The two survivors—Ellie Brannon and Jenna Malloy—hadn’t been forthcoming. Jenna had been deeply traumatized by her captivity. Her reticence was understandable. Ellie Brannon was another story. Sam had suspected all along that she was hiding something, maybe even from herself. To this day, he wondered if the key to solving Riley Cavanaugh’s disappearance was still tucked away somewhere in Ellie Brannon’s subconscious.
Which was why, for the past few years, he’d been tuning in to her radio show every chance he got. Midnight on Echo Lake. An evocative name for a strange broadcast patterned, he supposed, after the more famous Coast to Coast AM. At first he’d listened to try to pick up on subtle clues and gain some insight into the host. Ellie’s calm demeanor and soothing voice kept him coming back. He wondered what she was like these days in real life. She’d been a frightened kid when he’d last seen her, wary, defensive and perhaps a little intimidated by the presence of an FBI agent, even one still wet behind the ears.
Jenna Malloy had been the opposite. She’d taken to Sam when she’d refused to see anyone else, including her family and, for a time, Ellie Brannon. After he’d been transferred to DC, he’d still managed to touch base with her now and then. Maybe that had been a mistake. She had a tendency to fixate and he’d been forced to set some boundaries.
Strange how he hadn’t heard from her in a couple of years and then all of a sudden in the past few weeks, he’d gotten a spate of phone calls and letters. It was almost as if she’d somehow intuited his return to Dallas before he’d known himself he was coming back.
Now that they were in the same city, he’d have to be careful how he handled their interaction. He didn’t want to turn his back on her, but neither could he allow her to think of him as a friend. He needed to maintain professional distance, but that wasn’t always easy when he remembered the shape she’d been in after her rescue. She’d spent the first two years after her captivity in one mental health facility after another. Sam could still picture her sitting in front of the large window at the Penn Shepherd Hospital in Dallas staring absentmindedly out at the grounds until she would turn, blue eyes shimmering with quiet excitement as the fog lifted and she recognized his features.
Special Agent Reece! How nice of you to come and see me.
How are you feeling today, Jenna?
Better, I think.
That’s good to hear.
Can I ask a favor of you, Agent Reece?
Of course. What is it?
I would like it very much if you called me Jenny, the way Riley used to.
All right...Jenny.
You have no idea how happy that makes me. Will you say it again?
Let’s focus on something else, shall we? I’d like to ask you some questions if that’s okay.
I guess so. But I hope you haven’t come to talk about her again.
You mean Riley?
You know that’s not who I mean.
Why don’t you want to talk about Ellie Brannon?
She left me there. She left us both. We were her best friends. Like sisters, she used to call us. I don’t understand how she could have done such a thing.
I don’t think she had a choice. She was found unconscious at the edge of the lake the next morning. If her brother hadn’t acted as quickly as he had, she would have died.
There are worse things than dying, Agent Reece.
I’m well aware, Jenny.
The ringtone on Sam’s cell phone crashed the memory. He checked the screen, startled to see Jenna’s name on the caller ID. How could she possibly have known he was sitting out here in the dark, thinking about her? Sometimes her intuition seemed downright uncanny.
He considered letting the call go to voice mail, but his conscience wouldn’t let him. “Hello, Jenna.”
“It’s Jenny, remember?” She sounded peeved.
He kept his voice moderate but firm. “Do you have any idea what time it is?”
“I know it’s late, but you’re still up, aren’t you?”
He scanned his surroundings, peering between buildings and down each street. Was she out there somewhere watching him? He didn’t think that likely and yet he felt an inexplicable apprehension. “You couldn’t have known that, though. We agreed you would only call during the workday at a preset time, remember?”
“This couldn’t wait.”
“Even until morning?”
She sighed. “You’re angry with me.”
“I’m not angry. I just want to make sure you understand our agreement.”
“Of course I understand. I’m not a child. But sometimes there are extenuating circumstances.”
“What are the circumstances?”
She didn’t say anything for the longest moment.
“Jenny? Are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m here.”
He searched the darkness. “Tell me what’s on your mind tonight.”
“A lot of things, actually. Did you know that I have a new job?”
He tried to temper his impatience. “That’s great, but you didn’t call me at one o’clock in the morning to talk about a new job, did you?”
“I also have a new place. I’m not far from you now.”
He rubbed the back of his neck where the hair at his nape suddenly stood on end. “How do you know where I live?”
Another long silence.
Sam got up and paced to the end of the balcony. The moon was up and the grounds were well lit, but the shadows on the other side of the pond were impenetrable. He told himself that even if she’d somehow managed to ferret out his address, she wouldn’t be able to get through the gate without a code. But as he knew only too well, there were ways of breaching any space if one wanted in badly enough. Jenna Malloy was nothing if not resourceful.
“Don’t worry, Agent Reece. The location is just a coincidence.”
Was it?
“My roommate had already rented the
