Now Dryden was already coming after Risa. At least if she was the focus of a police operation, Trent had a better shot at protecting her.
Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her against him. He soaked in the feel of her, the scent of her. He nestled his lips in the shell of her ear. “The trap for Dryden. It’s a go.”
She pulled back from his arms and searched his eyes. Her pupils were dilated, her eyes moist. “It’s all going to work out. Right?”
“I sure hope so,” he said. Because the stakes were far too high to be wrong now.
Risa
Risa slipped into the chair between Trent and the balding county detective she’d met earlier—Mylinski—and surveyed the basement community room of St. Luke’s Church. Risa had never stepped foot in the small town church until now, but she was sure it didn’t usually look like this. In one short day, the place had been transformed into a war room with maps and pictures and diagrams lining the walls. A dozen FBI agents and sheriff’s deputies jammed around long tables pushed together, the low hum of voices constant as the drone of bees. The odors of stale coffee and stress soured the air.
At the head of the room, Special Agent Subera stood in front of a large map of southcentral Wisconsin. Colored pins and circles stabbed and stretched over several counties. He pointed to a vast area stretching from north of Wisconsin Dells nearly to Madison. “According to the last time Farrentina Hamilton was seen alive at her house, the approximate time of her death, and the time her body was discovered at Professor Madsen’s house, the victim had to have been murdered somewhere in this vicinity.”
Risa studied the circle plotted on the map. Much of the area was in the Baraboo Bluffs, a land of steep hills, deep gorges, rivers, and lakes. Tiny towns and family farms dotted the area here and there, but much of the land had been preserved as wilderness in the form of state forests and state, county, and local parks. Acres and acres where Dryden could stage his hunt and no one would hear his victim’s screams.
“The debris found on the victim’s body is consistent with this area as well,” Subera continued.
The victim’s body.
He was referring to Farrentina, but Risa couldn’t help also thinking of Deputy Perry’s soft, flat face. There was the man in Nikki’s car, too. And the driver of the garbage truck. It was impossible to know if there were others who hadn’t yet been found.
Risa rubbed her palms against her thighs.
Dryden wouldn’t claim another victim. Not if she could help it.
Special Agent Subera glanced down at one of the reports littering the table in front of him. “We have no way of knowing if he is still driving the ’95 Volvo sedan he stole from a victim’s home this morning. There have been no sightings as of yet. It is possible he has changed cars. We’ll continue monitoring reports of stolen vehicles.”
Risa felt Trent shift in the chair next to her, but she didn’t glance his way. She didn’t want to see the worry in his eyes, the tension in his every muscle. Going along with setting the trap for Dryden had been tough for Trent. Including her went against every protective instinct he had nurtured over the years. He wanted to shuttle her off somewhere. Distant but safe.
Sitting here, listening to this, she couldn’t help but wish she could let him.
Subera tapped the map with a finger. “We have roadblocks set on these highways, checking all vehicles leaving the vicinity. Sheriffs’ departments from here and surrounding counties are combing the area with helicopters and dogs.”
“It’ll take days to cover that much ground,” Mylinski said under his breath, a wave of sour apple candy scent following his words. “And with the tree cover around here? Helicopters aren’t gonna be worth much.”
Risa wasn’t sure if he expected an answer from her or Cassidy, sitting on the other side of him. But whatever he expected, she didn’t have any answers to give.
Subera continued. “In light of Dryden’s history and the pressures he’s under, we likely don’t have much time before he will kill again. And that’s where Professor Madsen comes in.”
Risa straightened in her chair. She knew the general idea of the trap they would set. Trent had given her some hints of what he was thinking, so she could prepare herself. But she had yet to hear the details.
Subera’s eyes rested on Trent. “Burnell?”
Trent looked up at the sound of his name as if he’d just snapped awake after a nightmare-plagued nap. Lines dug into his forehead and flanked his mouth. His eyes seemed more intense against the pale of his skin. “Dryden will come after Professor Madsen again. But this time we can use his aggressiveness to our advantage.”
Risa gripped her thighs under the table to keep her hands from shaking.
Trent turned to Risa. His voice lowered, as if the details of the trap were a secret just between the two of them. “We are going to set you up in a bed-and-breakfast just north of Lake Loyal. We’ve evacuated the couple who owns the place. We’ll set up a patrol so Dryden will believe we’re watching over you.”
He glanced up, his gaze scanning the agents in the room as if trying to pick out the very best ones for the job. “The more challenging the setup, the better. Dryden’s bold, and he likes thumbing his nose at authority.”
She thought of Dryden’s cold eyes peering through the peephole in the hotel room door. The sound of his voice calling her name from the window. Under the table, she dug her fingernails into her palms.
“His appearance at the hotel last night suggests he is keeping track of Professor Madsen’s location. So we need to assume we’re being watched, and be careful not to tip our hand. Once Dryden shows up—and he will—we’ll have plenty of agents and local police within striking distance.”
Cassidy let out a snort. “Sounds easy.”
“Easy and simple aren’t the same thing,” Detective Mylinski said.
Trent nodded. “We need to keep this simple. The more moving parts, the more chance something could go wrong.
Risa listened to the men.
The walls inched a little closer.
There wasn’t enough air in the room.
She had never suffered an anxiety attack before, but she knew the signs. But fear wasn’t going to keep her from doing whatever she could for Nikki. Not this time. Risa couldn’t let it.
Trent rested his hand on her arm. “You won’t be alone, Rees. An agent will be staying with you at all times.”
“I’d like to volunteer for the job.”
Risa focused on Chief Schneider, remembering the image of Deputy Perry’s flat face flecked with blood. His once twinkling eyes staring…
Her throat tightened. Her chest squeezed. “I need to talk to you, Trent.”
Trent raised a questioning brow.
She pushed her chair back and stood. “Please.”
Trent pushed his own chair back from the table and followed her up the stairs to the sanctuary.
The church itself was quiet and smelled of dusty floors and old wood. Risa turned down a hall leading to the restrooms before stopping and turning to face Trent. She felt dizzy and her legs trembled, but at least out here she could breathe.
“Are you okay?”
“I keep thinking of Deputy Perry. He was such a nice man. So concerned about me. And now he’s dead.”
“What are you getting at, Risa?”
“Let me stay in the house alone.”
“Absolutely not.”
“You can’t assign someone to watch over me again. I can’t…”