'Matt has two dozen deputies and all the mall security out there helping him. I'd just get in his way.' He paused. 'I'm not going anywhere, Cassie.'
She drew a breath and concentrated on forming the words. 'I need to sleep about twelve hours.'
'All right.' He put his cup down, reached for hers and put it also on the coffee table, then came to her and lifted her out of her chair, afghan and all.
'What'reyou – '
'You could never manage the stairs,' he told her, managing them easily even bearing her weight.
Cassie's thinking was fuzzy, but she decided that she didn't like being carried by a man when she was too damned tired to enjoy the experience. But all she said was 'Why can't you just leave me alone?'
'Which bedroom?' he asked, apparently unmoved by her shaky question.
Cassie sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. 'The big front one. I have to take Max out.'
'I'll take him out. Don't worry.'
'He needs to be fed.'
'I said don't worry, Cassie. About anything. Just sleep.'
Already half there, she murmured, 'Yes, but you can't spend the night here. What would people say?'
'Go to sleep, love.'
She tried to say that he shouldn't call her 'love' and he certainly shouldn't spend the night in her house, but the only thing that emerged was a sensual little murmur that would have embarrassed her if she had been able to think about it. But thinking was beyond her. Her eyes had closed, and when she felt the softness of her bed beneath her, Cassie just sighed and let go, falling into sleep as though into a deep well.
Ben removed her shoes and used the afghan as an extra blanket when he covered her. He turned on the lamp on her nightstand since it was getting dark but left the light low. She was deeply asleep already, her fragile body completely limp, and for a moment he stood beside her bed and just gazed down at her.
How many more of these dreadful psychic journeys could she take before they destroyed her? Not many. He had known the attempts drained her energy and strength, but until that day he had not known they also consumed her very life force.
And he had not known that the possibility of losing her forever would be a knife in his heart.
He heard a quiet sound and turned his head to find Max standing in the doorway, staring at him with anxious eyes. Ben sent a last look at Cassie and then went to the dog and nudged him into the hallway so he could draw the door almost closed.
'Come on, boy,' he said. 'Let's go downstairs and leave her in peace.'
At least, whatever peace she could find in her dreams.
'Any luck?' Ben asked the sheriff when Matt was called to his cruiser's phone.
'Yeah, and all bad. We've got a missing girl, Ben.'
'Who is it?'
'A teenager named Deanna Ramsay. She came to the mall with a friend, and they were escorted by her older brother. The friend is hysterical, but from what I've been able to get out of her, it seems Deanna talked her friend into distracting her brother so she could slip away. She intended to meet someone, the friend claims, but she doesn't know who. The brother swears she couldn't have gone missing more than ten minutes before we got here. We're searching the place, and we've searched every male in the right age group with or without a Central jacket.' Matt paused, then added flatly, 'Nothing.'
Sitting on Cassie's sofa with her dog's head in his lap, Ben stared at the leaping flames in the fireplace and tried to think of something positive to say. Nothing came to mind.
'Shit, 'he said finally.
'My sentiments exactly.' Matt sounded too tired to swear. 'My deputies are going to keep searching the area, and we've got a growing group of volunteers standing by if we have to start beating the bushes around here. I've called John Logan, and he's on his way out here with his dogs. The girl left a pair of gloves in her brother's car, so we'll have her scent. But I'm betting the bastard got her in a vehicle of some kind, so the trail will end a few yards from one of the exits.'
He drew a breath. 'Nobody saw anything unusual, nobody heard anything unusual. I'm about to head out to the Ramsay place with Larry, break the news to their parents.'
'If they haven't heard already.' Matt grunted an agreement. 'How's Cassie?' 'Asleep. Or maybe I should say unconscious. She said she needed about twelve hours, but I'll be surprised if she wakes up before late tomorrow morning.'
'You staying out there tonight?'
'Yes.'
Matt didn't comment, saying merely, 'Okay, I'll call you there if I have any news tonight or in the morning.'
'If you need my help – '
'No, we've got enough eyes for a search. There's nothing you can do here.' Grimly he added, 'So far this bastard's been leaving his bodies where we can find them quickly, but if Cassie was right about his plans for this one…'
'We may be in for a long wait,' Ben finished.
'Yeah. And in the meantime, I don't much like the mood of our volunteers, Ben. We've had to disarm more than half of them already. If we have to use them to search, and if that girl's body is found, I'm going to have a mob on my hands.'
'I know.'
'And now Eric is threatening to put out a special edition of the paper tomorrow, and I just can't make him see it'll only fan the flames.'
'I'll call him.'
'Yeah, okay.' Matt let out a weary breath. 'And I'll call you if there's any news.'
'Watch your step, Matt.'
'I will.' Matt hung up the phone and backed away to close the cruiser's door, then looked at Abby, where she leaned against the rear fender with her dog at her side. Before Matt could speak, she did.
'I should go home.' Her gaze moved restlessly over the people milling all around the parking lot, where lights were beginning to flicker on as darkness rapidly approached. There were plenty of uniformed sheriff's deputies coming and going from the mall and questioning people in the parking lot, but there were even more concerned citizens just standing around, taking it all in. 'You have work to do, and I'm just in the way.'
Matt stepped closer, not touching her even though he wanted to. He had gone cold to his bones when he had seen her among the mall shoppers and realized how close she had been to an insane killer. 'You could never be in the way.' He knew why she was worried, of course, and her next words confirmed it.
'Matt, if somebody sees me just hanging around you and starts to wonder…'
Roughly he said, 'I don't want to let you out of my sight.'
Her tense expression softened. 'I'll be fine. I'll take Bryce home and we'll lock ourselves in the house. And wait for you.'
He didn't like it but knew he didn't have much choice. 'All right.' Because he couldn't help himself, he lifted a hand to touch her cheek briefly. 'But, for God's sake, be careful.'
'I will. You too.'
Matt watched her all the way to her car, and it wasn't until she drove past him and lifted a hand in farewell that he turned back to his duties, reluctantly pushing her out of his thoughts.
Unseen by either of them, Gary Montgomery sat in his car gripping the steering wheel with white-knuckled fingers and watched his wife drive away. Then he turned his gaze to the sheriff busily directing his men.
'Son of a bitch,' he muttered. 'Son
'I'm glad I scared you,' Joe Mooney declared stolidly, escorting Hannah to her car. 'Jesus, Hannah, you weren't even looking where you were going!'
'I was in a hurry.' She knew only too well that this time she wouldn't be able to defend her actions. That poor girl, snatched from the mall in broad daylight – and the monster that took her might well have passed Hannah only minutes before! She shivered.
'I don't know what I'm going to do with you,' Joe said.
