Page 41 of Fallen Creed

“You can’t drink what comes out of the faucets,” Libby told her as she filled the coffeemaker from the jug she had used for Grace. “For the toilet, I pumped water in from the river. It just took a long hose and a little electric pump that hooked up to the generator. I filled the tank enough so I could at least go to the bathroom out here.”

“Wow! This is really amazing. Ruben would never think of looking for you out here. You know how much he hates being in the woods. And the dirt path through the pasture? I drove by it like three times before I realized it was the one you said to take. Nobody’ll find that after all this snow.”

Ariel dropped onto the opposite bench and slid all the way over so she could lean her back against the wall. She must have taken off her coat in the bathroom. Now she propped up her stocking feet on the end of the bench. As if she just remembered Creed, she stared at him, eyes narrowed and darting down to include Grace.

“As soon as the snow lets up, I’ll go dump his phone,” she said to Libby. “I can dump him, too, you know. And his little dog.”

Libby kept her back to the two of them. She pulled out coffee mugs from the cabinet. Creed noticed she had three of them.

He ignored Ariel and tugged off his gloves. Then he unzipped his coat and was immediately disappointed to find his side wet and sticky again with fresh blood.

—32—

Maggie was back in her rental, warm air blasting, windshield defrost on high and wipers still having a problem keeping up. She stayed in the parking lot, trying to decide what her next move should be.

She had reduced the young, easy-going manager to a fidgety mess. She already knew he couldn’t meet her demands as quickly as she’d like. Alonzo had taken over. All the way from Quantico, he could be more charming and convincing than Maggie. Besides, he had access to cyber channels that she didn’t want to know about.

So here she sat, staring at her cell phone and out at the snow. Every once in a while, the wind gusts were strong enough to rock the SUV. Her mind should have been working on the puzzle pieces. Kristin Darrow had substituted for Libby Holmes. There had to be a connection. Kristen fills in for Libby and vanishes. Then days later, Libby goes missing.

On line, Maggie found a photo of Kristin that her family had given to the local police. She compared it to the one Nora had shared with her of Libby. The two women looked very much alike. Maybe enough alike that a killer could mistake one for the other.

Alonzo said Libby Holmes had changed her name and lied about her age. She was seventeen-year-old Emma Hobbs, a suspect in a murder investigation. No, not a suspect. A person of interest.

Was it possible that the Spencers—a trauma nurse and a county sheriff—could be fooled so easily?

Did Libby/Emma go off to hurt herself again, like Nora feared? Was she taken? Or did she have something to do with Kristin Darrow’s murder? How dangerous was this woman? And Ryder and Grace had risked their lives for her, walking into a blinding snowstorm.

This was all spinning into something bigger. And the worst part? She still hadn’t heard from Ryder.

She tapped her phone and checked her voice and text messages.

Nothing.

She brought up his contact page on her phone, trying to decide whether to call again or text. As her finger hovered, she stared at his photo. She’d caught him with a rare smile, one corner of his lips upturned, a dimple barely visible under his carefully manicured stubble beard. He smiled more with his eyes than his mouth.

“Where are you, Ryder Creed?” she asked out loud.

She didn’t care if he thought she was being overprotective. She sent him another text.

WHERE ARE YOU?

I’M STARTING TO WORRY!

Starting to worry?

She forced a laugh at that. She was beyond “starting.”

The gauge on the dashboard showed the outside temperature at twenty-six degrees.

There was one thing she knew that gave her comfort. Ryder would take care of Grace. He might push himself, but he’d never jeopardize the little dog’s health and safety.

Okay, so maybe his cell phone battery had died. He could have found some place to take shelter. There were other farms. It wasn’t like this part of Nebraska was a vast wilderness.

Although, looking out at the ice pelting her windshield now, she realized this storm could make it feel like a vast wilderness. She couldn’t even try to find Ryder and Grace without getting lost.

She scrolled and found Pakula’s number. He picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, O’Dell. You find anything?”