Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set (193 page)

“You stay put,” Raj ordered, pointing a finger at Ryan as he and Porter walked off toward the building. If he remained with the car and let the detectives do their job, Patel had said, they would find Whitney sooner and then they could get back to looking for Kate.

The manager had already unlocked the front door for them, turned on the lights, and was waiting for them in the foyer. Diaz escorted her prisoner into the building.

“Suki,” the manager said when he saw her, “what have you done?”

She looked at him for a moment, then hung her head and kept walking.

Porter stopped just outside the front door and signaled to the paramedics to follow them with the stretcher, as a gurney would be too difficult to handle going down the stairs and into the underground city. Then he ducked inside.

Raj shot Ryan a warning glance as he held the door for the paramedics, then went inside.

“Miss Henderson,” Detective Porter said, “where do we go from here?”

She lifted her head when he called her name. “Down those stairs,” she answered, motioning with her right shoulder to the wide set of stairs with peeling green paint which took them to the lower-level souvenir shop.

“Show us where to go,” Porter ordered and they disappeared into the lower level.”

Left with his thoughts, Ryan did his best not to think the worst. He glanced at his watch.
What’s taking them so long?

He paced beside the car, replaying the evening in his mind. They had kissed at his condo. Would it be their last? Then they went to Whitney’s apartment so Kate could change before they went to dinner. They heard voices.

The television! He remembered the TV being on in Suki’s room. Could Ethan have been there? It made sense. What if he was still there, hiding, when we were? A sinking feeling weighed heavily in his chest. What if Kate had gone alone? He could have killed her right then.

“That would explain why he called her shortly after that,” Ryan said aloud, having an epiphany. “After hearing us talk in his sister’s room, he probably became even more agitated, more determined.”
Oh, Kate, hold on.

From his post between the police cruiser and the ambulance, Ryan noticed Officer Diaz come out of the building with Suki in tow. She ushered her to the car and helped her into the back seat. The police woman had just gotten in herself when the paramedics came up carrying a woman on a stretcher. She had short blonde hair and bore a definite resemblance to Kate.

Whitney, she’s alive.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Whitney cried in a hoarse voice, tears streaking her face. She reached out and grabbed Will’s hand. “I thought I was going to die in there.”

“You’re safe now,” Porter assured her, patting her hand. “These paramedics are going to take you to the hospital. They’ll check you out and take good care of you. When you’re up to it, we’ll come by and talk with you. Okay?”

“Okay,” she answered in a raspy voice. She nodded and wiped her tears with her hands.

“Can we get this girl some water to drink?” Porter asked the EMTs. “She seems pretty dehydrated.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of her, sir.” The paramedics lifted Whitney’s body onto the gurney and then maneuvered her into the ambulance.

Ryan rushed up to them. “Is she okay?”

“She seems to be,” Raj replied, glancing over at the ambulance. “We’ll know more after the docs examine her.”

“That’s great to hear, Raj. Now we need to find Kate.” Ryan hoped his voice conveyed the urgency. He began moving toward the car.

“Where do we start?” Raj asked, as he and Porter started walking back to their vehicle.

Officer Diaz opened the car door and stood up, resting an arm on the door. “I’ve got something for you,” she called out.

Porter and Patel rushed over. “What is it?” Porter asked.

“Suki said she just remembered the name of the street their house was on—Comstock.”

“Comstock?” Ryan asked.

“Sound familiar?” Raj questioned as he got into the front passenger seat.

“Definitely. Hang on.” Ryan climbed into the backseat and looked up the active homes for sale on the Multiple Listing Service on his cell phone. He found the address for the only home currently for sale on Comstock. It happened to be the home he was interested in buying—the one he’d shown to Kate that first night.

“What are the chances of that?” he muttered.

“The chances of what?” Porter asked, getting in behind the wheel.

Chapter Nineteen

Rousing from unconsciousness, Kate was disoriented and dizzy. She found herself in total darkness, curled up in a cramped space. Feeling movement, bumpy at times, she realized she was in the trunk of a car.

The last thing she remembered was going out to the alley, behind the restaurant, to get instructions from Ethan on how to get Whitney back. At least that’s what he told her. Then everything went black.

He must have knocked me out
. Her head throbbed and pain was shooting behind her eyes. She struggled to clear the fog in her mind.

The movement of the vehicle stopped. When the engine cut, Kate thought they must be parked. Wherever he was taking her, they must have arrived.

The trunk opened and Ethan pulled her up by her arm. He practically dragged her from the car, through the side gate, to the back of a house. There was something familiar about the place, but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

She was not yet steady on her feet, nor was she strong enough to fight back. “Where are we?”

“We’re home,” he said, grinning. “Do you know how lucky we are? No, of course you don’t.”

She had no idea what he was talking about.
He must be crazy.

He pulled her up the stairs. “This is the house I grew up in. You know, the one we lost when you killed our mother. You ruined our lives, Kate McAllister, and you’re gonna pay for it.”

Kate was terrified. She thought she could try to reason with him. “If you lost the house because of me, how come we’re here now? Doesn’t it belong to someone else?”

“Shows what you know,” he spat. “I came here yesterday to check it out. Lucky me, the house was vacant. Let’s just say, I left the door open. After I couldn’t do what I’d planned at the apartment today, I knew it would be the perfect place to bring you.”

Couldn’t do what he’d planned at the apartment today?

Ethan pulled Kate inside the dark house, shoved her to the bare floor in the living room, and loomed over her. Moonlight shone in through the large picture window and the light bounced off the hardwood floor, illuminating the whites of his eyes.

“Why are you doing this?” she asked him.
She noticed his dilated pupils and his jittery movements.
He looks like he’s high on something.

“You know exactly why,” he shot back.

“I don’t.” She closed her eyes and moved her head slowly from side to side, still trying to regain full consciousness.

She looked up at him, squinting, as the fog in her mind began to dissipate.
It was him in the apartment today—he left the TV on, not Suki.
Then she remembered he was the one who had phoned her at the restaurant, and she recalled going through the kitchen and out into the back alleyway. It was coming into focus for her. Lying flat on her back, she lifted a hand to the side of her aching head.

“Of course, you do. It’s because I have to finish what you started!”

“What I started? I still don’t understand,” she said.

“It’s because you are the high and mighty Kate McAllister, the girl that killed my mother and destroyed my family.” An angry sharpness lined his voice.

“What? No!” she responded, shaking her head. “No, Ethan, listen. I didn’t
kill
your mother. It was an accident, a terrible accident.” Battling to stay calm, she was determined not to let him see her fear.

“It
was
your fault! Stop denying it! After you killed my mom, my dad drank himself out of a job and we lost this house.” Ethan paused and looked around the room, as if he was still grieving the loss of the life he once had. “After Dad committed suicide, my sister got shipped off to a stinkin’ foster home. And you, Miss Kate McAllister, got off scot-free! Well, you’re not going to get away with it anymore. It ends here, tonight.”

Her head was pounding with pain as she lay on the hard floor, and his words became a jumble in her mind. None of what he said made sense to her at that point. He sounded like a ranting lunatic, which made her all the more terrified of him.

He pulled a piece of thin rope out of his back pocket. Crouching down, he grabbed one arm and she kicked and scratched at his face with her free hand. He hit her hard with the back of his hand and violently rolled her over onto her stomach.

No longer laying on the aching back of her head, the throbbing began to subside and her thoughts became clearer. Kate mustered all the strength she could to keep her voice even, not wanting to incite this madman further.

“You don’t have to do this, Ethan. Please, can’t we talk about it?”

The phone in her bra began to vibrate against her breast, which gave her a start. She coughed a few times to cover up the noise and her initial reaction to the vibration. Kate continued to hope that it would help someone locate her.

“We’re done talking,” he snarled. “There’s nothing you could say that can save you now,” he said, wrapping the rope around her wrists. “I thought killing your mom and dad would be enough payback,” he muttered as he cinched the rope tight, “but it wasn’t.” He rolled her back over and pulled her into a sitting position on the floor as he stood.

Ethan’s admission hit her like a slap in the face. “So, it
was
you that caused their accident.” Hot tears rushed to her eyes at the thought of them, victims of his crazy obsession to exact revenge against her.

“I didn’t think you knew.” He smiled a little, seeming to take some sick pleasure that she knew what he had done.

“I didn’t know, not until today.” A few drops trickled down her face.

“Hmmm.” He frowned and pursed his lips, as if he was disappointed that she hadn’t been weighed down under the knowledge of it all this time. “So how’d you find out?”

“I went to the crash site today. There was a blue cap stuck in a bush by the tree they hit, a cap like the one you’re wearing now. I put two and two together, just like the police will.”

“I don’t think so. They’re not that smart. Besides, I’ll be long gone by the time they find you and your sister.”

“My sister? Do you know where my sister is?”

“Maybe,” he taunted her.

“Did you take Whitney?”

“Suki took her.”

“Suki?”

“Funny, isn’t it?” he chuckled.

“Tell me, please. Is my sister alive?”

“Well, I don’t know. Probably not.” Ethan toyed with Kate, like an animal playing with its prey before he devoured it.

Kate struggled to blink back the bitter tears that were stinging her eyes. On the heels of his blatant admission that he had killed her parents, the thought that he may have also killed her sister was too much to take.

Ethan’s glassy eyes lit up. Kate noticed the evidence of his delight at having struck a painful nerve in her, although he appeared to relish the pleasure for only a moment or two before refocusing on why he brought her to this empty place.

“We’ve wasted enough time talking. Let’s finish this thing.” Ethan pulled his pearl-handled switchblade out of his back pocket, clicked it open, exposing the long metal blade. “This used to be my father’s, and my grandfather’s before that.” He looked at it lovingly, as if it was the last vestige of the family he once had. “My grandpa brought it back with him from World War II.”

“No, Ethan, please!”

The moonlight glinted off the metal as he put his boot on her chest and pushed Kate backwards with force.

She cried in pain, as her back and head slammed down on the hard floor.

He stooped down over her, leaning his knee on her stomach. She gasped for air as his weight pressed on her diaphragm. Terror immobilized her and her throat constricted. She tried to scream. No sound came out of her open mouth.

Wild eyed, he grabbed a handful of her blonde hair in one hand and raised the knife to stab her.

Paralyzed with fear, Kate’s eyes were riveted on his. Horrifying scenes flashed in her mind, visions of him stabbing her over and over again, as he released his fury.

* * *

Patel’s phone rang. It was the tech guy. The GPS had zeroed in on the house on Comstock. “Well, you were right, Ryan. It is the house you thought it was,” he said, hanging up his phone.

They were still at least ten minutes away by car. Porter flipped on the lights and siren. Traffic was dense, bumper to bumper, in this part of town, and with vehicles parked all along the street, there was nowhere for the cars in front to pull over to let the police cruiser through.

Ryan couldn’t wait. His adrenaline surged at the confirmation that Kate was so close. He had to get to her! If her phone was still broadcasting a signal, that had to mean that Ethan hadn’t found it. He prayed that meant that Kate was still alive.

Patel must have sensed Ryan’s desperation because he turned around and made eye contact. “Ryan,” he started, “I know what you’re thinking, and don’t.”

Ryan didn’t say a word to his friend. The wheels in his head were turning so quickly that he almost didn’t hear the warning tone in Patel’s voice. Instead, his inner-cop kicked in and he did the only thing he could.

He opened the back door and bolted. I’m coming, Kate. Just hang on a little longer.

The last thing he heard as he ran from the car was Porter, “Aw, crap.”

* * *

For an instant, the room lit up. Headlights flashed across the picture window. Ethan froze and listened. There was the sound of a car door opening and closing in front of the house.

“Not. A. Word.” His voice came in short panting bursts, his knee still pinning her down.

Then Ethan raised his head and stretched to peer out the bottom of the bare front window. With the pressure on her chest momentarily alleviated, Kate lifted her head to see.

There was a dark SUV parked in front and a man getting out. It resembled Ryan’s vehicle, and that’s when she realized why the house seemed familiar. It was the one Ryan had wanted to show her, but it had been too dark. For a second her heart surged with hope, but it dropped again when she noticed the man go inside the house across the street.