“Any idea why?” Logan asked from his spot behind Van’s seat.
“From what I can tell, that’s when the family welcomed a second foster kid. Another boy, two years younger than Taylor. His juvenile records are sealed, so it’ll take me a minute to see the specifics, but it looks like Taylor cleaned up his act when this other kid was just getting started. But then…Oh, shit.” Lucky’s expression flattened, then. His aqua blue eyes slid up to find Chase. “Pretty sure I just found the connection between Taylor and Scottie.”
“What is it?”
The brilliant man’s intense stare locked with his as he asked, “The name Dustin McVey ring a bell?”
Chase’s already nauseated gut tightened with dread. “You want to say that again?”
“McVey?” Archer looked around, waiting for more from no one in particular.
Logan gave the man a clueless shrug, as Chase began sharing what he knew.
“Dustin McVey is the twisted asshole who stalked Scottie before she moved to Seattle. Happened about a year ago. Scottie said McVey first saw her when she was a contestant on a reality cooking show. Apparently, the guy became obsessed and began terrorizing her to the point the studio hired a bodyguard to help keep her safe.”
“Jesus.” Logan shook his head in disbelief. “What happened?”
“He broke into her hotel room. Shot her bodyguard while trying to abduct Scottie.”
Joining in, Archer asked, “How’d she manage to get away?’
“Bodyguard got a shot off, too,” Chase explained. “Police were called, and McVey was arrested. Judge sentenced him to a twenty-five-year stint at a mental institution in SoCal.”
“He still there?” Van’s black gaze bounced between the road in front of them and Chase.
Chase nodded. “Lucky double-checked the night I first caught Taylor watching us outside the restaura?—”
“Uh…hold that thought …” Lucky cut through, catching the attention of everyone in the SUV. A beat later, they heard a frustrated, “You’ve got to be fuckingkiddingme!”
The man’s uncharacteristic outburst threw new flames on Chase’s already frazzled nerves.
“What?” He stared back at the man sitting in the seat behind him. “What did you find?”
“When I first looked into McVey for you two weeks ago, the mental institution’s intake system showed the guy confirmed as a current resident.”
“Yeah…and?” Chase prodded, his patience non-fucking-existent at this point.
Before Lucky could respond, Van piped up with a cynical, “Let me guess. The asshole was either released or escaped, and the hospital failed to let the public know before now.”
It wouldn’t be the first time something like that happened. Hell, Lucky’s wife, Ellie, had recently dealt with that very scenario after a killer she’d once helped to convict escaped federal custody.
“McVey didn’t escape.” Lucky quickly shot down that possibility. “According to the updated records, the guy died a few weeks ago after being attacked by another patient.”
The ever-present dread in Chase’s gut swirled to the point he thought he might be sick. “That’s why Taylor went after Scottie. To him, she’s the reason McVey was in that place.” He swallowed against the rolling waves of fear. “To him, Scottie’s the reason?—”
“McVey died,” Van summed up their target’s most likely motive. The look on his tanned and rugged face said he agreed with the horrifying summation.
Just like that, everything finally clicked into place. They had the who. The why. And, though they still had to work hella fast to narrow it down, the where.
All that’s left now is to find my Scottie.
After that, Chase’s goal was simple. Once he had Scottie back in his arms, and he knew she was safe, he was going to make sure Levi Taylor didn’t lay a finger on her or anyone else.
Ever. Again.
Scottie ran,refusing to slow for even a second as she forcefully made her way through the forest’s thick foliage. Keeping her bound hands out in front of her, she pushed away the countless limbs and leaves creating a barrier between her and the non-existent path she was following.
The hiding place she’d found earlier had worked…until it didn’t. For what felt like the longest stretch of time, she’d kept herself curled into the smallest, most invisible ball she could manage.