Silent Run - Barbara Freethy [93]
Jake jerked to his feet. “That’s—”
“The man who tried to kill us earlier,” she finished. “Someone murdered him. Why?”
Jake’s gaze met hers. “Because he didn’t get the job done,” he said slowly. “You’re still alive.”
“This is . . . insane,” she whispered.
“I agree. In fact, I think we’re dealing with someone who is insane.”
“It’s possible that the man’s death doesn’t have anything to do with me,” she said halfheartedly. “He was a thug. He could have had lots of enemies. He could have tried to hurt someone else.”
“No, Sarah. He’s been up and down the state the past three days trying to kill you. This has everything to do with you. At least we have one name, Shane Hollis. And he was from Chicago, which is where Catherine placed her friend Jessica when she disappeared eight years ago.” Jake turned back toward his computer. “I’ve just about got the Internet up. We can look up Shane Hollis and start with him.”
She rose from the bed and joined him at the table, taking the seat next to him. “If Shane was murdered in Venice Beach, just a few miles from here, that means whoever did it is also close by.”
“Yeah,” Jake agreed with a nod.
Sarah felt a shiver run down her spine. “And we don’t know what he looks like. Before, we knew what Shane Hollis looked like, but now we’re in the dark again. Any man we see could be the person who’s after me.” She stopped and thought for a moment. “Or it could be a woman.”
“I don’t think so. That bullet through the head looked very macho to me, deliberate, ruthless. Not that a woman couldn’t do it, but my gut tells me it’s a man.”
The overhead light began to flicker, and her pulse jumped again. “Did you see that, Jake?”
“Yeah,” he muttered, still intent on his computer search.
“What do you think it was?”
“I don’t know, a power surge.”
Her imagination roared into action. What if someone was playing with the circuit breakers? What if whoever had killed Shane Hollis had tracked them to this motel? He could be outside, cutting the electricity. If they didn’t have lights, they wouldn’t be able to see him. As her terror began to rise, she put her hand on Jake’s arm.
He finally glanced over at her. His gaze narrowed. “What’s wrong, Sarah?”
She swallowed hard. “What if they cut the lights?”
“There’s no reason to think anyone knows where we are.”
“There’s no reason to think they don’t. They seem to know everything, and they’re always one step ahead of us.”
A loud rumble of thunder made her jump to her feet, but she still kept her hand on Jake’s arm. She didn’t know whether to run or hide, but she felt it was imperative that she do something.
“It’s the storm,” Jake said. “That’s why the lights flickered.” He got to his feet and put his hands on her waist. “It’s okay. We’re all right.”
“I don’t want the lights to go out. Bad things happen in the dark.”
“What kind of bad things?” he asked, gazing into her eyes.
She stared back at him. “I don’t know.”
The overhead light flickered again, as did the computer screen. Sarah held her breath, waiting for the lights to steady themselves, but then everything went black. She let out a panicked cry.
Jake hauled her tight into his arms, pressing her face against his chest. “It’s just a power outage, Sarah.”
“You don’t know that,” she mumbled. “I can’t stand this. I can’t be here in the dark.”
“Yes, you can,” he said firmly. “I’m going to open the curtains a little, let some of the outdoor light in.”
She clung to his waist as he tried to move away from her. “No, don’t leave me. Please don’t leave me.”
The words echoed over and over in her mind. Closing her eyes, she heard another voice in her head, the voice of a young girl, pleading, begging. . . .
It was so dark. Were her eyes open?
She felt like a blind person straining to see something. She couldn’t hear anyone breathing except herself. There was something holding her down. A seat belt. Her fingers felt for the release. As she squinted, she saw a touch of blond hair hanging over the vague, shadowy seat in front of her. A man was slumped over the steering wheel.