Stella watched the woman go, having heard the warning, but not allowing her mind to focus on that just yet. Instead, she held onto that smirk, and the other memory it brought back with it of a wide, bright smile, just before her world had gone dark.
She had known that smile, recognized it, and now, once again, the memory returned. She had seen that smile before and just as it had then, it made her heart sink and her blood run cold.
She remembered her trips to Jay in prison, the new half-healed cuts or bandages he was likely to be sporting. Once, on her way into the prison, she thought she had seen that man too, that smile as he chatted to a woman with a long braid of coffee-brown hair.
The last memory in her mind, still stuck in some moment of painful clarity, was of a rolling lawn on a huge estate that belonged to a client she had taken on only to get her father off her back. She knew that if she could pay him enough, he might stop trying to force her to marry some wealthy stranger. There, she had been met by a servant who had claimed to be leading her to Miranda, but instead must have been in collusion with the kidnappers. She awoke once on the journey to these cells. The memory was fuzzy, tainted by the drugs they’d used to keep her under. Yet even so, she felt a deep certainty that she was right, that it was him again, the same man with the dimpled smile.
Stella felt tears begin to sting her eyes as the memories faded and her mind fell silent. If that were true, then coupled with the woman’s words earlier, Stella could come to only one conclusion that fit everything she knew. This was all aimed at Jayden.
Stella wondered that the whole of the USA wasn’t in an uproar. The Haraby name was well respected, both because of her grandparents and because of the reputation she had built herself. Surely someone had decided that her absence wasn’t normal? And then Miranda. The woman had been due to stand trial, and Carmichael was no less in the public consciousness. How could they disappear without causing a big hullabaloo?
Perhaps there is? You wouldn’t know, trapped down here, offered a feeble, but hopeful, part of her mind.
Stella swung her head. No. If there were any kind of heat, her captors wouldn’t sound so relaxed and confident. Even the new man who had smelled of cigarettes hadn’t sounded troubled.
The only answer was that this had all been carefully and meticulously planned with not a single point left to chance. Everything investigated and planned for a single person.
Her heart seized up painfully. All this time, Jay had been her ray of hope. His prowess in his field ensured that he would find her. Now she understood the truth. Just as he had always used background knowledge of his marks to bring them down, so the kidnapper was doing with him. Playing him every step of the way. When Jay would come, the final part of the trap would close and there’d be no one left to save her from drowning in that tank just like Miranda.
She waited for the panic, but instead, it was as if her senses were dulling. Stella shut her eyes and slipped into that space of numbness, where there was no thought, no fear and no hope.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Jay entered the gym and followed all his normal procedures. For the last three days, he had actually used the facilities the whole time he was here. Today, he would once again head up onto the roof. He needed solitude to contact Gary, to see if the man had managed to complete his mission.
Jay readied his drone and set up his square of safety after dead bolting the roof door behind him. Unless they could fly, no one was getting up here. Dave was at the bank dealing with some letter that had arrived yesterday to do with his previous employer over in Shreveport. Lloyd’s routine would put him at the little house just outside of town where he seemed to regularly meet up with the sheriff and others to help keep a serial killer under wraps.
Jay pulled the VR headset on, tested the microphone, then took off, feeling the swooping sensation in his gut although his feet never left the rooftop. The day was clear and bright, so Jay flew as high as he dared before setting off in the direction of the offices Gary had set up with Lloyd. As directed, Gary was meant to keep playing along and following all his usual habits. Jay knew it was far too risky for them to meet in person again, no matter where it was.
Jay hovered above the address for a full five minutes, watching all from his bird’s-eye-view. Right on cue, Gary left one of the small cottages at the back and headed into the small house that was his office and fronted the street. He waved to three people on his way, all of which Jay had already spotted. Satisfied that there were no more, Jay moved over to the window Gary had been instructed to leave open every time he was alone in the office.
The seconds dragged and then the window was open and latched. Jay held his breath. He counted to ten to give Gary time to get out of the way before swooping down out of the sky and carefully through the window.
He watched Gary’s head snap in the direction of the low buzz the propellers made and then jump badly enough to unsettle his mug of coffee.
Jay laughed and remembered belatedly that the microphone was on today. He landed on the desk and saw Gary’s eyes
