disappeared.”
Mallory paused, then stared at Noah. “Lucy found him online. He was trolling for virgins. But he never showed.”
“Never showed? Explain.”
“Two months ago. Lucy set the meeting, and we switched the location because I knew in my gut that this guy was dangerous-that he would escalate. He deserved my brand of justice. He never showed up, and when I went to his house I knew he’d gone to ground. He might have smelled a cop, but there are safeties in place-he couldn’t have known it was Lucy!”
“There’s always a way.” Noah paused. “What kind of teacher was Miller?”
“Computer science.”
Sean drove as fast as he could on the icy roads to RCK East. Noah Armstrong had called Kate and told her about Peter Miller.
Sean would find him. He had to.
Jayne was already working on it, and Noah was pulling all Miller’s criminal records in the effort to find out where he might have taken Lucy. The Delaware FBI was checking his last known residence and Abigail went to comb the WCF files in evidence.
Sean prayed Lucy was alive and unharmed. His gut burned, thinking about Lucy held captive. Miller looked normal, almost pleasant, but he was a sick bastard who had vengeance on his mind. He hated women, and a woman-Lucy-had tried to send him back to prison.
His phone rang as soon as he stepped inside his house. He ran up the stairs to his office as he answered.
“Hello.”
“Sean, it’s Duke. Jayne filled me in. Have you learned anything else?”
“No.”
“I retrieved his employment history. He lists University of Virginia at Richmond as his alma mater.”
“How does that help?”
“He’s not a native of Delaware. His parents were Paul and Christina Miller. They lived in Virginia until 1984, when the father moved to Wilmington after they divorced. Miller was born in 1971, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Jayne is searching property records under the father’s name and the mother’s maiden name-Christina Lyons.”
“Where are they now?”
“The father died twelve years ago, and I have no record of the mother after the divorce in Virginia or Delaware, so I’m broadening the search under both her married and maiden names.”
“What is it? I’ll get the FBI on it.”
“The FBI? You think they can find it faster than I can?”
“No, but at this point we need to try everything. I have a bad feeling. From the witness ID, it appeared that Lucy was drunk. I think he drugged her. She wouldn’t have gone willingly. She would have fought back.”
“
Sean didn’t doubt that. But in what condition? Injured? Dead?
“Call me as soon as you know anything.”
Sean dialed Kate. “I’m sending you information that Duke just found out.”
“I’ll get on it. Noah is on his way to your place, I’m meeting him there.”
“If I find a lead, I’m jumping on it.”
“You’d better. Just keep me in the loop. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Sean dropped his phone on his desk, his hands fisting in his hair as an agonized groan escaped from deep in his chest. The anger-at Mallory, at the FBI, but mostly at himself for not protecting Lucy-battled with his deep fear for her life.
He took several deep breaths to swallow the rising panic. His brothers had told him over and over that there was no room for personal emotion when faced with a threat. But Sean had never been in the military. He’d never been trained to kill or to fight or to treat an assignment as a tactical situation with targets and civilians. And while he had the skills, he hadn’t developed the mental discipline that his older brothers shared.
And he couldn’t think of Lucy as a victim. He couldn’t think of her as anyone but who she was-the woman who had taken his heart. He just wanted her back, safe, with him.
“Okay,” he said out loud. “Think, Sean. You’re not helpless. If Miller wanted to kill Lucy, he would have done it at the church, right?”
This was where having the profiler around would be helpful.
Was Cody Lorenzo killed for revenge, or because he’d found out something about Miller? Or, was his murder Miller’s sadistic way of tormenting Lucy? How long had Miller been watching her? Did he know about her past relationship with Lorenzo? He knew about Sean-the guy had watched them at the ice rink. Miller had been circling around Lucy, making her nervous. All the times she felt as if someone was watching her, she had blamed her past. Sean had told her to trust her instincts, and when they thought Lorenzo was stalking her, he’d accepted that Lucy’s feelings were because of him.
They’d made a logical and reasoned conclusion based on the evidence, but it had been wrong. And now Lucy’s life was at risk.
The doorbell rang, followed by knocking. Sean glanced at his security screen and saw Kate and Dillon at the door. He rushed downstairs and by the time he let them in, Noah and Hans were walking up the front walkway.
“Any news?” Sean asked.
“No,” Kate said at the same time Noah said, “Yes.”
Sean closed the door. “What?”
“The Delaware Field Office said the Wilmington house is vacant, but Miller has been paying the mortgage on it. We’re getting a search warrant-he may have records in the basement or attic. According to the neighbors, he’s been by the house a few times since his release from prison. But the place had been vandalized, and he’d become
“If he’s been paying the mortgage, that means he has a bank account somewhere.”
“Bingo. We’ll have all his banking records first thing in the morning.”
“Morning? That may be too late!” Sean couldn’t wait until the banks opened to trace Miller. But to hack into a major financial institution couldn’t be done quickly, and it definitely wouldn’t be legal. He had no doubt he could get in, but without actual routing numbers and account numbers tied to Miller, he wouldn’t know where to go in the system.
Noah said, “I got the information about his parents and we’re tracking down the mother now. She took her maiden name after the divorce, according to the University of Richmond office.”
“You talked to his college?”
“We have emergency contacts with all the major institutions, and as soon as you forwarded the data, we called. Records are all computerized, and the dean was able to pull up Miller’s file. His father was living in Wilmington, his mother was listed as Christina Lyons. No address, no contact.”
Dillon spoke up. “Were there any disciplinary records on Miller?”
“No. He was a top student. He was married his senior year. He changed his emergency forms to next-of-kin contact Rosemarie Miller. Her maiden name is Nylander. Abigail is trying to find her now.”
“Are they still married?” Kate asked.
“Rosemarie filed for divorce in 1998. They’d been married for six years. Miller refused to sign the papers, and the court intervened and severed the marriage.”
“That could have set him off,” Hans said. “Model student, no criminal record, his mother leaves, his wife leaves. He targets high school girls who are easy to control. He’s in a position of authority over them.”
“Did you read his file?” Noah asked Hans.
“I’m in the dark here,” Sean said. “He was in prison for statutory rape, that’s all I know.”
“He was convicted of statutory rape of two students,” Noah explained. “But there were others who recanted their statements.”
Hans said, “He convinced the girls that they were worthless, that the only value they had was what he gave
