“I tried to take her home,” he replied. “She insisted on coming here.”
“I see.” Dorie looked at the car keys in his hand. “Did she also use psychokinesis on you to take the wheel?”
“You’ve met her, right? What gives you the idea that she’s liable to take any advice that I offer her?”
“Hello. I, a person with verbal skills, also exist in this room,” Ellery said.
“You probably have a head injury,” Dorie told her. “Your vote doesn’t count.”
“My head is fine. It’s everything else that hurts.”
Dorie grimaced as she surveyed Ellery’s bruises. Her touch was tender but her expression stern. “You know you broke about eleven different protocols by confronting the suspect on your own.”
“Go ahead then,” Ellery replied glumly. “Write me up.”
“No.” Dorie palmed her face briefly. “Not this time. You found Bobby by empathizing with him. You got into his head and figured out where to find him.”
“For all the good it did.”
“We don’t get to pick the results, I’m afraid,” Dorie replied with a sigh as she drew back. She looked to Reed. “You really ought to get your girlfriend home to bed. She looks about ready to keel over where she stands.”
Ellery froze at the word girlfriend. She’d been careful not to hint of any personal relationship with Reed to anyone at work. Hell, she had put two feet of space between them right in the crowded entryway. “What did you say?”
“Yeah, sorry. Your story’s out all over the news.” Dorie took out her phone and showed Ellery the breaking news page. There was a picture of her holding Reed’s hand to her face underneath the caption “SERIAL” LOVE AFFAIR. The subhead said: “FBI Profiler Reed Markham in Romance with Surviving Victim Ellery Hathaway.” Dorie must have read the horror on her face, because she tucked the phone away. “I really am sorry,” she said with genuine apology. “I thought you’d want to know the cat’s out of the bag.”
Ellery shook it off. “Speaking of cats, where is the dog?”
“The dog?” Dorie echoed.
“Chloe’s dog, Snuffles. She’s still here, isn’t she?”
“I’ve got her.” Teresa Lockhart appeared behind them holding the small white dog in her arms. “What do you want with Snuffles?”
Ellery glanced at Reed, who shook his head almost imperceptibly. They’d already discussed this on the way over, and she knew his position: don’t tell Teresa. If Ellery was wrong, as was likely in Reed’s estimation, it would crush Teresa. You think Chloe is dead, Ellery had replied. At least I’m offering some hope. To Teresa, she said, “I’d like to borrow Snuffles for a little while.”
Teresa put her hand on the dog’s head. “Tell me why.”
Ellery had been terrified when Reed pried open the closet to set her free. The sound of nails coming loose meant Coben had returned for more torture. She’d heard the tinkle of the nails hitting the ground and prayed for death. When he’d identified himself as a federal agent and scooped her out of there, she hadn’t yet believed him. She’d gone with him because she had no strength left to fight. “I think she might be able to help Chloe.”
“You know where she is?”
“Not yet,” Ellery hedged. “I have somewhere else I’d like to look.”
“Fine, then I’ll come with you.”
“Dr. Lockhart, I know you want to help—”
“No,” Teresa cut her off sharply. “I can’t stay in this house doing nothing another minute. I’m going out of my mind. From what I know, you maybe understand more than anyone what Chloe is going through right now. So I am begging you to see it from my side. I need to help.”
“You’re doing that,” Reed said. “Being here, supporting the search teams.”
Ellery looked to him. He expected to find a body at the end. He didn’t want Chloe’s mother to see her like that, which Ellery could understand. But she saw the primal hunger in Teresa’s eyes, the desperation and desire for any scrap of information on Chloe’s condition. She wanted her baby, dead or alive. “You can come,” Ellery said. “But you need to stay in the car.”
“Okay, yes,” the woman replied readily. The dog barked, sensing action.
Reed frowned his disapproval, but he didn’t object, probably because he didn’t expect to find anything of significance on this mission. “I’ll drive.”
“I’ll come, too,” Dorie said. She touched Ellery’s good arm lightly. “You’ll need both of us to scrape you off the floor when you collapse.”
“I have such a supportive partner.”
In the car, Ellery explained their destination, and while Teresa didn’t seem especially convinced, she agreed to try. “I’d search every house, every quarry, every forest, if I could. I know how it works. I’ve been here before. Eventually everyone moves on. The helicopters and the dogs and the teams of people will go home, but I’ll never stop looking.” She held the dog on her lap, petting her absently as she stared out the window, her eyes checking every passing face.
Dorie studied her phone. “Conroy says there is no sign of Chloe so far at the state park. The dogs have been unable to pick up her scent beyond the stolen van.”
To Ellery, this was good news. Teresa seemed less sure. “I’ve had to tell a lot of people that their loved one is gone,” she said to the window. “People who die during surgery. Usually the family is expecting it, dreading it, but also hoping like hell it isn’t true. You see the tightness around their mouth when you come through the doors and the tears already in their eyes because they know what you have to say to them. Sometimes they lash out. They blame you. Sometimes, maybe, it’s even your fault.” She looked down at her lap.
“You are not to blame for Bobby Frick’s actions,” Reed said from behind the wheel.
“Maybe not, but I do share blame.” She looked up. “I’ve looked at Chloe her whole life the way those parents and children and spouses looked to me, just waiting for the bad news. Waiting for the shoe to drop. Dreading the worst will happen.” She shook her head vaguely. “Now it has. I feel no better for having anticipated it. I feel no more prepared.”
Ellery felt her first unease at bringing Teresa along on the trip, but it was too late to back out now. “We’re almost there.”
Reed made the last turn and pulled to a stop outside Tyreek Cantrell’s duplex apartment building. The door was shut tight, all the window shades drawn as usual. “How do you want to play this?” he asked Ellery.
“Let me have the dog,” she said to Teresa.
“Maybe I should come.”
“No, not yet.” She looked to Dorie. “Make sure she stays put, okay?”
Dorie held up her palms. “It’s your play.”
Snuffles, all of five pounds, was light enough for Ellery to hold with one arm. She panted eagerly and wagged as they walked up the steps. Ellery guessed the dog lived the same sheltered life as Chloe did. This probably counted as a big adventure for her. Reed rang the bell. They waited, and Ellery saw the nearest window shade move. No one came to the door. Reed rang again, longer this time. Eventually, the door cracked open and Tyreek’s face appeared on the other side. His expression was guarded and he did not look pleased to see them. “What is it?”