“Anything that might lead us to Bailey?” Ryan asked.
“I’m on my way over to the club to give you an update. Will you be there?”
“Yeah, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Okay, I’ll see you in about ten minutes.” Sharpe ended the call, leaving Ryan with a sense of dread. What could he have learned that couldn’t be shared over the phone?
About ten minutes later, as promised, Sharpe walked through the front door of the club.
“I just interviewed a couple of people on the west side of the lake who claim to have seen Dexter launch a boat on Friday.”
Ryan met Lucas’ eyes. “Where on the west side? Which launch?”
“Cave Rock. Are you familiar with it?”
“Yes,” Lucas said. “It’s the launch Dex usually used when he brought his boat up here.”
“They confirmed it was Dexter’s truck they saw. They recognized it from the photo, and when shown a photo of Mr. Dexter, they confirmed it was him driving the truck. They watched him launch the boat. They also gave us detailed information about the boat.”
“Really? Any particular reason why they remember so much detail about him?”
Sharpe nodded. “They thought he was suspicious from the beginning. For one, he was alone and seemed to be muttering to himself as he launched the boat. He was also rushing. She said a couple of teenagers offered to help him, but he screamed at them to get away and threatened them.”
“There’s more.” It wasn’t a question. Ryan knew Sharpe was holding back. “What else?”
“They also stated it looked as if he was hiding something in the rear of the boat. He had a blue tarp tied over the back seats.”
“And that could’ve been Bailey.”
Sharpe’s eyes grew soft for a moment, and that made Ryan very nervous.
“It also could’ve been fishing equipment or just about anything else,” Sharpe said.
“So when he got there, the tarp was tied over the boat?”
“No, just over the back. The witness specifically said ‘over the back seat.’ That could be anything.”
Ryan nodded. “And they didn’t see a woman with him, so…” He nodded again, feeling a bit smug. “So Bailey wasn’t willingly going out on the lake with Dex.”
“No. He was alone,” Sharpe confirmed.
“Anything else worth noting?” Lucas asked.
“They made a comment, joking of course, that he must’ve been heading out to dump a dead body.”
The wind left Ryan’s lungs in a rush. “Fuck.”
He leaned forward, bracing himself on a chair for support, his heart having lurched in his chest. He placed a hand over his stomach to try to get his bearings.
Lucas took over the questions from there. “I guess it’s safe to assume they didn’t suspect there was a live, struggling person in the back of the boat.”
Sharpe shook his head. “Dexter returned over an hour later, with wet clothes and acting erratically. The tarp was no longer in the back of the boat. He trailered the boat in a rush and spun his tires when he left the parking lot.
“She’s…she’s not dead,” Ryan stammered.
“No. Of course not,” Lucas said. “But she may have been unconscious.”
Ryan swallowed back the bile and nodded. “Yeah, that’s possible.”
Sharpe’s phone rang, and he turned his back on them to answer.
Ryan didn’t pay much attention until he heard the abrupt “Where?”
Lucas and Ryan both watched him closely as he spoke.
“Text me the address…or the closest address.” A moment later, Sharpe nodded at them. “I need to go.”
“Agent Sharpe?”
Sharpe pointed at Ryan. “Stay here. I’ll stop by later to talk to you.” His look was grave, and it was enough to make Ryan sick to his stomach.
* * *
Bailey woke to the sound of a radio. It wasn’t inside with her but sounded more like it came from outside somewhere. She couldn’t make out the words but knew for sure it was a radio by the sound alone. She waited a moment, then tried to roll over. She couldn’t see anything; it was completely dark. There wasn’t even the slightest glow from the moon outside the windows. At this point, she couldn’t even be sure there were windows. The only reason she was certain she was in the same trailer was the godawful smell.
She lay there for a long time, waiting for something to happen. For anything to happen, but nothing did.
Was she alone?
Was Dex coming back?
Was she going to be sold to the highest bidder by Snaggletooth or killed as Dex had instructed?
She started to cry against her will. Between the aches and pains, the upset stomach, and terrible headache, she couldn’t hold in her tears. She rolled the rest of the way over and lifted her hands to wipe her face. The rope around her wrists had rubbed her raw and bloody. Every movement sent sharp pains through her arms, but her body also ached from lying in the same spot for too long.
Get up, Bailey.
She needed to get up and get the hell out of there. She sat up and tried to stand, but her feet were still tied. She fell back onto the mattress to ward off the dizziness. Whatever Snaggletooth had injected her with was still affecting her ability to function. The injection site burned as well. She looked down at the bruise at the crook of her arm and prayed whatever he’d given her wouldn’t have any permanent effects. She scoffed tearfully as she reached to untie the ropes around her ankles. For all she knew, that was his plan—to kill her by overdose. And only God knew what kind of disease she’d contracted from the needle he used.
Moving her hands around was terribly painful, but the promise of escape spiked her adrenaline. She pushed through the pain and had the last knot around her feet untied when the beam of a bright flashlight bounced into the trailer. She tensed, not sure what was going to happen next. Snaggletooth was panting and pacing the small area like a caged animal as his wide eyes darted around the trailer. Something had obviously spooked him.
When the stream of
