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Or if their abductor wasn’t leaving a trail, Bridget had dropped it on purpose when he wasn’t looking.

  Nikki knelt beside Cooper. “Were the coals hot?”

  “No, but most campers leave in the morning and arrive in the afternoon.”

  Nikki started moving in a spiral pattern away from where he’d found the ring. “What did you do next after finishing up here?”

  “This was my last campsite. As soon as I was finished, I headed back to the visitor center.”

  Nikki frowned. Finding the ring might be encouraging, but it wasn’t solid proof that Bridget had been here. Nor did it point to where she was now. Dozens of campers passed through these campsites every day, all encouraged to make as little impact on the environment as possible. It would be easier to find a needle in a haystack than the footprint of one young girl.

  Nikki stood in the center of the clearing and stared at the shelter. Winds were picking up and the sky had darkened considerably around them. She glanced at her watch. Fifteen minutes had passed, and so far no one had found anything. As good a lead as this could have been, without something else, it was going to turn into another dead end. No more solid than chasing ghosts, like Cooper’s legends.

  “Agent Boyd?” Anderson shouted from outside the open area. “You need to come see something.”

  Nikki jogged toward where Anderson and Tyler stood in the middle of a second small clearing not far from the campsite. “What have you got?”

  “You’re not going to like this.”

  Nikki looked past them. A dozen feet away, within the shelter of a grove of trees, was a fresh grave.

  21

  Nikki felt the last sliver of hope she’d held on to for the past few hours slip away. Wind whipped against her hair as the fickle April temperatures continued to drop, especially at the higher altitude. Storm clouds churned along the horizon, but all she could see was a fresh grave where more than likely they’d find Bridget’s body.

  “We’ve got a compact shovel for emergencies in the helo,” Reynolds said. “I’ll go grab it.”

  Nikki nodded as the fading hope morphed into despair, then full-blown anger. She knew the odds of finding Bridget had been diminishing with each hour that had passed, but finding her here . . . this way . . . She blinked away the tears. She’d prayed. Begged God to guide them to her.

  But apparently—the same as with Sarah—her prayers had gone unheard.

  Her temples pulsed, while the lingering headache she’d fought the past two days continued to grow.

  This isn’t right, God. We should have been able to stop him.

  But they hadn’t. And now Bridget was, in all likelihood, dead.

  “We don’t know for sure that she’s in there.” Tyler moved beside her, his fingers gripping her arm. “This could be another game. Just like he’s been playing you all along.”

  “Maybe.” She wanted desperately to believe the abductor was simply trying to get to her, and wouldn’t hurt Bridget. But she knew she had to be realistic as well. He’d already proven he knew how to get to her. Toying with her emotions was like dragging her toward the edge of a cliff. Killing Bridget would push her over—and force her to relive Sarah’s abduction afresh.

  “Maybe he brought me here because he wanted me to find her? He told me how disappointed he was that I didn’t find the clues he’d left for Sarah. To him, he’s giving me another chance.”

  She could still hear his voice, playing over and over in her mind. Just like she’d seen him in her dreams for the last ten years. She knew his MO from every detail in the police reports. Knew how he stalked his victims. How he took their photos. Dug a fresh grave . . .

  Was that the only reason he’d lured her here? To drag her into the scenario? This time it was another girl missing. Another family devastated. And she was left knowing she hadn’t been able to stop him. Nikki felt the hairs on her neck prickle. She turned around slowly, staring into the dense forest surrounding them. A chipmunk scampered up one of the trees. Was he out there? Watching her?

  Nikki glanced at Tyler. “No matter how many times I see what people are capable of doing, I’ll never understand how anyone could do something like this to another person.”

  Reynolds returned to the site with the shovel and started digging up the freshly turned mound of dirt. Nikki’s lungs compressed, forcing her to fight for each breath. Tyler stood silent beside her, because they both knew there was nothing to say at this moment. This was her worst nightmare. The ending she’d prayed against over and over. She knew the horror Bridget must have gone through to get to this place.

  Sunlight pierced through a small opening in the clouds. Nikki felt a shiver slide up her spine. He was out there. Watching her. Smiling. Feeling the power he believed he had over his victims.

  The power he believed he had over life and death.

  The power she feared he now had over her.

  The pile of loose dirt grew beside the unmarked grave. Somehow, she couldn’t let him win. She needed to take everything she’d learned and figure out a way to use it against him. Because not finding Sarah’s grave had become a two-edged sword. On one hand it had stopped the chance of any closure. If she was dead, her family still had to wait in order to move on. But if Sarah was alive, Nikki knew that ten years in captivity would change a person completely. Which meant that even in those moments when she was able to cling to the lingering hope that Sarah was still out there, she couldn’t help but wonder if it wouldn’t be better if she wasn’t suffering anymore.

  At least if they managed to find Bridget alive, she’d have a chance to get her life back together with fewer battle scars.

  She watched Reynolds continue to dig, praying with each scoop of dirt that Bridget wasn’t here. Shovelful by shovelful, the pile expanded. Sweat beaded on the man’s forehead. Reynolds wiped his hands on his uniform, then handed the shovel to Lopez, who took over for him.

  Nikki held her breath, waiting. Jaw clenched. Heart racing. If he had buried Bridget, was there a chance she was still alive? Or was she simply grasping at straws again? There had been no evidence that any of his other victims had been buried alive. But so far, there was nothing. No body. No sign of Bridget.

  A minute later, Lopez rested. “I don’t think there’s anything here, Agent Boyd.”

  Nikki let the air from her lungs out in a whoosh. Nothing in this case made sense. An unmarked grave with no body meant he was playing with her again.

  “Dig deeper. Please. Just a few more minutes. There has to be something.” She moved forward and knelt beside the grave.

  Nikki grabbed a handful of loose dirt and clenched her fingers together. They’d found the bodies of four of the girls he’d killed. If there was no body this time, what was he trying to tell her? The beanie, the photo, the phone, the ring, the grave . . . none of them were a coincidence. And at this point, she had no option but to play along.

  A minute later, the shovel hit something hard.

  “Be careful.” Nikki slowly stood back up, the loose dirt in her hand falling to the ground. “What is it?”

  “I don’t know, ma’am,” Lopez said, still digging. “Give me a second.”

  She watched as Lopez dug around the item. A moment later, the officer pulled out a small metal box and handed it to Nikki. Her breath caught as she brushed the dirt off the top. Eight inches square. Three inches deep. The hinges creaked open as she lifted the lid.

  Nikki felt the air sucked from her lungs as she pulled out the contents. “It’s him.”

  Another photo. Another Polaroid.

  But this time it was personal. Her finger ran down the familiar yellowed Polaroid photo. Her mouth went dry, nausea spreading through her, as she stared at the photo of her sister. Sarah looked back at her with fear in her eyes. She’d known what was going to happen to her. And Nikki hadn’t been there to save her.

  “How did he get this?” Nikki’s voice cracked as she thrust the box back into Lopez’s hands. “It’s supposed to be locked up in police
evidence.”

  Her mind fought to sort through what she knew. This wasn’t possible. She’d looked through Sarah’s case file dozens of times over the past ten years. Page after page, looking for something she’d missed. Never removing anything from the files. That photo had been there six months ago. But now it was here? How was that possible?

  Tyler grasped her arm, keeping her steady on the uneven terrain. “Nikki, you can’t let him get to you. Not now.”

  He was right, but she still couldn’t move. Could barely breathe.

  “It also means there’s a good chance Bridget’s still alive,” Jack said. “It’s the one thing that gives him leverage in this situation.”

  Nikki blinked back the tears, still unsure. Why would he need leverage? He already had the girl. Anger trumped the fear fighting to take over. Whatever game he was playing, she wasn’t going to let him get away with it.

  “I want this entire area swept again, this time perpendicular to the first search. Bridget might not have been here, but her abductor was. Which means we had to have missed something. Be thorough but as quick as possible before everything washes away. We need to find that one clue that will trip him up. I don’t care how small or insignificant it might seem. We need to find him before it’s too late for Bridget.”

  Their pilot didn’t move. “I understand you want to find him, but this storm isn’t slowing down, and I don’t think any of us want to be stuck here all night. And I’m not flying this bird out of here if it’s not safe.”

  “One more grid search,” she said. “Twenty minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”

  Reynolds hesitated, then nodded. “Twenty minutes, and we’re taking off.”

  Tyler stepped beside her while the others spread out again for another search. “Nikki—”

  “I’ll be okay. Go search with them.” She forced a smile. “I need to get some information from Gwen.”

  “You sure?”

  She nodded, then watched him jog to catch up with his team. She waited for Gwen to answer while she automatically searched the secluded terrain around them.

  “Nikki?”

  “Gwen, can you hear me?”

  “Barely, but yes.”

  The signal was poor, but at least she’d been able to get through. “Did you receive the boxes of files I asked for on the Angel Abductor?”

  “Yeah. They were here when I arrived at the precinct in town.”

  “Great. What about my sister’s files? Do you have those as well?”

  “I haven’t gone through them yet, but I’m sure they’re here somewhere. Why? What’s going on?”

  “I’ll fill you in later, but right now I need to know if there’s something missing from Sarah’s file.”

  Gwen let out a low groan. “That’s going to take awhile. I haven’t had a chance to organize them—”

  “This is important.”

  There was a pause. “Okay. What am I looking for?”

  “The Polaroid photo of Sarah. Just like the one that was left of Bridget. I need to know if it’s still there. It will be filed on the day of her disappearance with the evidence from the crime scene. May 17, 2005.”

  “Okay.”

  Nikki closed her eyes and drew in a breath while Gwen looked, trying at the same time to calm her jagged nerves. Next month would be the ten-year anniversary of Sarah’s disappearance. Funny how she could still see Sarah, still a teenager, as if it were just yesterday.

  Memories clouded around Nikki, pulling her back to those last moments she knew she’d never forget. The week before Sarah had disappeared, Nikki had taken her shopping for a dress for her birthday. Her parents had offered to close the restaurant for her and her friends for a private party, and Luke had volunteered to play the DJ. Finding the perfect dress hadn’t proved to be quite as easy.

  Sarah had tried on dozens of dresses in just as many shops until they finally stumbled into a boutique in downtown Nashville. She’d known the moment Sarah walked out of the dressing room in a pink chiffon dress with a full skirt that they’d finally found the dress.

  “What do you think?” Sarah asked, twirling around in front of the three-way mirror.

  “I think it’s perfect.”

  Sarah’s grin broadened as she clasped her hands in front of her. “Me too.”

  Nikki laughed. “And I think Brice is going to love it.”

  “I don’t even know for sure if he’s coming to the party.”

  “He’ll be there.”

  Sarah had been that sister. She’d never been interested in following the crowd. She loved mixing vintage with funky modern prints, read the classics, preferred watching an original season of Hawaii Five-0 over Jack Bauer, and listened to everything from ’90s boy bands to ’50s big bands. Her father had always said she was his flower child, and Sarah had been perfectly happy with that assessment. Comfortable in her own skin, she’d never been the typical teen who preferred spending every minute chatting with her friends.

  “Nikki, are you still there?” Gwen asked.

  “Yeah, I’m here.”

  “Good. I found the photo. It’s here. Does that help?”

  Nikki felt her chest constrict. What it did was prove that they were now looking for the same person who took her sister.

  “Nikki . . . what’s going on?”

  She drew in a jagged breath, then gave Gwen a quick update of what they’d found.

  “But there wasn’t a body,” Nikki said. “Just a photo of Sarah.”

  “I don’t understand how he could have gotten it. I’m looking at the photo of your sister that was found at the crime scene.”

  “I don’t know. He must have taken more than one picture.”

  And kept one for himself.

  Her heart pounded. Up until now, she’d continued to hope they were simply looking at a copycat. As much as she wanted to find her sister’s abductor, she didn’t want to imagine he’d run free all these years.

  Rain had started a light sprinkle across the clearing and the sky was continuing to darken. Time was running out. “We can’t know for sure if Bridget was here or not, but he’s been here.”

  Had to still be here. Somewhere.

  Nikki hung up, then hurried to catch up with Jack. The other teams were slowly working the grid. Searching for that one piece of evidence that would help tie everything together. “Tyler was right about this being a game. A trail of clues. But I don’t understand why.” She brushed a strand of hair from her face. “Why go to all this trouble—luring me up here with Bridget’s ring? So I’ll find a picture of Sarah? And why did he take the time to bury it?”

  “Because it’s personal,” Jack said.

  It was the only thing that made sense. “Personal toward me. Okay. But why?”

  “I don’t know, but after the phone call last night, he clearly found a way to track down personal details about you and knows that you’re looking for him.”

  She kept moving, searching the ground around her. “Why now, after all these years? Something would have had to trigger him to strike again. And this game he’s playing? That was never a part of his MO. The authorities concluded he didn’t seem to want the attention.”

  “Which points more to a copycat,” Jack said.

  “But he had this picture. Who else but Sarah’s abductor would have it?”

  “What if it isn’t a game? What if he’s trying to throw you off? Distract you.”

  “So maybe Bridget’s not even in the park?” She stopped and rested her hands against her hips. “He could be on his way to Alaska or Florida, or Canada for that matter.”

  “He might have been planning it for a long time.”

  “Which means we could be following a ghost.” But while the theory was plausible, she didn’t buy it. He called her last night to hear her reaction. For whatever reason, he wanted her involved, which meant he was somewhere nearby, observing her. “I still think he’s here. People like him enjoy seeing the reaction of those they want to hurt.”

>   He’d told her he was disappointed she hadn’t found the clues he’d left for her ten years ago. He wanted her to have found his handiwork. And they were missing something now. Just like they’d missed something all those years ago.

  “So he’s here, nearby, wanting to see how I react.”

  “It makes sense,” Jack said.

  So far he’d stayed in control of the situation. That had to change if they were going to find Bridget.

  Cooper headed toward them. “Agent Boyd. Agent Spencer.”

  “Find anything else?”

  “No . . .” He stopped and looked past them. “I need you both to stand still and don’t move.”

  Nikki hesitated midstep, then put her foot down slowly. “What’s going on, Cooper?”

  “There’s a black bear at your six, moving this direction.”

  22

  Nikki froze. Full-grown black bears were nothing to mess with. They could weigh up to four hundred pounds and measure six feet in length. She’d heard of a number of trails and campsites currently closed due to encounters with aggressive bears, but you could have a run-in with a bear anywhere in the park. Even, apparently, in the middle of a criminal investigation.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jack whispered.

  “I don’t think he’s kidding,” Nikki said. “At two bears per square mile, our chances of running into one are actually pretty good.”

  Cooper took a step toward them. “I want you both to turn around slowly and face him. Then no sudden moves, but start walking backward with me.”

  “Most people would think we’re lucky,” Nikki said, doing as she’d been told. “They come hoping to run into one of these.”

  “As lucky as being stung by a yellow jacket and suffering from a stream of allergies. I should play the lottery when I get back home.”

  “Funny.” Nikki glanced at Jack, who looked anything but amused. Clearly her attempts to lighten the moment weren’t working.

  “Keep walking,” Cooper said. “Slowly.”

  She’d seen bears in the park before but never at such close range. At the moment, she’d have to agree with Jack and wished she were anywhere else but here. Not only were bears good tree climbers, but they could swim, and run up to thirty miles per hour. As long as the bear didn’t see them as prey, they should be fine.