Sawyer paused, then said, “I’ve spent most of the day working with several car-rental agencies at the New Orleans airport before I was finally able to get a name of the person who rented those vehicles. He’s a man by the name of Jeremy Skinner, an attorney in Shreveport who travels a lot to try cases in other areas.”

“An attorney?”

“Yes. Has Bryce ever mentioned him to you?”

“No.”

“Well, she mentioned him to me. When I interviewed her, she gave me his name. Not as someone she thought was a jealous boyfriend, but as someone she’d seen a few times over the past few months. They met when he stopped to fix her flat tire one day and met for coffee a couple of times in New Orleans before the start of her classes.

“I was able to get a picture of the guy and I recognized him as the same guy who’d come into the café that morning. The same one you were getting all hot behind the collar about when he and Bryce seemed too friendly.”

Kaegan immediately remembered the guy. He glanced at his watch, really getting worried. He glanced over at Sawyer. “Bryce is now an hour late. I’m worried about her, man.”

Sawyer nodded. “So am I. The reason I went straight to Bryce’s house first is because Jeremy Skinner is somewhere in the area. He’s been here since Wednesday.”

At that moment Sawyer’s phone went off and he pulled it off his belt and clicked it on immediately. “Sheriff Grisham.”

Kaegan knew from the look on Sawyer’s face that he wasn’t going to like what he was about to be told when Sawyer ended the call. “What is it, Sawyer?”

“That was one of my deputies. They’ve found Bryce’s car at an old abandoned warehouse, but she is nowhere to be found.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

BRYCE HEARD VOICES as she slowly regained consciousness, but she refused to open her eyes. The first thing she noticed was that she was lying on her side on a wooden floor. Her mouth was gagged and her hands were tied. Who would do such a thing? And was that the scent of the ocean she smelled?

She forced herself not to panic. Where was she and who was the man who’d taken her? Had he taken Mary Corsuti, as well? Fear swept through her when she recalled hearing about women missing, presumably connected to human trafficking. She fought back the feel of more fear. Nobody knew where she was. She did not have a scheduled meeting with Mrs. Corsuti, and when she’d left Shelby by the Sea, she had told Vashti she would be going straight home to get dressed for dinner with Kaegan at his place.

Would he panic when she didn’t show up? Even if he did, he wouldn’t know where to look for her. She didn’t even know where she was. She was too afraid to open her eyes. Were there other women here, too? The thought of not getting away from her captors made her feel sick. What if she never saw Kaegan again? What if she never got the chance to be held by him again? What if she never was able to tell him that she knew that she loved him, that she’d always loved him and wanted to move ahead? She wanted all the things she’d wanted with him years ago. A life with him. Marriage. Children.