Nick told Mitch, who was riding with him, what Addie had told him. The car they were in lurched forward as Mitch pressed down on the gas pedal. If they got there, it would be faster than if Steele or any of the others were driving because, as much as he loved Mitch, he drove like a race car driver most of the time. Nick called Steele and told him what was going on just as he and Mitch pulled into the long drive of the house that Charlie had sent them to.
“It has to be the same house. I mean, how many houses do you think are in the middle of nowhere that she used to murder her victims?” Steele agreed with him and told him they were there already. “We’re in the driveway. Go to the barn. She’s in there.”
“I’m there now. I don’t see anything.” Before the car was at a complete stop, Nick was jumping out and running to the barn. The men were in there, all of them, looking for Addie and calling her name. Nick closed his eyes and tried to reach for her again, but didn’t feel her any longer. Something dripped on his face, and he rubbed it off and looked at Kari, who was in front of him.
“What?” When she looked up, he did as well. There was nothing there but an overhang and some straw or something hanging over the edge. “What is it you see?”
“You have blood on your face.” Nick looked down at his hand, then at her. “She’s up there somewhere. We just have to figure out how to get up there.”
Steele found the ladder that had been taken off. It had blood on it as well, and Steele and Drew held it steady for Nick as he climbed up. He tried to judge where the blood had dripped onto his face and the place above it to find her. When he was at the top, he got off the ladder clumsily in his haste, and nearly fell to his death when he tripped. The straw under his foot was drenched in blood.
“I found her.” Or at least he hoped so. Taking off the shirt that was over the woman’s face, he looked down at Addie, his future wife. “She’s stabbed, twice that I can see. Pulse is weak. And she’s lost a great deal of blood.”
The medics that were there with them made their way up the ladder much as he had, carefully and quickly. As soon as he was asked to move back, Nick started to tell them her name when they asked, but stopped himself. He had to keep her identity a secret, as well as the fact that she was alive.
Steele was coming up the ladder when Nick started to fall apart. One look from the man and Nick could feel his back start to stiffen up again, and he started to ask for things that he knew he should be caring for himself. But he didn’t want to leave her. Not yet, at any rate. Steele seemed to know why he was doing it. Nick was scared shitless and didn’t want anyone to mess this up for her. Or him for that matter. Steele only nodded and told him he was on it. Then Nick sat down hard on the hay.
“She saw her.” Steele came the rest of the way up the ladder and sat beside him while the men worked. “She saw her, and now she might die before I get to know her.”
“I’m sure she’s in good hands.” One of the medics turned to him and nodded. “See? Carl said she’s going to be fine.”
“Sure she is. We just have to flight her in. Where you want her? And the hospital will want some information on her. What you got for me?” Steele told him nothing for now. “Works for me. Jane Doe here will be just that, a nameless victim.”
As soon as they were ready to transport, Nick stood up. He and Steele looked around the tiny area and found not just her clothing and a large duffle, but some food stashed as well. Steele tossed it down to Ray, who was near the car, and they put it in the trunk. Nick was going to the hospital with Addie, and the rest of them were going to work the scene. The police arrived just as the helicopter was dusting off the ground. No one said a word about Addie. Nick got in the front with the pilot and watched the guys in the back work their magic.
By the time they were at the hospital, they’d gotten her stabilized and had her prepped for surgery. Addie had asked him to do one thing, and he had to make the call before he saw her again.
It took him nearly an hour to figure out who to call, only because he’d called Steele again and asked him if he knew anyone there. A quick trip by Billy to the home had given them not just the phone number, but a person to ask for. Nick didn’t think asking to speak to Mrs. English would get him very far.
“Hello, I need to speak to Bentley, Don Bentley please.” The woman who answered the phone in the kitchen told him to hang on. It sounded like an argument was going on close by, and Nick tried to get as much information as he could before someone came back on the line. “He wants to know what you want. There’s something…that man is back, and the missus is working on getting him out of the house before we have to call the police on him again.”