No Darker Place. Debra Webb

still in the car. No sign of her cell phone. Witnesses say the car has been there since yesterday morning or the night before, but none saw the driver or anyone else in or near the vehicle. It wasn’t until this morning when the Realtor came by on his way out of town that anyone realized it shouldn’t be there. We’ve had no hits on our BOLO on Ms. Adams, and her boyfriend, Liam Neely, is missing, as well. Based on the number of calls made between Neely and Carl Evans during the forty or so hours before Evans’s suicide, we’ve listed Neely as a person of interest.”

      Equal parts pain and anger welled inside Bobbie. If the Storyteller followed his usual MO, he would torture Gwen relentlessly and rape her repeatedly. Bobbie closed her eyes. She had to do something. Gwen had worked so patiently with her during her recovery. She refused to give up even when Bobbie was at her lowest. The chief could keep her on admin leave, but Bobbie had to help find Gwen before it was too late. Before the bastard did those things to her...

      Whispers and images attempted to invade her thoughts. Strong-arming those ugly memories aside, she glanced at LeDoux, who was busy flipping through pages of reports. To Owens, she said, “Obviously you’ve decided her abduction is the work of the Storyteller.” Bobbie didn’t know why she’d bothered with the statement. Of course it was the Storyteller.

      “Actually,” LeDoux cut in, “I made that call.”

      Another wave of tension washed over Bobbie as she met his gaze. “Based on what?” Was there more he wasn’t telling her, because he couldn’t possibly know what Evans had said to her?

      To say she despised LeDoux would be a vast understatement. He had known having her on the task force last December would push the Storyteller’s buttons. He’d been desperate to see movement on the case. But then, she couldn’t hold him responsible for getting her family killed. She had quickly realized the Storyteller would be drawn to her since she fit the profile of his preferred victim and she’d stayed on the case anyway. Both she and LeDoux had hoped to be the one to bring the infamous serial killer to his knees. Apparently—she glanced at the bare ring finger on his left hand—they had both paid a price.

      “Based on my recommendation,” Chief Peterson announced.

      “Why am I here?” Bobbie asked this question directly of the chief. She could feel Lieutenant Owens glaring at her. Didn’t matter. The question was a valid one.

      “Because I wanted you here,” LeDoux answered.

      Bobbie turned back to the agent, his words reverberating inside her. This time she couldn’t keep the anger from her voice when she spoke. “I should have recognized the MO.”

      “That’s enough, Detective,” Owens warned.

      “We believe,” LeDoux began, “Gwen Adams is being held somewhere in Montgomery County. Perry will want to stay near you, Bobbie.”

      She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of an acknowledgment.

      “Chief Peterson called me yesterday as soon as the Carl Evans case broke,” LeDoux continued, speaking to the room at large. “Considering the transfer of Detective Gentry’s medical records and the research Evans had been doing on the internet, it’s clear this case is related to the Storyteller investigation.”

      “With Perry active again in our jurisdiction,” Owens picked up from there, “we have to assume he has returned for you, Detective.”

      All eyes at the table moved in Bobbie’s direction. She shrugged. “Why else would he resurface and risk getting caught?”

      “Precisely,” the chief punctuated. “Which is why I believe it would be in your best interest to go into protective custody.”

      Bobbie had wondered when that suggestion would come up. She was not running from Perry. The only way to stop him was head-on. The one chance Gwen had of surviving was if they found him quickly enough. Bobbie stood and placed her badge and her service weapon on the table. “I’m done here.”

      A rap on the open door drew the room’s collective attention in that direction. The desk sergeant looked from the chief to Bobbie. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but there’s a lady at the desk who refuses to leave without seeing Detective Gentry. She says it’s urgent.”

      Shoving her weapon and her badge back into place, Bobbie was at the door before anyone else at the table moved. The sergeant stepped out of her way, and then hurried to keep up with her. With every step, she hoped a little harder that the woman would be Gwen...that maybe she hadn’t been taken by the Storyteller.

      “Did she give her name?” Bobbie asked the sergeant.

      “She wouldn’t tell me anything except that she needed to see you.”

      By the time they reached the lobby, the rest of those gathered for this morning’s trap to force Bobbie into protective custody had caught up.