Paranormal II: The Summit Part 27

Cline frowned. "I should think, if that were the case, the police would be the ones asking questions."

"We're hoping to persuade them to help us," Autumn said. "We believe this man may be involved, but we need proof."

The manager shook his head. "I don't know...There's the question of customer privacy."

Autumn reached out and caught his arm. "The little girl who's missing is Ben's daughter. Please, won't you help us?"

The manager looked up at Ben, pity in his eyes. "Let me keep a few of these. I'll ask around. Maybe someone will remember him."

"That would be great."

"Let me speak to Andrew before you go. He's worked here off and on for years." Ben and Autumn followed the manager over to what appeared to be the store's lone employee. Unfortunately, Andrew had no recollection of the man in the sketch. Disappointment settled over them both.

"I'm sorry, I truly am." Cline hung onto a small stack of copies. "I wish we could have been of some help. Maybe, as I said, one of our customers will recall him."

"How about former employees?" Ben asked. "People who have worked here and left? Maybe they would remember him."

"I can give you the names of the few who have worked here part-time."

"Thanks," Ben said. "We'd appreciate that."

"There aren't many, of course. Burlington is a very small town."

They left the store with the employee list in hand, leaving numbers with Cline where they could be reached if the blond man made an appearance in the store or if anyone remembered seeing him. They went into stores up and down both sides of the street but the result was the same.

"I'll have Pete Rossi follow up on these other names. Maybe one of the ex-employees will remember something."

"Maybe."

But neither of them actually believed it was going to happen. Burlington appeared to be another dead end.

Ben spent Tuesday night at home, as he had the last three nights. He needed time to think, try to construct his next move in the search for his daughter.

And he needed to consider his disturbing feelings for Autumn.

He had told her the truth at the lake. He was crazy about her. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this way about a woman, wanting to be with her every minute, dreaming about her, aching to be inside her even when they had just made love.

It was frightening.

Especially when it was clear Autumn didn't feel the same way about him.

Oh, she wanted him, all right. The s.e.xual attraction between them sizzled with invisible sparks whenever they were together. As he sat propped up in bed, an old Robert Ludlum novel open on top of the covers, merely thinking about her made him hard.

The s.e.x was amazing, but the cold fact was that Autumn wasn't looking for a long-term relationship. Her few affairs had left her wary and uncertain of men. She was afraid of getting in too deep, afraid it wouldn't work out between them and she would wind up getting hurt.

Well dammit, so was he.

Ben sighed as he sifted through his uncertain thoughts. For an instant, it crossed his mind that the safer route would be to end the relationship before Autumn did and he was the one who got hurt.

The notion was fleeting. Ben McKenzie wasn't a man who gave up on what he wanted without a d.a.m.ned good fight and in that moment it occurred to him that Autumn Sommers was exactly what he wanted-exactly the woman he needed. Whatever happened, wherever their search for Molly led them, Autumn had become an important part of his life and he would do whatever it took to keep her there.

It wasn't time to give up on her yet.

Just like it wasn't time to give up searching for Molly.

Ben set the book aside, then reached over and turned out the lamp. But as he lay in the darkness, aching for Autumn, thinking of Molly, he couldn't fall asleep.

After their return from Burlington, Ben had again declined to spend the night at Autumn's apartment and this morning he had missed her climbing cla.s.s for the very first time.

All her fears surfaced. He was tired of her. It was over between them. Ben didn't want her anymore. She tried to steel herself, told herself she'd known it would come to this sooner or later, but the sick feeling in her stomach wouldn't go away.

When her cell phone rang in the women's locker room as she changed out of her climbing clothes, her insides tightened even more.

"Doug Watkins called," Ben said simply. Though his tone was strictly business, a warm tremor ran through her. "He wants to see us down at the station."

"What time?"

"As soon as possible. You still at the gym?"

"I was just leaving."

"Good. I'm calling from my office. I'll meet you in the lobby."

Autumn hung up, left the locker room and headed for the elevator. Her pulse was still thrumming from the sound of Ben's voice and she wanted to kick herself for the antic.i.p.ation swirling through her.

Ben was waiting when she walked through the elevator doors. For several moments, he said nothing, just stared at her as if he hadn't seen her in years, as if he wanted to eat her up with a spoon.

"I've missed you."

Her eyes widened as he pulled her into his arms and very thoroughly kissed her, ignoring the startled looks of the women who walked out of the elevator behind her.

By the time the hot kiss ended, her knees were shaking, her stomach floating. "Come on," he said, taking hold of her hand. "We need to get moving."

They headed for the stairs leading down to the parking garage and climbed into Ben's Mercedes. He started the engine and drove the car out into the street.

Autumn leaned back in the deep leather seat. "So I guess you were busy this morning," she said, just to keep her mind from straying to that kiss.

He nodded. "I hated missing the lesson but we're about to do a master lease on that building across from our store near Pioneer Square-the one A-1's been trying to get their hands on. My real estate agent has been working his a.s.s off to line up tenants for the property before A-1 can sew up their deal."

She relaxed a little. He had been working, not trying to avoid her. Still, she couldn't help wondering where he'd been spending his nights. "That's great, Ben."

"I'm getting really tired of those guys. I think it's time I did something besides just sit around and let those jokers try to ruin me."

"Any ideas?"

"A few. I've got great people working for me. Be interesting to see what we can come up with."

They talked a little more about the leasing deal as Ben wove his way through the line of cars moving along the Seattle streets, making his way toward the police station on Twelfth Avenue. The mid-morning traffic had slowed, but the shoppers were out full-force, milling up and down the sidewalks, their shopping bags stuffed to overflowing.

As the car neared the precinct, all talk of business ended. Molly was on their minds and the little girl, Mary-if she actually existed. Ben parked the car and they went inside the building and up to the front desk. Almost immediately, they were led down the hall to the same spa.r.s.ely furnished room they had been in before.

Doug Watkins joined them a few minutes later. "Thanks for coming in."

"What have you got?" asked Ben.

Taking an envelope from beneath a stout arm, Watkins pulled out a stack of pictures and spread them out on the table. There were five color photos of little blond girls with blue eyes.

"These kids are all between five and seven years old," he said to Autumn. "Do any of them look familiar?"

Autumn could feel the dull beating of her heart. Were all these children recently abducted? Was one of them little Mary? She moved closer and began to carefully examine each photo one by one. All of the girls looked a little like Mary, with the same blond hair and blue eyes, the same delicate features.

Autumn's shoulders slumped as she reached the final picture. "I'm afraid Mary isn't here."

"You sure?"

She nodded.

The detective cast her a final glance, then surprised her by pulling a second set of photos out of the envelope. Collecting the first set, he placed the second set on the table. "How about these? Do you see her here?"

"Have all of these little girls-?"

"Please take a look and tell me what you see."

Autumn looked down at the photos. Again there was the blond hair and blue eyes, a slight difference in years, but still they looked a lot alike. She leaned closer. There was something about the photo second from the end....

Autumn picked it up. Her hand trembled as the features became clear in her mind. "This is Mary. This is the little girl I see in my dreams."

"You're sure this is the one?"

"As sure as I can be. I've been dreaming about her for almost a week, but I don't get that long a look at her before I wake up."

"But you think it's her?"

"I'm almost certain it is."

Watkins let out a long-suffering sigh. "Her name is Ginny Purcell. She's seven years old. She went missing two months ago from her home in Sandpoint, Idaho. Disappeared right out of her own backyard. There's an alley behind the house. Best guess, the guy just drove up and somehow persuaded her to get in his car. No witnesses, no one heard anything. She just disappeared."

"That sounds a lot like what happened to Molly," Autumn said.

Watkins made no reply. "The rest of the photos are just pictures of kids we collected. We needed to give you an objective test. Unfortunately, you pa.s.sed with flying colors."

"Unfortunately?" Ben repeated.

"Yeah. I'm not exactly sure where to go with this information-if you know what I mean."

Ben nodded. "I know exactly what you mean. But the fact remains, Autumn's ID fits in with the rest of the suppositions we've made so far. And Idaho and Washington aren't that far apart. We think the guy is some kind of sportsman. Autumn remembered seeing him shopping for camping gear, so he's probably into being outdoors. Idaho is a sportsman's paradise. He could have been there doing whatever it is he does and in the process come across little Ginny."

"Sounds reasonable." Watkins collected the second set of photos, all but the one of Ginny Purcell, and slid them back into the envelope. "Could be he lives in Idaho, maybe moved there after he abducted Molly-a.s.suming any of this is real, of course."

"I don't think he's there," Autumn said. "I saw him in Burlington a couple of years after Molly disappeared. And I just have this feeling he's here in Washington. Somewhere up in those mountains."

"Burlington is the gateway to the North Cascades," Ben added. "Maybe the guy is a climber."

Autumn bit her lip, the possibility running through her head as it had a number of times before. "I've never seen him among any of the climbing groups or on any of the trips I've taken. I don't think that's it."

"Let's back up a step," Watkins suggested. "Let's a.s.sume he's an outdoorsman, not necessarily a climber but maybe a fisherman or backpacker or maybe a hunter-an outdoor kind of guy. That would explain his presence in Idaho and also in Burlington. Right?"

"Right," Ben said.

"Get me a copy of that sketch you had made. I'll have it sent out to all the sporting-goods stores in both Washington and Idaho. We'll see if anybody recognizes him."

"Great," Ben said. "We've been to the store in Burlington and asked around the area, but no one there remembered him."

"Maybe we'll have better luck."

"Maybe," Ben said.

Autumn could see his hopes rising. They had the police working with them now. If they found Ginny Purcell, they would also find Molly. Or at least that's what Autumn hoped.

"I'd like to show this sketch to the Purcells," Watkins said. "But to do that I'd have to bring in the Idaho police. That means telling them this is a guy you saw in a dream. That'll go over like a lead balloon. We've got to approach this very carefully if we're gonna get any results."

"We'll talk to the Purcells ourselves," Ben said. "I've had a daughter kidnapped. I imagine they'll be willing to speak to me. And like I said, Idaho isn't that far away."

"Good idea. You have any trouble getting them to see you, call me. And let me know if you get anymore information-no matter how you get it. Okay?"

It was obvious the detective was referring to Autumn's dreams. Getting more information that way was both hopeful and at the same time scary.

"Will do," Ben said. "Keep us posted, will you, Doug?"

"You know I will." He extended his hand. "I hope this works out for you, Ben."

"I hope it works out for all of us."

Twenty-Three.

"When are we going to Sandpoint?"

Ben flicked a glance at Autumn, who sat in the pa.s.senger seat as he drove away from the police station. "I'm thinking we could head up there Friday after work. I'll call the Purcells to see if they'll agree to talk to us on Sat.u.r.day morning."

He caught her gaze in the mirror above the dash, saw the faint crease settle between her eyebrows.

"I read in the paper the Heart a.s.sociation is having an important benefit Friday night," she said. "The paper listed you as one of the people on the guest list."