“There!” she said, pointing. “The four-story brick one on the corner!”
Colin immediately pulled over, braking hard. He jumped out of the car and took off running, not waiting for Maria as she struggled to open her door, furious that her body had gone into revolt and needed to recover. She didn’t have time for that. Not now. Especially not now. Finally pushing the door open, she willed herself to stand and start moving.
By then, Colin had already reached the lobby door. She saw him struggling to open it, finding it locked, then jabbing at something beside the handle. When Maria looked up, there were seven or eight offices still illuminated on various floors, and she watched as Colin pounded the glass. She could tell from his body language that he was debating whether to smash his way in, but Maria instinctively knew that Serena wasn’t in the office building. Nor was Dr. Manning. He’d been far too careful to this point to make that mistake now; he’d been far too meticulous, and there were too many people in the building, too many potential witnesses, too many things that could go wrong. She guessed that Dr. Manning had been waiting for Serena on the sidewalk in front of the building and probably had a story about a pipe that burst or whatever, so the interview would be held elsewhere. She knew that he wanted someplace private, where he knew he wouldn’t be caught, a place that would burn.
“Colin!” she tried to shout. The sound came out weak. She tried to wave her arms, but the dizziness came back in a rush and she stumbled. “Colin!” she called out again, and this time he heard her voice and ran toward her.
“The door has one of those key-code locks! There’s no listing for the foundation, so I just hit all the buttons, but no one’s buzzing.”
“Serena’s not in there,” Maria forced out. “Manning took her someplace else. There are too many people inside, too many people still working.”
“If she got in his car…”
“She texted that she was walking to the interview.”
“Then where’s his car? I don’t see it.”
“Check around the corner,” Maria wheezed, still fighting waves of dizziness. “He probably parked there. If he’s looking for someplace deserted, he took her to one of the shacks or boathouses near the river. Hurry!” she said, feeling like she was about to fall over. “Just go. I’ll get my phone and call the police…” And my parents, my relatives, Lily, everyone who jumped in their cars to follow us, she thought.
By then, Colin was already backing up toward the intersection, uncertain, wanting to trust her, but…
“How do you know that’s where they’ll be?”
“Because,” she said, wondering when the police would arrive, remembering the lakeside cabin where Cassie had been murdered, remembering the shacks and boathouses common to this portion of the Cape Fear River, “that’s where Laws would have gone.”
CHAPTER 33
Colin
Maria’s instincts had been right. He found the blue Camry parked on the cross street that ran beside the building. He sprinted past it. Straight ahead was an unkempt field that stretched toward the muddy banks of the Cape Fear River, a black void ahead of him, barren of reflection on this almost moonless night.
The street gave way to a gravel road that forked to the left and right, toward the river’s edge. One way led to a small, run-down marina with a rusting metal structure that was home to a hodgepodge of boats, protected by low fencing; in the other direction stood two decaying barnlike structures near the riverbank, spaced maybe fifty yards apart. Those buildings looked abandoned, with cracked planks and peeling, faded paint, overgrown weeds and kudzu surrounding them. Colin slowed, frantically trying to guess where Manning had taken Serena. In that instant, he saw a ray of light leaking out intermittently between the planks of the abandoned building on the left, vanishing and reappearing.
The beam of a flashlight?
He left the gravel, cutting through grass and weeds that were shin-high in places, willing himself to move even faster, hoping he hadn’t arrived too late. Still unsure what he was going to do, or what he was going to find.
As he reached the building where he’d seen the light, he pressed himself flush to the side of the wall. Up close, he realized that the structure had once been an icehouse, probably used by fishermen to load blocks of ice into their boats to keep their catch fresh.
There was no door on this side of the building, but a boarded-over window emitted a weak and flickering light. He began inching toward the side farthest from the river, hoping to find the door, when he heard a scream rip from inside…
Serena…
The sound galvanized him. He raced around the corner, but the door on that side had been boarded over. He accelerated past it, to the third side, seeing another boarded-up window. One option left. He peeked around the corner and immediately spotted the door he’d been looking for. Reaching for the knob, he found it locked. In that instant, he heard Serena cry out again.
Stepping back, he drove his heel into the door next to the knob. It was a perfect shot, hard and fast, the frame splintering as the door cracked open. He kicked again and it swung fully open. In that split second, he saw Serena tied to a chair in the middle of a dimly lit room, Dr. Manning beside her with a flashlight in his hand. There was the shape of a body in the corner, surrounded by rusting paint cans. Serena’s face was bruised and bloodied. Both Serena and Dr. Manning cried out in surprise when Colin burst into the room. A beam of light suddenly hit Colin straight in the eyes.
Blinded and disoriented, Colin barreled ahead, reaching out in the direction he’d last seen Dr. Manning. He spread his arms, but Manning had the advantage and sidestepped him. Colin felt the heavy metal flashlight crash into the back of his hand and heard the bones snap. The combination of shock and searing pain kept him from reacting quickly enough. As Serena screamed again, Colin twisted, trying to square his shoulders at Manning, but he was too late. The flashlight smashed into his temple, the sudden impact turning everything black. His body went limp and his legs buckled; he hit the floor even as his mind was still trying to process what had happened. Instinct and experience urged him to get up quickly, and after years of training, the movements should have been automatic, but his body wouldn’t respond. He felt another hard blow to his skull, which shot radiant bursts of agony through his system. His mind was teetering on the edge of coherent thought; he registered nothing other than pain and confusion.