, but more, he needed to get to Bristol.
Four, three, two…
Simon and his deputies were going to head straight for Lance, while Rocky and his team would go up the stairs.
