Page 104 of The Search

“The one irresistible argument,” he murmured. “Lean back and close your eyes.”

She didn’t feel like closing her eyes. She was numb with exhaustion, but her mind wouldn’t stop working. Her gaze focused on the winding road ahead as the jeep slowly crept up the incline. “How’d you get Galen’s rental car?”

“I phoned him to come and wolf-sit and then took his car.”

“Galen’s at the ranch?” So many things had happened that she’d forgotten about Maggie. “You shouldn’t have left Maggie. I told you to take care—”

“Shut up,” he said roughly. “There was no way I wasn’t going to come after you. And you know Galen will be able to care for Maggie.”

Yes, Galen would be capable of doing anything he wanted to do. “I suppose she’ll be okay.”

“Better than you. She has a keen sense of self-preservation.”

“She walked into a trap too, like me with Rudzak. He knew I had to try to find those kids.”

“And if you got another call from Helen Peabody, you’d go traipsing off again.”

“Yes.”

Logan muttered a curse beneath his breath. “Stupid.”

“I wasn’t stupid,” she said, stung. “I got a call to do my job, and it seemed a legitimate search. How was I to know Rudzak would take advantage of those kids’ disappearance to set a trap? He would have had to plan everything ahead with Chavez, the call from Hel— Oh, God.” She closed her eyes. “The kids. Maybe he didn’t just take advantage of circumstances. Could he have killed them, Logan?”

“Yes.”

She opened her eyes and turned to look at him. “He’d kill three innocent kids just to set me up?”

“I think it’s likely. He’s very precise about his planning. He wouldn’t want the kids to show up and spoil everything after he’d gone to so much trouble.”

“I feel sick.” The image of a yellow buoy floating on the water came back to her. “The lake . . .”

“Lieutenant Carmichael told me he was sending a scuba team out to the buoy. I asked him to call me if he found out anything.”

“Kids . . . And you say he’s not insane.”

“He doesn’t enjoy killing, he just does it when it benefits him.” He smiled grimly. “Though I may be the exception to the rule. He’d definitely enjoy killing me.”

“I hope they don’t find the kids,” she whispered. “Dear Jesus, I hope he didn’t kill them to draw me here.”

He covered her hand clenched on her lap. “So do I, Sarah.”

Logan’s phone rang when they were only a few miles from the ranch. “Yes, Lieutenant.”

She tensed, watching his expression, but she couldn’t tell what Carmichael was saying to him.

He hung up. “There’s no trace of Rudzak. They think he’s gotten away.”

“What about the teenagers?”

“They found them under the buoy.” He looked straight ahead. “They haven’t gotten them out of the car yet, but the scuba divers say all three were bound with rope.”

She felt as if she’d been stabbed.

“Say something.”

She shook her head. What could she say? She just wanted to curl up and make the world go away.

“None of this is your fault, dammit.”