Suddenly, she didn’t feel so logical. A tear slid from her eye. Fell into her hairline. Just like Reese.
“Help me!” Chloe screamed. “Please, help me!”
***
FBI Agent Paul Richardson raced to the front of the cemetery. Two uniformed cops—the same cops who’d fought with Joel—were waiting there. “Search the area, now!” he ordered them. “Dr. Landry just received a call from Chloe’s phone, and the perp said he was here, now, watching!”
The men leapt into action. Richardson swept his gaze over the street.
Joel had gone to help Chloe. This was Paul’s opportunity to prove to his boss that he did have what it took to work violent crimes. He wouldn’t be showed up again.
This case was his chance for exoneration.
He walked into the middle of the street. His eyes were on a parked car that waited about half a block away. He strained to see in the dark and…
The car’s headlights flashed on, temporarily blinding him with their intensity.
Then the car’s engine growled, and it shot right for him.
Fucking sonofabitch. Paul yanked out his gun and aimed it at the vehicle. He was conscious of the cops running toward him. “FBI!” Paul yelled. “Stop! Stop right—”
The fucker wasn’t stopping.
Paul jumped out of the way right before the bastard would have plowed into him. He rolled across the pavement and felt it rip into his skin.
“Agent Richardson!” One of the cops was trying to help him.
Paul threw his left hand up and motioned after the car. “Get him! Get all units on him, now!”
Chapter Nineteen
“Get it the fuck off her!” Joel shoved with Cedric as they used all of their strength to push that freaking slab. Even as he pushed it, he realized just how heavy it was. So heavy that it was taking both of them to move it—
Two people must have been needed to seal her inside. Had to be two perps. What the—
Three slender fingers—red with blood—poked out of the little space he’d just created. “Chloe!” He shoved with all his strength, and he knew Cedric did the same. Adrenaline burst through Joel, and they sent that slab slamming to the ground where a heavy chunk shattered.
A uniformed officer shone his light into the vault. Chloe was lying on her back. Her right hand was clenched around something and just to her left—
Oh, fuck me.
Joel grabbed Chloe and hauled her out. Her body was so tense and chilled. He was shaking. Holding her too tightly. He didn’t care. He locked his arms around her and got her the hell away from the vault.
“Chloe!” Cedric tried to take her, but Joel just held her tighter. “Dammit, man, I have to make sure she’s okay!”
Okay. Make sure Chloe is okay. Joel lifted his head. She was curled against him. Barely moving. “Baby?”
“I’m okay.” Her voice was soft.
“What the hell happened to him?” The question came from one of the cops. Joel knew the woman was talking about the dead man who’d been in the vault with Chloe.
“I have his blood on me,” Chloe said, her voice expressionless. “I checked to see if he had a pulse—he didn’t. And I-I had to take his ring.” Her head tilted so she was looking up at Joel. “Did you hear me scream?”
His heart broke. “No, baby.”
“I didn’t think you could.” She wet her lips. “But you heard the taps?”
Yes, he’d heard the damn taps.
She looked down at her palm. “This is his ring. Cedric? Cedric, it might help you ID him.” She lifted her hand—and Joel saw the ring she held. Her fingers were trembling.
He realized Chloe hadn’t looked at the man’s face. If she had…
“Evidence bag!” Cedric called. Someone shoved a plastic bag toward him, and he let Chloe drop the ring into the bag. His gaze held hers. “Are you all right?” Tender. Careful.
“He…drugged me. I don’t know with what. I woke up in there.” She bit her lower lip. “How long has it been?”
“Too fucking long,” Joel answered.
Her head pressed back down against his chest. “I’d like to leave now.”
So the hell would he.
“Could…could someone please get the blood off me?” Her voice was even lower. Almost weak. “Please?”
***
“In-ground burial isn’t possible,” Chloe said as she sat on the stretcher inside of the ambulance and let the EMTs poke and prod at her. “The high water table down here makes that an impossibility. The bodies would float to the surface.” A light was shined in her eyes. An annoyance. She could see fine. “The St. Louis Number One cemetery is the oldest one in the city.” She winced when antiseptic was applied to some of the scratches on her hand. “It was built in 1789.”
“Chloe, just rest.” Joel’s voice. Worried. Ragged. He stood a little beyond the open ambulance doors. His gaze hadn’t left her. She knew he hadn’t wanted to stop touching her. It had taken him a few moments to actually let her go after he’d tucked her into the back of the ambulance. That ambulance had come screaming up just as he carried her out of the cemetery.
“Did you see the oven vaults near the entrance?” Chloe asked, and the question was vague—not specifically to Joel or the EMT. “Those were the ones on top of each other. You can have several family members all in one of those vaults.” She should probably stop, but it seemed oddly important to explain all of this. “You put the body in and leave it undisturbed for a year and a day, then you can push those remains back to the rear of the vault. Make space, you understand? That way, another body can be placed inside.”
The EMT was staring at her.
“You live in this town,” she chided him. “Don’t you know about the cemeteries?”
He shook his head.
“Chloe.”
She looked toward Joel.
“They’re going to take you to the hospital. Blood work needs to be run in order to find out what he used to drug you.”
She didn’t like that plan. Squaring her shoulders, Chloe released a long, slow breath. “I would rather go back and look at the vault.” It had to be done.
Joel’s jaw locked.
“I’m sure there is a syringe in this vehicle.” She motioned toward the EMT. “Can’t you take a sample of my blood and let me be on my merry way?”
“No.” Joel’s fast denial. “You’re going to the hospital.” He jumped into the back of the ambulance. “We are going to get every inch of you checked out.”
Unnecessary. Physically, Chloe assessed herself as being fine. “How did you find me?”
“Cedric picked the cemetery. Said it was the place least likely to have any other visitors so that would give the man who buried you—” Joel broke off. “Fucking hell.”
“Uh, sir,” the EMT began as he eyed Joel nervously.
Joel crouched on his knees before Chloe. He caught her hands. “He buried you.”
“I’m okay.” He hadn’t technically buried her. She hadn’t been beneath the ground. She’d been sealed away. Though Chloe didn’t think that Joel was in the mood for a clarification. “I’m okay,” she told him once more.