if on cue, her phone chimed a text.
“Excuse me a minute.” She called up the message screen.
You seem to be avoiding my request, Deputy. Maybe I should have a conversation with that cute little sister of yours instead.
“Nikki.” Sydney dropped the phone and bolted from the table. “He’s after Nikki.”
“What?” Russ called after her.
She fled down the hall and shoved open Nikki’s door. Hoping to find her sister sitting behind the computer, Sydney stopped short. The room was empty, the window cracked open.
He had her. The killer had her.
Oh, God, no. Please, anything but this. Don’t let my baby sister be harmed. Help me find her, please, Lord. Please…
She charged back to the breakfast area and gazed desperately at Russ, who still sat at the table holding her phone. “Nikki’s not in her room. The window’s open. He must have her.”
“You’re jumping to conclusions, Syd. Why don’t you try calling her?” he said calmly, holding out her phone.
She snatched it and punched in Nikki’s speed-dial number. “Straight to voice mail. What’re we gonna do?” Panic seared along her nerve endings.
Russ crossed over to her and placed his hands on her arms. She felt the warmth of his fingers through her sleeves and wished the heat would still the alarm threatening to overwhelm her.
“Take a deep breath and calm down,” he said. “It’s not likely this creep has Nikki. She’s a tough kid. She wouldn’t let him take her without making so much noise we would’ve heard them. Maybe she snuck out.”
“She wouldn’t do that. Not after I warned her about the killer.”
“She’s a teenager, Syd. They think they’re invincible and do dumb things all the time. We should go to her room and see if we can find a lead.”
Sydney jerked away from Russ and raced back down the hall. She heard him follow. In the room, her eyes lit on the computer.
“Her life revolves around her computer. Maybe I can find something there.” She dropped into the chair and lifted the lid. After it woke up, Facebook filled the screen, followed by the little chat window with a transcript of a conversation with Emily.
Russ came up behind her and leaned over her shoulder.
Nikki had typed, Things changed. I can go. Emily responded, Seriously? Thought the warden said you had to stay with her tonight.
Sydney cringed at the “warden” comment. So what? She wasn’t Nikki’s friend or just her sister. She was her legal guardian. For all practical purposes her mother. And mothers had to be wardens at times.
Don’t care what she says. I’m going, Nikki added.
It’ll be crazy fun. Nick scored two kegs.
K. Pick me up at the corner so S doesn’t see me leave.
Be there in 5, Emily had typed before signing off.
“See,” Russ said, his tone meant to soothe but doing nothing to still her anxiety. “She went to a party. Now all we have to do is figure out where they are and bring her home.”
It was good to know the killer hadn’t abducted Nikki, but his message said he knew she wasn’t home. Her life could still be in danger.
A wave of nausea rolled through Sydney’s stomach. “The killer’s watching us. That’s how he knew she snuck out. What if he followed her?”
Russ didn’t say anything, but the concern in his eyes said he agreed. “Any idea where the party might be?”
“I’m guessing the pit.” She referred to a gravel pit just out of town. “At least that’s where most of the parties around here are held.”
“Then let’s go. We’ll issue a BOLO for her friend’s car on the way.” A Be On the Look Out would alert all officers in the area to watch for Nikki.
“You can call it in while I get my gun. I’ll meet you at the car.” She didn’t wait for agreement but ran to her bedroom, where Nikki had dropped Sydney’s backpack after bringing it in from the car.
Sydney jerked out her duty belt and reached for the gun to load it. It wasn’t there. She clawed through the pack, came up empty-handed. Her backup gun was here, but her service weapon was missing.
What had happened to it?
It couldn’t have fallen out of the bag. Someone had to have taken it. The only person with unrestricted access since Sydney dropped the gun into the backpack was Nikki. She was mad enough about not being able to go to Emily’s party to take the gun, just to rile Sydney. Yeah, her sister knew the right buttons to push to make Sydney freak out. This was the exact thing that would do it.
Sydney grabbed her backup gun from the pack. She slipped out of her shirt and removed her bulletproof vest. When she found Nikki alive, and she would find her, Nikki would need the vest more than Sydney would.
If the text was true, the killer wanted something from Sydney and he wouldn’t kill her until she provided it. Not so with Nikki. He seemed very willing to put a bullet in Nikki to get Sydney to produce this mysterious item.
She slipped the vest on over her shirt then ran for the car. By the time she arrived, Russ had it turned around and the light bar turning.
She jumped in. Before she closed the door, Russ took off. He flipped on the siren and she sat back, finally feeling the strain running had placed on her injured knee. She’d been so consumed with fear for Nikki she hadn’t even noticed the pain. Now it throbbed in time with the wails of the siren.
But a little pain didn’t matter, Nikki did. And what they both needed right now was God’s intervention.
Dear Lord, please wrap Your arms around Nikki and keep her safe. Help us to rescue her and let no one be harmed in the process.
She breathed out her distress and let God’s peace take over before opening her eyes.
Russ glanced at her, his eyebrow raised.
“What?” she asked.
“What’s with the vest over your shirt?”
She hadn’t expected him to question her, but he had to know from when he held her at the murder scene that she’d had the vest on under her shirt, so she explained her reason for the change. “When we get there, you can wait in the car. I’ll go in after her.”
Russ cocked an eyebrow. “Your logic is full of holes, Syd. Did you take something from Dixon’s house?”
“No.”
“Then this could just be a ploy to get you out in the open to take you out.”
She exhaled sharply. “I’m willing to take that risk to save my sister.”
“This’s exactly what I was warning you about earlier when you followed Dixon. You have an emotional investment in this. You can’t simply bypass everything you’ve learned about safety and act irrationally.”
“Do you have a better idea?”
“We follow protocol and stay together. The area outside the pit is so wide-open we’ll be sitting ducks if this guy has a rifle. Our only chance is going in there together and working as a team.”
She peered out the window. “It’s overcast so that’ll help.”
“But we’re too far from the lake to count on fog hiding us.”
“I still think you should stay in the car.”
He snorted. “Not a chance.”
“I told you—he’s not gonna shoot me. He might try to take you out or even Nikki, but not me.”