LITMIR.BIZ

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definitely hadn’t been sleeping while he’d been gone.

      Mayor Richard Welch stood in front of a camera with a reporter, his chest puffed up with self-importance. The man never missed a chance to get his mug in front of the voters.

      Unwilling to be part of the mayor’s photo op, Lucas skirted the house to the back door. Ed Maylor met him as he walked inside. “I told her you wouldn’t like this, but she wouldn’t listen to me,” he said.

      Lucas clapped the young deputy on the back. “It’s all right. Why don’t you go home, get some sleep. I’ll take care of things here.”

      Maylor nodded and left by the back door. As he walked out, Sawyer Bennett entered the kitchen from the living room. Lucas tensed at the sight of his old friend.

      “Sawyer.” He nodded in greeting. “You heard?”

      “The whole town has heard. You have any leads?”

      Lucas shook his head, aware of the tension between himself and the man he’d considered a brother. Regret played deep inside him as he thought of the events that had put a strain on their relationship. Sawyer was one of Lucas’s college buddies as well as a lifelong friend, but their relationship had been tested when Sawyer’s wife had been murdered and Lucas had had to investigate Sawyer for the crime. Thankfully Sawyer had been innocent, but the strain still lingered. “What are you doing here?”

      “I’m here to help. I can put up posters, talk to people, do whatever you need me to do,” Sawyer said. Mariah entered the room, interrupting the conversation.

      The hopeful look she sent Lucas broke his heart, because he had nothing to tell her that would make her feel any better. The momentary shine in her eyes dimmed. “Nothing?”

      “Not yet. It looks like you’ve been busy while I’ve been gone.”

      “I’ve contacted everyone I can think of to get the word out that my son is missing. Somewhere in this town, somebody has to know what happened or at least have a piece of information that can help us find them.” She raised her chin as if expecting a fight from him.

      “It was a good idea,” he said, and watched the breath ease out of her. She reached out and took Sawyer’s hand. “Your friend here has been helping me print off posters from the computer. He’s promised to see that they go up all over town.” She released Sawyer’s hand and instead clutched herself around the waist, as if she were physically holding herself together.

      “I’m going to head out now.” Sawyer turned his attention back to Lucas. “Anything else I can do?”

      “Not that I can think of,” Lucas replied.

      “I’ll just get those posters,” Sawyer said to Mariah.

      Lucas watched his friend head for the door. “Sawyer?” Sawyer turned back to face him. “Thanks.”

      Sawyer flashed him a smile that spoke of old bonds and years of friendship, and Lucas felt himself relax somewhat.

      “I thought maybe you’d get some sleep while I was out,” Lucas said to Mariah when Sawyer had left.

      “I’ll sleep when Billy is home safe and sound,” she replied.

      Although she hadn’t slept, it was obvious she’d showered and changed her clothes. Her shiny hair was neatly pulled back and held with a ponytail holder at the nape of her neck.

      In all the time he’d known her, he’d never seen her in anything casual, but she now wore a pair of jeans that hugged her long slender legs and a sleeveless cotton blouse that was the same shade of blue as her eyes.

      The casual clothing suited her, made her look less stern and more approachable and stirred a protective urge inside him that he hadn’t felt for a woman in a very long time.

      “Most of my neighbors have shown up to put out posters and search,” she said as she moved to the coffeemaker on the countertop. “I did an interview with the local news, and they’re going to show it this evening on the six-o’clock broadcast.”

      Their conversation was interrupted as Candy Tanner came into the kitchen. “I thought I heard your voice in here,” she said to Lucas. “I need to talk to you about something.” She shifted from foot to foot and looked as if she’d rather be anywhere else.

      “About what?” Lucas looked at the young woman who was one of Jenny’s closest friends. Her gaze shifted away from him, and a new tension rose up inside him. “You know something about what’s going on, Candy?”

      “No, not really, but I thought I should tell you that I know Jenny has been seeing Remy Troulous,” she said.

      Blood roared in Lucas’s ears as he stared at Candy. “Seeing Remy Troulous? What do you mean? As in dating him?”

      “No, I’m sure she wasn’t dating him,” Candy replied as she took a step back from Lucas. “But I know she had a meeting with him about something last week.”

      “What in the hell was she doing with Remy Troulous?”

      “I don’t know.” Candy took another step backward. “She wouldn’t tell me and she made me promise I wouldn’t tell anyone, but I thought you should know.” She turned and fled the kitchen as if afraid of Lucas’s wrath.

      “Who is Remy Troulous?” Mariah asked.

      Lucas knew his reply would only add to the terror he knew she already felt for her son. “He’s the head of a gang called the Voodoo Priests. He’s not a good guy, Mariah.”

      She stared at him for a long moment. “And it’s possible he has my son.”

      FROM THE MOMENT that dawn had broken, Mariah had felt as if she’d entered an alternate universe. But now, as she stared at Lucas, that universe took on a new nightmarish quality.

      “The Voodoo Priests?” she repeated faintly. A new horror swept through her. She watched as he pulled his car keys out of his pocket. “Are you going to find this Remy?”

      “I’m going to try.”

      “Wait, I’m coming with you.”

      Lucas’s frown deepened. “I think it would be better if you stayed here.”

      His tone held the strong, authoritative note that she’d often heard him use with Jenny, and it sent a ripple of irritation through her. She embraced it, finding it so much easier to handle than the fear that gnawed at her with sharp teeth.

      “And I think it would be best if I come with you. If this Remy has Billy, then he’s going to need me, and he’s probably going to need his inhaler.” She heard the anger that scorched her words and she drew a deep breath to gain control. “Billy is just a little boy. He’ll need me.”

      He stared at her for a long moment, as if assessing his options, then gave her a curt nod. “Get what you need and let’s get moving.”

      She hurried out of the kitchen and toward Billy’s bedroom, her heart pounding with the anxious rhythm it had been beating all night long.

      The house no longer felt like her home. People milled about, people she had called in the early-morning hours for help. But there seemed to be nothing anyone could do. It was as if a hole had opened up in the earth and swallowed Billy and Jenny whole.

      Remy Troulous. What would a man like that want with Billy and Jenny? If their kidnapping was about a ransom, then why hadn’t she or Lucas received a call demanding money?

      She entered Billy’s room and tried not to breathe in the little-boy scent of him that lingered there, knowing that if she dwelled on the smell of her son or the feel of his mouth against her cheek when he kissed her or the sound of his laughter, she’d lose it.

      His pajamas were tossed on the bed. She didn’t even know what he was wearing. She didn’t know what he’d picked out to wear on the day he’d been kidnapped. Tears burned in her eyes, but she sucked them

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